BPN 1188 Europe to become battlefield e-reader

Kindle is rumoured to launch a European Kindle at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt in October 2008. Deutsche Telekom researches digital newspaper. Sony open for other formats and starts distributing e-readers in the UK. Cybook works with SFR on wireless e-reader. iRex technologies distributes iLiad without wireless through Borders in the UK.

This is just an inventory of actions to come in the field of e-readers in Europe. Despite the fragmentation in languages, it looks like Europe has become a new battlefield for e-readers. The real battle in the UK will begin in September in the UK between the Sony-Waterstone combination and the iLiad-Borders combination, both combinations of hardware manufacturers and book distributors. However before this battle starts another battle is brewing in Germany. Kindle is said to launch the Kindle in October, while Deutsche Telekom is about to launch an e-Paper service. The leaking of the news suggests that a combination of Amazon with Kindle and Deutsche Telekom is in the making.

But these are not the only moves on the European continent. Another move comes from Sony. One is a real important one. Sony is leaving its regional subsidiaries free to formulate a local strategy for introducing the Sony e-reader. It has not formulated an all-over European strategy to attack a particular market. The regional subsidiaries are not obliged to develop the consumer markets in language areas which hardly have any e-books in the local language. If they want to develop the market, they can so; but they can also develop the educational market and the technical/business market. It is not the first time that Sony attacks the European market with an e-reader. In 1993 Sony canvassed Europe with the first Sony e-reader Sony EB (se photograph). In the UK, France and Germany there was some interest from consumers, but in 2005 when there was an economic downturn the campaign was stopped. One thing Sony did well was to organise publishers, software integrators and distributors in committees sponsored by Sony; the objective of the committees was to develop an offer of e-book for the e-reader and to set up a common market campaign. But as it looks now, Sony will not be the promoter on behalf of the e-book industry.

For the general market there also two moves coming up. Although details are lacking iRex Technologies is said to work on a new model, which should be launched in December. And Kindle is working on a 10 inch screen device for the B2B and educational market.

Of course at the same time of this e-reader battle, the UMPCs are coming on the market with price tags from 99 US dollars and giving e-readers a run for their money.

In short we have some fascinating times ahead not only in Europe, but also on the general e-reader market.

Blog Posting Number: 1188

Tags: e-reader, e-blog, e-Paper

BPN 1095 The unwirelessed iLiad

It was a surprise last Thursday to come home from the lecture in Utrecht and find the announcement of iRex Technologies, that they have now a light edition of the iLiad as a dedicated book edition, including 50 classics. This all for the price of 499 euro. To tell you the truth, I had not expected an emasculated ereader; a price cut on the wireless iLiad was more in line with my thoughts for more than one reason.

I had been wondering about the strategy of iRex Technology. They have started on the top floor of eReaders with a device, including wireless for 650 euro. In the meantime they have gotten competition, at least in the US, from the wireless Kindle, which sells for the tempting price of 399 US dollar (237 euro). You wonder what makes the real difference between the iLiad and the Kindle. It just can not be the materials and the functionalities. I guess that it is the production and the marketing.

Another difference is still the reach of the Kindle. In the US it is sold as a package deal with a telco. It is basically the iPhone strategy and it works in the States. But in a fragmented continent like Europe this policy will not really work. See the iPhone business in Germany. I still believe that in Europe you should team up with a publisher. That is why I think that Penguin should team up with Amazon, bundling in a selection of their 5000 books.

But now iRex has taken the strategy to make a light version of the iLiad. Not a light version with regard to weight, but a light version by taken the wireless out. In this way the new eReader can compete with the Hanlin, Jet, Sony, Cybook and other still to come. This area will be crowded soon by readers destined specifically for books.

But the price iRex put to their light book version of 499 euro is the highest of the eBook readers. All the other readers are available at a price of just above, but mostly under 300 euro. So what is the real competition with a difference of almost 200 euro. Again iRex is again on the highest price floor of the specific ebook readers. There is only one saving grace for iRex in both cases of the wireless eReader and the specific eBook reader: iRex can still go down with its prices, while the other will feel the competition as far as the price is concerned.

