Remember when e-readers like the Kindle came out and everyone got all excited and companies jumped in to copy them and make their own e-readers? Yeah, turns out that wasn’t such a good idea. Seems if you’re not Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Sony, your e-reader model won’t survive the onslaught of tablets like the iPad.

Wired.com has assembled a list of a few of those e-reader manufacturers struggling against the tide of tablets. Those in trouble include Audiovox’s RCA Lexi e-reader, iRex, Plastic Logic and Cool-er.

“Companies that had neither brand nor distribution have failed,” says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst for Forrester Research.

The damage is being done as a result of price cuts from big retailers like Amazon and the frenzy over tablets that can do more than let you read Moby Dick. The next step? Consumers are so crazy over tablets, companies are surely already working on their own versions of tablets, like the $35 model India announced this week.

E-readers aren’t going anywhere just yet, however, as Amazon announced this week that the sale of digital books had overtaken the demand for paper books.

Upstart E-readers Fade to Black as Tablets Gain Momentum [Wired]

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