Rapid Growth of the Digital Textbook Market in the U.S.

"According to the Student Monitor, a private student market research company based in [Ridgewood] New Jersey, about 5 percent of all textbooks acquired in the autumn in the United States were digital textbooks. That is more than double the 2.1 percent of the spring semester.  

"Simba Information, a research company specializing in publishing, estimates that electronic textbooks will generate $267.3 million this year in sales in the United States. That is a rise of 44.3 percent over last year. The American Association of Publishers estimates that the college textbooks industry generated a total of $4.58 billion in sales last year.

"Kathy Micky, a senior analyst at Simba, said digital textbooks were expected 'to be the growth driver for the industry in the future.' Her company estimates that by 2013, digital textbooks will make up 11 percent of the textbook market revenue" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/world/americas/schoolwork-gets-swept-up-in-rush-to-go-digital.html?hpw, accessed 11-25-2011).