But iRex is also learning. Did they offer the iLiad in 2006 with only an electronic version of the user manual, now iRex has bundled in with the light iLiad ebook reader no less than 50 classic books. Of course it is not the latest hot novel; in fact the offer contains 50 books of which the copy right is in the public domain. In other words you can get them for free from the internet; but the light iLiad buyer will not have to download the books himself.

Will the light ebook version of the iLiad stimulate the sales of the wireless iLiad? I do not think so. First of all, your pockets are lighter as you have paid 499 euro for the eunuch version of the iLiad and saved 150 euro on the wireless version. Besides the light version does not contain any stimulus (eg a wireless program on a card) to upgrade the ebook Reader.

My conclusion is that the wireless iLiad will remain the Jaguar under the wireless readers. Kindle is already the Volkswagen in price and sales numbers. But also under the ebook readers is the light version of the iLiad the top in price, competing with many Trabant cars (which used to be a cheap East German family car). The marketing odyssey of the iLiad continues.

Blog Posting Number: 1095

Tags: ebook, ereader, digital paper

BPN 1083 The effect of Kindle

On the Monday before Thanksgiving last year Amazon.com launched the Kindle. I had heard before that time that Amazon.com had not selected the iLiad manufactured by iRex Technologies and wondered why. The launch made it clear that Amazon.com was after another type of e-Reader; one with a keyboard and a Digital Rights Management system. DRM can be delivered on the iLiad but it is not standard.
So Amazon.com surprised everyone with its own model, the Kindle. It is neat, but it is curious in shape. Of course the main feature is digital paper, which dumbfounds everyone who is used to LCD screens. Yes you can read a book on digital paper on the beach in the sun. As far as this Sony nor the iLiad are real competitors, although I hear people still raving about REB 1200.

Did Kindle have any effect on the e-book market? Amazon.com just did not launch an e-book reader. In fact it launched a full business plan. The e-reader could be used for books. But it could do more in comparison to the Sony –trader. It could also wirelessly download newspapers, magazines and blogs. And the service did not get stuck at that point. The offer of books, newspapers, magazines and blogs was priced competitively; although pricing free blogs is still an absolute sin to me.

Yet the Kindle had all the hallmarks for the iPod/iTunes effect. When Apple introduced the iPod, music downlods had a bad image; most of the downloads were illegal and unpaid for. When Apple introduced the iPod and added later iTunes, it offered a complete service to its customers, breaking the mould of illegal downloading. People were willing to pay a reasonable price for a song, which they could download and use. Problem of course is the iTunes fixed format, which makes it hard to play it out on another platform. But all in all, iPod in combination with iTunes helped the music industry tremendously.

But what has been the Kindle effect on the e-book market? Did it bring about a revolution or just a small tidal gulf? As said, Amazon.com had a nice business proposition with a wireless device as the bleeding edge of technology, a good and fair proposal for books, newspapers, magazines and a less fair proposal for blogs. And the assortment of books and respectable newspapers as well as the reasonable prices made the offer attractive enough.

At the announcement Amazon.com told that Kindle had made already a deep impression. I picked up the figure of 10.000 units sold in the first days. Others report at least 2.000 Kindles. I guess it were more units than that. This also brought along the rise of e-books. And not only Amazon.com profited from it, but also Sony, which has been longer active in the market. Sony is even thought to have doubled or even tripled the sales of e-books.

But measuring the iPod/iTune effect with Kindle, Kindle has only made an impression in the US and has stimulated the sales of e-books, even to the point that Penguin starts to get on the bandwagon of e-books. But Kindle has not made any impression in Europe yet. Will Amazon link up with Penguin in the UK by September 2008?

