El Segundo, Calif. - Shipments of monochrome e-book displays this year have more than doubled those of 2010, according to IHS.

The research firm anticipates total display shipments to hit 27.1 million, up 108 percent, from the 13 million shipped last year. This upward trend will remain strong if at a somewhat slower pace in the coming years. IHS is forecasting continued growth through 2014 when 42.6 million displays are expected to ship.

IHS iSuppli Figure: Worldwide eBook Display Market Forecast (Millions of Units)                 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Millions of Units 13.0 27.1 37.1 40.1 42.6 36.8               Source: IHS iSuppli Research, December 2011

However, by 205 shipments will start to fall off with 36.8 million screens leaving factories.

This massive increase takes place despite strong tablet PC sales, including smaller, less expensive tablets, from e-reader kings Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Eventually, IHS believes the color tablets will displace the e-reader stand-alone models, but there are still growth opportunities in select vertical markets like education.