BPN 1420 eBook becomes political item

At last, the issue of Value Added Tax on eBooks is taken serious. Throughout Europe there is a difference between the VAT on printed books and eBooks. The printed books have the low tariff and buyers pay the high tariff for eBooks. Recently in Spain the discussion was started up; now Dutch EU parliamentarians Sophie in 't Veld and Marietje Schaake request the EC to take action, as is clear from their written questions.

On 16 December Spain’s culture ministry announced plans to slash VAT on electronic books to the same low level as traditional paper editions. In a statement the ministry said to lower the tax from 16 percent to 4 percent on the electronic devices. The move was initiated by the publishing industry.

Now also the Dutch EU parliamentarians thinks it unexplainable that for a printed version in The Netherlands 6 percent VAT has to be paid, while for an electronic book 19 percent. This also defeats the EU objective to promote innovation and sustainability. The move would also stimulate the European eBook industry and subsequently the hardware industry such as iRex Technologies, Bookeen and Plastic Logic.

Besides the VAT the fixed book price is also being discussed for electronic books. The Dutch ministry of Culuture is reviewing the fixed book price law, which has been in effect for 5 years now. In the review a fixed price will be considered for eBooks. Presently the price of eBooks can be set by the publisher. So far eBooks have been cheaper 20 procent cheaper than printed books. A working party of the Dutch booksellers association with members as Bol.com has already recommended to the association to have a fixed price for ebooks.

Blog Posting Number: 1420

Tags: ebook, eReader

BPN 1363 iRex to join US e-reader fray

iRex Technologies has confirmed that it will launch a new e-reader, for the time being only for the US market. A few details have been leaked and confirmed by iRex Technologies. The e-reader is the latest arm in the American e-reader market with Sony’s e-readers, Amazon Kindle I and II and e-readers for Hearst and Barnes & Nobles waiting in the wings. With some 4,5 million e-readers around in the US, according to Forrester, the e-reader war will be fought on more than one front.

Officials have confirmed that the spun-off Philips company iRex Technologies will launch their third edition of an e-reader. Irex was the first company to launch an e-reader, called iLiad, with digital paper (and 16 grey scales) and wireless communication in July 2006. The first edition got a cut-down version minus the wireless facility, the Bookwurm. Then a larger screen edition the IREX Digital ereader (10.2 inch) was launched in three flavours. Although there are only a few details known on the third edition e-reader, it is not a cut-down version of the first two editions.

This is what is known about the forthcoming e-reader: 8.1-inch display; 3G wireless connectivity (no carrier announced); touch screen with stylus navigation; fall 2009 release. From the photograph the page ruler, absent in the IREX Digital ereaders series is also back. The new e-reader will only be offered in the US, but a few very essential details such as preferred online e-book seller, 3G network vendor and price has to be established.

One thing is sure. Irex likes to compete on the size of the screen and the 16 grey scales. The Sony e-readers, Kindle versions and the Barnes&Nobles one. The new Sony e-readers have screens of 5 and 6 inches, The Kindles have resp. a 9.7 and 10.2 screen, while Barnes&Nobles will carry the Plastic Logic e-reader with a screen based on letter format (8,5 x 11 inches) iRex sits in between with the 8.1 inch display.

As for the online e-book seller, iRex has not made up its mind. Question is of course whether they will tam up with a bookseller. So far they have only teamed up exclusively with the newspaper service Press Reader, but not with an online e-book service. The company had aimed at a business community so far and looked for newspapers rather than for books. The lack of an association with an online e-book service has always been seen as a weakness in the iRex marketing policy. Sony has its own shop,. Kindle has Amazon and Barnes&Nobles has its own shop. So, it will be interesting to see whether iRex really looks for an online e-book shop.

The new iRex e-reader will have a 3G facility on board, not a wifi like their first iLiad had. A 3G vendor is not known yet. The Kindles work with Verizon, while the Plastic Logic, and implicitly Barnes&Nobles, has teamed up with AT&T.