But even so, then Kindle and Penguin would cover the US and UK market, but not the European continental market. Selling hardware is not the problem, but selling a bundle because of the language fragmentation in Europe. The US and Japanese manufacturers see this as a problem as it requires books in many languages. It requires negotiations with publishers per language base. US and Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers see this hardly a challenge. By not introducing the Kindle with an multi-lingual offer of e-books will put a brake on the distribution of e-books on the European continent. All in all, Kindle has lost its momentum for Europe for the time being and offers a commercial window for its wireless digital paper competitor iLiad and indirect digital paper competitors as Cybook and the likes.

Blog Posting Number: 1083

Tags: e-book, e-reader, iPod

BPN 1057 Great discussion on ebooks and epapers

Yesterday I was the guest of the Crossmedia Experience Learning Lab (CELL) at the HU University of Applied Science in Utrecht. I was invited by Harry van Vliet, one of the HU lecturers, to present a lecture on the History and Future of eBooks for other lecturers and instructors. The so-called LabTalk had been even announced with a poster (see illustration). There was great interaction and enthusiasm.

I have been in contact with the faculty of Communication and Journalism of the HU University of Applied Science in Utrecht for some years. The faculty has basically three streams of courses: communication, journalism and digital media. When the digital media stream was founded in the nineties – it was called School for Communication Systems – I had hoped that the school would specialise in editorial production systems or content management systems (as they are called now). But this did not happen. Since the new century the stream looks more focussed on communication and journalism. So it was great to see staff from all three streams showing up.

The presentation started with the Memex of Vannevar Bush and went amongst others The Tablet of Roger Fidler (He wrote me a message saying that he is in the process of converting the original tablet newspaper video from VHS to QuickTime as well as a video created in 1990 from Beta to QuickTime; upon completion they will be put on the Internet). I finished with the plethora of digital paper eReaders. I was lucky to have the assistance of Frits Hoff (see photograph, the managing director of Edupaper, who brought his full collection of digital paper ereaders with him. So we had on the table the vintage EB of Sony, the Rocket EBook and digital paper eReaders.

Most of the discussion went on the readability of the screen and the cultural acceptance of eReaders. With the Sony EB and iLiad or Hanlin on the table it was clear that there is a substantial progress in readability. There is still a question size of the screen; would you rather read a newspaper on an A4 or an A5? Cultural acceptance will still be a discussion item for some time to come; that was clear. You can divide the cultural acceptance group in ink sniffers and cultural baggage promoters. There is still a very conservative attitude against electronic books. In the Netherlands you are still not allowed to publish a doctoral thesis as an electronic file for an eBook reader or PC only; the thesis will have to be printed and otherwise you do not exist.

In the presentation I had included a slide with research items. I personally think that a Faculty of Communication and Journalism should research ePapers, the design, standards, the acceptance, the promotion and the workflow. It was good to hear that this type of research should be done there. So I am anxious to see what will be the follow-up on this research wish list.

The FROCS (FRiends of the Crossmedia Experience Learning Lab) had also a good discussion on the promotion of the eReaders, eBooks and ePapers. Presently we have in The Netherlands iRex Technologies promoting its iLiad, some representatives for Cybook, Hanlin and other eReaders, e-book.nl as the only download service for Dutch books, the book chain Selexyz selling the iLiad only and using e-Book.nl as the download service, some libraries offering eBook rentals and the quality newspaper NRC Handelsblad, using the iLiad for its own downloads and there are some eBook converters. In short, in the Netherlands there is a fragmented landscape of companies pushing in one or another way either eReaders, ebooks or epapers. I explained that the Sony EB failed in The Netherlands in the beginning of the nineties, but that they had a great promotion plan. They asked a neutral company to set a committee, invite publishers, a bookshop chain and technical companies. This committee prepared a nationwide publicity campaign to make people aware of the Sony EB and the titles available. The awareness part succeeded; however the sales failed miserably. The Sony EB was too early, too expensive and only some 10 titles at the start. In small countries this type of promotion model can be used. Of course in the US the iPod model worked for Amazon, when they rolled out the Kindle.

