There’s no denying the fact that when you first hold a Kindle, it feels as though you’ve got the future of mass market literature in your hands. That sense of being on the forefront of a new wave of technology is one of those intangible joys of being an early adopter.

According to a new report launched by Forrester Research, an independent research company, that sense of being among the few to enjoy the technology might not last much longer. The 2009 holiday season is forecasted to be the breakout year for e-Readers, which have so far outstripped their projected sales figures for this year by 50%. That’s actually small peanuts, because by the end of 2010, they project cumulative sales in the US to more than double to 10 million.

Among the many factors contributing to the future success of this market niche, the availability of a number of different e-Readers from well-known consumer electronics manufacturers, most of which we’ve profiled, is the principle one. Forrester Research predicts that the expansion of the market will be driven by a new generation of tablets that sport features like flexible displays, bigger screen sizes, color, and video.

They’re also predicting that brick and mortar retailers are finally going to devise a way to properly sell e-Readers in their stores. Barnes & Noble will be at the forefront of this push, utilizing their ubiquitous retail presence and established relationship with book publishers to elbow their way into the market. Best Buy is another big player, as they’re in the processing of putting in “Gadget and eReader” sections in all of their stores and properly training their once-clueless staff about the technology.

Watching this whole process as an avid reader of eBooks should be interesting. Speaking personally, I think some of the newcomers to the marketplace are sabotaging their efforts before they start. Including new wrinkles like touch screens and the ability to play video are nice features, but they give the impression that one is buying a large handheld iPhone instead of a dedicated e-Reader.

Any new entrant that doesn’t feature e-ink for ease of viewing and wireless access to a robustly-stocked store of material is operating at an immediate disadvantage. Sexy new features will help them appeal to the mainstream, but the bread and butter of the e-Reader market is actually in selling books, and if a new device can’t do that well, no amount of flash is going to endear it to consumers.

Whatever your e-Reader of choice, it’s clear that the best times for eBooks are still in front of us. As fun as it is to get in early on an endearing new form of media, mainstream success this holiday season will bring more publishers to the table, drive prices down below their already reasonable levels, and introduce a greater variety of material for our viewing pleasure. It’s a good time to be an e-Reader enthusiast!