What will the price be of the iRex device? iRex products have been expensive from the start. And the products are still top of the bill. Speculation on the new iRex 8.1 inch screen e-reader says that iRex aims at less than 400 US dollars. It might be even around 350 US dollars and be face to face in competition with the Kindle.

It is clear that iRex Technologies tries to get into the US fray, as it takes more effort to sell e-readers in the underdeveloped markets of Europe and Asia. Soon the US market most likely will double its marketing statistics from 4,5 million e-readers. Hopefully iRex has learned the lesson that the real fight starts not with the e-reader and its technology, but with the full package: the e-reader, the portfolio of online e-book and newspaper titles, the online e-book service (open or exclusive) and the 3G service (open or exclusive).

Blog Posting Number: 1363

Tags: e-reader, e-book

BPN 1357 Germany heats up for eReader battle

The German magazine Wirtschafts Woche brings the item that Vodafone is developing an eBook reader. The article does not have any hard facts about the developer and the type of eBook reader, except that it is a large screen (DIN-A4) for newspapers. Vodafone is presently in the test phase.

To some bloggers the news came as a surprise, but Vodafone has been involved in eReader experiments in Germany as far back as 2004. The project was named Papyrus and involved a project on electronic newspapers and DVB-H. News items were transmitted with DVB-H, the standard for mobile interactive broadcast. In 2004 the first trial was held in Berlin with 200 users. But Vodafone researched also other carriers for DVB-H as carrier for electronic newspapers like an eReader.

Vodafone did not choose for the e-readers like iLiad and STAReBOOK as Les Echos did. It started working together with Benq, a joint venture of Siemens, in developing the electronic tabloid newspaper. But Benq sunk in 2006 and so did that part of the project. In 2007 the consortium, in which Bertelsmann participated, then investigated other digital paper producers like Plastic Logic (which still has not been launched in 2009). More details on the project Papyrus can be gained from a lecture by Mr Geissler in 2007). In 2008 Vodafone Group R&D commissioned the Linz lab-atelier to come up with an interaction concept for their eInk-Newspaper Project Papyrus and demonstrated it at the Ars Electronica.

So the question is now whether Vodafone is still with Siemens or Plastic Logic. But of course Vodafone can also cooperate with developers who have a small display at present. Like Samsung, which has an A5 eReader named Papyrus. Or like the small German developer txtr which will launch an eReader of eInk Vizplex 6" display at 600x800 pixels in the fall of 2009 for the general consumer market. Of course of interest would be to know who will deliver the newspapers and books. Given the early project association with Bertelsmann, it would be striaght forward to make an alliance with that publisher.

It is interesting to see that there is a battle developing in Germany. T-Mobile has indicated last year that it is developing an eReader for newspapers. Now Vodafone is said to launch an eReader in the fall right at the time, when the small German developer will present its eReader with a 6” display.

Even more interesting it is to see that this fight heats up at a time when Amazon leaves a gap in the European ereader market with the absence of a European version of Kindle. Amazon has difficulkties to get in the European market and especially European telecom market as it will have to negotiate in all 27 countries with telecom companies. The European telecom market is one big fragmented industry. With T-Telecom picking up the iPhone and Android gadgets, it would be logical that Amazon woulkd negotiate with T-Telecom. But then the question still is whether T-Telecom is willing to pay the price Amazon asks.

Blog Posting Number: 1357

Tags: eBook, eReader, DVB-H

BPN 1306 Hearst FirstPaper

The Fortune announcement of the American publishing company Hearst launching an eReader, asks for some research. As it was indicated in the Fortune announcement that there would be a wireless device with a large screen with black and white for the time being, speculation was raised that iRex Technologies or Plastic Logic would be potential manufacturers. But from the googling it became clear that Hearst has invested in an hardly visible start-up, also stealth start-up called, named FirstPaper (a symbolic name after the article First Paper by Albert Einstein aboout relativity; it is clear that the FirstPaper wants to change reading). On Google there are references to the company, but presently there is no link to the company itself.

