Taiwan-based Netronix expects to ship over 700,000 e-book readers on an ODM basis in 2010 and 3-5 million units to ODM clients and for own-brand sale in 2011, according to company chairman and president Arthur Lu.

Netronix shipped 310,000 e-book readers in January-September, and 130,000 units in October 2010, and estimates shipments of 200,000 units in November, and at least 100,000 units in December, resulting a total shipments of at least 740,000 units for the year, Lu indicated.

Global sales of e-book readers in 2010 are expected to exceed 10 million units, with the US market to account for 80%, Lu noted. Viewing that retail prices will drop to below US$100 at the end of 2010, while less inexpensive SoC solutions will be available in the first quarter of 2011, and e-paper costs may slip in the second quarter, retail prices for e-book readers are expected to keep falling to below US$50 at the end of 2011, Lu indicated. Netronix's ODM prices will drop slower than retail prices to about US$60 at the end of 2011, decreasing by nearly 50% from a year earlier, Lu pointed out.

The price drop is expected to stimulate demand for e-book readers, and consequently the 2011 global sales are likely to reach 30 million units, Lu said. With many ODM clients in addition to those in the US, Netronix aims to ship 3-5 million units in 2011.

In addition to ODM production, Netronix has been preparing to kick off own-brand sales in 2011, Lu indicated. In a bid to tap domestic and overseas markets, Netronix will invest an initial NT$600 million (US$19.5 million) in GreenBook, an online bookstore in Taiwan, Lu noted.

The NT$600 million is expected to attract 600,000 users based on an estimated subsidy of US$30 for purchase of an e-book reader, with target markets to be Taiwan, France, Spain, the Middle East and Russia, Lu pointed out. For the Taiwan market alone, Netronix aims to sell 10,000 own-brand e-book readers a month to reach 200,000 users in two years, Lu indicated.