The last week or so has been filled with a flurry of announcements and news about all the various new contenders for the e-reader market. The Amazon Kindle was the first to really set the ebook market into motion, but it will soon have lots of competition to deal with. Currently, there are four serious players: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, and Samsung.

I’m really excited to see so many other companies jump into the fray. Amazon has had a good run, but has been plagued with complaints of “premium pricing.” I agree that Amazon could probably back down on the price of their Kindle products, but they’ve had no reason to. Before long, competition from rivaling companies will likely bring the price down to a level more comfortable for average consumers.

Since there’s so much information about the Kindle on this site, I’m going to jump straight to the others.

Barnes and Noble eBook Reader

I’m most excited about the reader Barnes & Noble is rumored to release late this year or early next year. As an establish brick and mortar book seller, B&N should have plenty of experience working with publishers. Also, Barnes and Noble is touting an impressive 700,000 titles for their e-Reader.

To make up for the lack of technical experience, they’re bringing in Plastic Logic to develop a very promising e-Reader. The specs I’ve read include a large 8.5 x 11 screen, a thin 1/4 inch construction, touchscreen, and both wired and wireless connectivity.

If Barnes and Noble plays the game right, they should be able to give Amazon some solid competition. You can be sure I’ll post more here as information becomes available.

Apple Tablet e-Reader

The next heavy hitter in line is Apple. Given their experience with creating popular gadgets and that little thing called iTunes, I would put Apple at the top of the list… if I new what angle they were playing.

There’s talk that Apple may simply be interested in getting in on the hardware side of things and leaving Amazon and B&N to fight over eBook sales. Considering the fact that Amazon offers a “kindle reader” for the iPhone makes this a real possibility. However, if Apple doesn’t want to play nice and takes the iTunes route for eBook sales, I believe they will be very difficult to overcome.

The Sony e-Reader

Even though Sony was the first to market a true e-Reader, they’ve been playing catch-up ever since Amazon released the Kindle. Recently, though, they’ve been in the spotlight in regards to their digital library. With contributions from Google’s public domain library, Sony now claims to have one million eBooks available.

I wouldn’t count Sony out of the race just yet, but they’ve yet to bounce back from the heavy blow Amazon delivered a few years ago. Maybe their recent increase in available eBooks will get them back into the fight.

Samsung e-Reader

Lastly, there’s Samsung’s entry into the e-Reader market. Samsung recently released their first e-Reader in South Korea with luke-warm reviews. The specs I’ve read include a 5-inch screen, only 512MB of memory (compared the 4GB in the Kindle DX), and currently provides a library of only 2,500 books with more to be added in the coming months.

Samsung is a huge manufacturer and shouldn’t be discounted for their seemingly failed first attempt. They may get things right on the next release (assuming there is one). e-Reader enthusiasts should probably skip the current offerings and keep their eyes open for the next generation.