E-book readers are slowly filling the market, but they've yet to hit critical mass. Amazon appears to be leading the way with the Kindle, but there is still plenty room for competition. Could it be Apple, someday, with its tablet that'll do for books what it did to music with the iPod? Whoever it'll be, it won't be Microsoft.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said last week that the world's largest software maker has no plans to compete in the e-reader market. The reasoning behind this is that Microsoft already has software for what Ballmer says is the most popular e-reader in the world.
"We have a device for reading. It's the most popular device in the world. It's the PC," Ballmer said on Thursday on the sidelines of television show, reported Reuters.
Ballmer added that Microsoft would be open to working with other companies to expand e-reading options to the PC.
"I would love to see companies like Amazon and others bring their books to the PC," Ballmer said. "Hopefully we can get that to happen with Barnes & Noble or Amazon or somebody."
"But no, we are not interested in e-readers ourselves."
Of course, if the market gets big enough, Microsoft might choose to reconsider. After all, just look at the video games and portable music player market.
