Sony, one of the market leaders in e-reader sales, has predicted that sales of e-books will eclipse those of traditional paper books within the next five years.

The head of Sony’s e-reader division, Steve Haber, is reported as saying: “Within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content. Three years ago, I said within 10 years but I realised that was wrong - it's within five.”

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The claim by Haber is a lofty one considering that current e-book sales within the UK account for just one percent of total book sales.

Whilst many publishing giants claim that five years is far too short a period of time for e-books to overtake their physical counterparts, due to the drastically smaller initial user base, the expanding number of e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony e-reader will undoubtedly help boost their share of the book market in coming years.

Perhaps most importantly, and a possible defining moment for the future of the e-book market, the arrival of the Apple iPad and the availability of e-books through Apple’s iBookstore will make e-books available to millions of new users across the globe.