Blog Posting Number: 1057

Tags: ebook, epaper, digital paper, ereader

BPN 1048 Dutch hesitant on eReader

The Dutch are still taking a waiting attitude with regard to eReader, despite the advantage of digital paper. Recently the national quality paper NRC Handelsblad launched its daily ePaper on the iLiad and is now forwarding a daily feed to its 500+ subscribers through wifi. The launch of the daily newspaper created the occasion for the Dutch marketing magazine Adformatie to research the market for newspapers and magazines on digital paper. The bureau MSI-ACI held a survey and the main conclusion was that the majority of the 600 respondents (56 per cent) were hesitant and answered perhaps to the question whether they would shortly read a newspaper or a magazine on an eReader.

Roughly 36 per cent sees this never happen in their lifetime. In the age category of 18-24 the respondents, answering shortly or in a short time was higher than in the other categories, but not substantial. But the interest in an eReader is limited in this category.

Remarkable is the conclusion that with the launch of digital paper readers 81 per cent thinks that printed paper will never disappear. Only 19 per cent thinks that this will happen. The younger age group thinks along the same lines.

The high price for the eReader is a handicap for many people. NRC Handelsblad offers the iLiad with subscription for 699 euro and for subscribers to the printed paper the eReader for 499 euro; for those who have an iLiad the annual subscription is 189 euro, a reduction of almost 40 percent. Due to these prices 42 per cent will most likely not buy the eReader, while 45 per cent will definitely not do so.

Only 2 per cent will most likely buy the eReader; among the younger age category this is 4 per cent. If the Publisher bundles in the subscription to a newspaper or a magazine the 4 per cent will definitely buy the eReader and a subscription for two or three years; 16 per cent will likely do so. But a majority of 53 per cent will not or hardly buy it.

Of the 600 respondents 45 per cent has a subscription to the daily newspaper. In the lower age Group of 18-24 years that is 11 per cent, while in the Group of 55+ years it is 70 per cent. Of all respondents 41 per cent says that they daily read a paid newspaper; among the younger age Group this is zero, while among the seniors of 55+ years this is 68 per cent.

Is this survey relevant and does it reflect the mood of the Dutch people. I am not very convinced. A survey of 600 responedents in the Netherlands on such a techy subject is hardly representative. You need at least 1500 people for that. Yet the launch of the NRC Handelsblad in combination with the iLiad eReader has set off an awareness boost. In the first two weeks there were more than 500 subscribers to the ePaper. And on the site e-book readers a lively showing off (in Dutch) could be seen on the forum. Technology lurkers were now convinced by the A-brand of the newspaper and were surprised. Other techno freaks started to convert the feed for the Mobipocket format on Cybook. And on YouTube a first review was published, be it with Dutch comment.

On the other hand the results are not very promising. In fact they show that the marketing of this product existing of an eReader and a newspaper subscription needs a wider environment and that the offer needs inclusion of a range of books and blogs. Of course this requires a commitment of eReader manufacturers, publishers and system integrators.

BTW Electronic newspaper designers can now also study the design of NRC Handelsblad, by downloading the edition of March 6, 2008. AS far as I can see the design is smarter than the design of the newspaper De Tijd during its experiment in 2006 and also smarter than the vertical tickertape design of les Echos.

Blog Posting Number: 1048

Tags: electronic newspaper, digital paper, ePaper.

BPN 1030 NRC ePaper: out goes the paper delivery boy

From yesterday onwards, the Dutch quality paper NRC Handelsblad will be available as NRC Handelsblad ePaper with the print and web editions. It is the first Dutch newspaper available on a digital paper reader. The agreement between the newspaper conglomerate PCM, of which NRC Handelsblad is part of, and the digital paper reader manufacturer iRex Technologies was signed last year.

Technology
NRC Handelsblad ePaper will only be available on the iLiad. The advantage of the eReader is the availability worldwide on hotspots; downloading an average edition will take about 20 seconds. The disadvantage is the black and white screen with 16 grey tones. Besides downloading the newspaper, magazines and books, the tablet can also be used as a writing pad and annotations in the paper, magazine and books can be made.

