Framingham, Mass. — The booming growth experienced by the tablet category is continuing to hamstring the once white hot stand-alone e-reader category.
IDC has downwardly revised its worldwide e-reader shipment forecast reporting it now expects shipments will fall an average of 14 percent per year between 2013 and 2016.
About 18.2 million e-readers shipped in 2012, down from the peak of 26.4 million in 2011. IDC does see a minor uptick in shipments through 2014 before the category begins on a slow, yet permanent, decline starting in 2015.