Business case for e-readers

Dan Rogers - 01 Sep 2010

While some analysts have compared the more modest progress of the Amazon Kindle to the explosive sales figures for the iPhone, or another tremendously popular new device, it seems that the company established a market with its first e-readers.

President and CEO Jeff Bezos said of Amazon's Q3 2009 results: 'Millions of people now own Kindles. And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell six Kindle books for every 10 physical books. This is year-to-date and includes only paid books - free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It's been an exciting 27 months.'

Then in 2010, Apple revealed a game-changing product: the iPad. An interesting addition to the iPad's offering is Apple's iBooks online store, suggesting the company takes the e-reading market seriously.

As Michael Dahan, co-founder and CEO of e-reader firm Bookeen, notes: 'The iBooks app is quite important for Apple, it's one of the main features the company presented when the iPad was unveiled.'

Many e-reader companies trying to build a strategy for new devices - conceived before the iPad launch - are now confronted with the business muscle of an Apple-backed product. So what share of the e-reader market will the iPad potentially eat into?

Display

Karl McGoldrick, CEO of the Wistron-owned Readius developer Polymer Vision, is keen to dispel fears of the iPad's threat to e-readers.

'A bright, emissive LCD display is extremely tiring on the eyes. That's something that won't go away when the dust settles,' he remarks.

Concerning magazines, early numbers released by GQ reveal the iPad's launch has not boosted its 'apps' revenues by much, suggesting initial predictions that the iPad is the ideal digital platform for serving up glossy magazines might be premature.

Want to read more?
This article appears in full in Volume 3, issue 1 of +Plastic Electronics magazine, including comments from e-reader developers Bookeen and Polymer Vision and analysis of whether e-reading is a sustainable business.

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