From the first photographs the lay out can be detected. When the Belgian financial daily De Tijd experimented with the iLiad, the front page was similar to the front page of the printed edition. By ticking on the article, a readable version would pop up. This technology is common with the pdf-like facsimiles of printed newspapers on the web. The French Les Echos developed an interface, which can be described as a vertical ticker tape, summing up the sections and the headlines in the left column and a few lead-ins of articles. It looks like NRC Handelsblad has chosen for a list of bullets in the left row and articles from the front page.

Businessmodel
While the French financial newspaper Les Echos gave the readers a choice of the wireless iLiad and internet linked Cybook, NRC Handelsblad ePaper offers only the iLiad to its readers. Beside a certain element of Dutch pride between a quality paper and a Philips spin-off, NRC Handelsblad has chosen for a wireless device instead of an internet-linked reading device.

The newspaper will be every weekday available at 3 p.m. and on Saturday at 7 a.m. The newspaper will transmit the full paper including special sections. The newspaper has not announced daily updates yet.

Interesting is the price. Annual subscriber to NRC Handelsblad can purchase the iLiad for 499 euro. New subscribers will get the reader plus a one year ePaper subscription for 699 euro. An owner of the iLiad and not yet subscriber of NRC Handelsblad will pay 189 euro for the ePaper subscription. An annual subscription to the printed edition of NRC Handelsblad is 305 euro. The newspaper will save the costs of the delivery boy costs at 116 euro a year. In the subscription is a bundle of a 1Gb memory stick with a book of the a famous Dutch author Geert Mak and an e-zine of the newspaper cartoonists Fokke & Sukke. (Geert Mak wrote an one kilo weighing book In Europe; there is an eBook version, but this is not included in the offer; it would have proven the benefit of the 450 grams eReader). The bundle can be seen as a first attempt to include PCM’s book publishers.

Social acceptance
NRC Handelsblad has a population of 280.000 readers. It is a quality paper. But the readers can not be seen as early adaptors. So it will take time to sell the concept; even more as the eReader is the most expensive one around presently. When a spokesperson for NRC Handelsblad was asked for the status of the development of the eReader by a reporter of Emerce magazine last November, he answered that NRC Handelsblad would wait till the eReader would be attractive to a large group of readers. It could take two to three years before a break through. Whether this break through has come after half a year later, was not made clear.

NRC Handelsblad realises that it is the first Dutch ePaper. It has set up a forum to collect the remarks and suggestions of the ePaper subscribers.

NRC Handelsblad is the first PCM newspaper of the PCM conglomerate to launch the ePaper. It is known that De Volkskrant also experiments with the iLiad; so far it has not announced a launch date. Most likely they will await the reaction o the NRC Handelsblad ePaper.

The general acceptance of eReaders is going slow. When Amazon.com launched its Kindle, it announced that it had sold 10.000 units before the launch. iRex Technologies sold 10.000 units worldwide in 2006, its first year.

Will NRC Handelsblad be a success?
NRC Handelsblad has chosen to launch the ePaper on its own strength with the support of iRex Technologies. The marketing people have applied a smart pricing policy by excluding the physical delivery boy. The bundle with one book and an e-zine will not bring in an extra subscriber. But this launch will not profit from the iPod model, a combination of an affordable device, broad offer of songs, a service without handicaps, reasonable priced content and a reliable promotor, which worked for Apple iTunes and =the Kindle of Amazon.com The iLiad device is sexy and innovative, but still too expensive; even the 499 euro offer for subscribers to the print editions, is not attractive. The assortment of newspapers, magazines and books is not broad yet. It looks like there will be a 2/7 service. And the content is reasonably priced. Despite the fact that NRC Handelsblad is an A brand, the expensive eReader and the limited offer will not make the newspaper the promoter for the text iPod in the Netherlands. Given a country with 16,4 million people and some 22 million Dutch language speakers worldwide, a common effort of publishers, distributors, bookshops and manufacturer should have been generated to popularise the text iPod in a short time, with a broad offer and an affordable eReader.

Blog Posting Number: 1010

Tags: e-book, eReader, ePaper, digital papere-book, eReader, ePaper, digital paper