The Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Kobo, Pocketbook, Sony Digital Paper, Supernote and almost every other e-reader in the world is manufactured in China or Taiwan. All shipments from these companies are put on pause due to Chinese New Years, which lasts for two weeks. This means that everyone is on vacation and no shipments are being sent out, until February 3rd.
You might notice that sometime in the next few weeks that various distributors might be facing stock depletions or devices that are completely sold out. This might occur in various bookstores that are distributors for Kobo, or products that are sold on Amazon. Even Good e-Reader is facing stock shortages from various vendors such as Onyx Boox, Boyue and Pocketbook. All of these companies are on vacation and won’t be shipping products to anyone until February.
Chinese New Years disrupts the e-reader industry for two weeks every year. It just a good thing that no new products have come out in the past couple of weeks that customers are buying in droves.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
