After over 2 dozen comments, last weeks blog entitled Kindle vs. iPad – One Frequent Flyer’s Opinion, was one of the most controversial posts on Print CEO. Before I get beaten up again, let me start by stating that the Apple iPad offers many features including movie watching, internet access and it works as an e-reader. With the recent success of the iPad, the e-reader market is getting hot. While the two products getting the most attention are the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad, Barnes & Noble took some aggressive action recently that showed it wanted a piece of the e-reader market.

The size of the e-reader market is unknown. One reason is that Amazon does not disclose how many Kindles it has sold. Another reason is that even though Apple is talking about sales of 2 million iPads, since it offers more than just e-reading, it is not clear how many are being used to download newspapers, books or magazines.

But that does not stop experts from trying. Late last year Forrester predicted that Amazon sold 600,000 (newly discounted) Kindles during the holiday season and 1.8 million by the end of 2009. Overall, Forrester predicted U.S. sales of three million e-readers in 2009 with Amazon owning 60% of the market. However, those predictions did not include 4 recent changes: sales of Kindles through Target stores, Sony’s Reader broad distribution and multiple price points ($170 to $350), the huge success of the iPad and the latest marketing push from Barnes & Noble.

While Kindle was one of the first to market, Barnes & Noble is playing catch-up. But that may change now that Barnes & Noble announced a low-cost, Wi-Fi-only version of its Nook e-reader and cut the price of its original Nook. Barnes & Noble has cut prices for its Nook e-reader from $259 to $199 and introduced a $149 Wi-Fi version. I noticed this recently when I walked into my local Barnes & Noble to find a small booth in the front of the store with someone talking about the Nook.

Clearly price point is playing a major role in the e-reader market. According to an article on CBSnews blog site TechTalk, “The difference between the $259 price point and $199 is huge. At $199 and lower, you figure you can get ROI in a year while you ponder whether you want or need an iPad (assuming you primarily intend the device to be for reading).”

As I mentioned in last blog post, there are reasons I continue to like the Kindle, which include the initial price point and the free data plan, but I am keeping an eye on the iPad and am envious of the features.

What about you? Are you using an e-reader or considering an iPad?

Howard Fenton is a Senior Consultant at NAPL. Howie advises commercial printers, in-plants, and manufacturers on workflow management, operations, digital services, and customer research.