FirstPaper claims to produce a digital paper device, but flexible and with colour. Last year the company showed already a lab demo and said that it would take two years to develop. So now the launch gets closer and so do the speculations. The question is now whether Hearst will launch an eReader in the first place; what size will be the screen (14.1 inch wide?) and will it have colour or start up with black and white. Interesting will also be the price of the device, compared to the Kindle 2.

So Amazon might have Kindle 2, but Hearst will have its own ereader device. Amazon has an extensive portfolio of products for distribution, Hearst has a lot of eBooks and epapers of its own to sell on the ereader. Besides Hearst has an official, who used to be involved with the Sony eBookStore. So Hearst will be able to build its own business model. By having its own ereader and a lot of econtent Hearst will be able to compete with Amazon, which has monopolistic traits. So far publishers had to join Amazon to distribute their eBooks and other econtent. But when the Hearst device is on the market and Hearst has its business policy in place, other publishers might move over to Hearst. At last they will have a choice.

Blog Posting Number: 1306

Tags: ereader, ebook, epaper, econtent

BPN 1305 Hearst: large screen ereader this year

Hearst, The American publisher of books, magazines and books, plans to launch its own eReader this year, Fortune reports, citing industry sources. The company will start competing with Amazon and Sony, who are on the market respectively with the Kindle 2 and the Sony eReader PRS 700.

Left: iRex Digital Reader 1000; right Plastic Logic ereader

The difference however is that Hearst will choose for a larger screen than the Kindle 2 and the Sony eReader. It will choose a screen of about the size of a sheet of paper. The screen will be black and white initially, but later versions will also have a colour screen. Presently only the iRex Technologies has a large screen of 10.2 inch as well as Plastic Logic with a screen of 8. x 11 inch. Both screen are still showing black and white. According to Hearst the large screen better approximate the reading experience of print priodicals.

Hearst is the first publisher to take its own future with ereaders in its own hands. So far the book distributor Amazon and the consumer electronic manufacturer Sony have served the market; Amazon has been very succesful so far, while Sony has not been unsuccesful, when competition was lacking. But the succes has a kind of DRM-like problem. Amazon has so far sold eBooks in the Mobipocket format, a format of one of Amazon's subsidiaries, thus forcing publishers, using Amazon's download service, to follow the Amazon format and paying a hefty commission. It has scared off a number of publishers to be part of the Amazon portfolio. Last year, Sony was forced to open up its longstandiong proprietary format policy. Hearst has not said anything yet about formats.

But the announcement is more remarkable as Hearst is also presenting a business plan. The publisher hopes that the large screen will attract advertisers. Besides the sale of the device and the content Hearst hopes to pick up income from selling devices to other publishers and a share of revenue from selling content for these eReaders. Hearst will also license the underlying technology of the e-book reader to other publishers.

Hearst has been flirting with digital paper before. September 2008 the publisher presented its monthly edition with a digital cover. Only 100.000 copies were distributed at th kiosk and the cover could be watched for three months, until the battery died. Esquire picked digital paper as its owner Hearst has been an investor in the e-Ink company, the developer of digital paper. While the Esquire cover looked like an investor’s perk to Hearst, now it looks like it will be serious.

Blog Posting Number: 1305

Tags: ereader

BPN 1229 iRex beyond e-books and e-Papers to the business segment

It was clear that Forbes had received all the information on the launch of the new iRex Digital Reader 1000 (see photograph). Al the details were correct. The launch did not have any surprises for the journalists present; I was not there. But the first reviews basically copied the press release; only a few journalists had been able to hold and touch the new reader and they were in a jubilant mood. ZDNet opened by saying that the new reader gave a Windows feeling; supposedly this is meant as a compliment. The digital lifestyle site and magazine Bright.nl sported the caption: Size does matter (we know that by now from all the SPAM mail). The manufacturer iRex Technologies went a step ahead in its press release by using the headline: iRex Opens New Chapter In E‐Reading. In my opinion this is too much as only colour or video would open up a new chapter. The introduction of the DR1000 is just a logical expansion on the iLiad.

So the iRex Digital Reader 1000 is there, or better two versions are for sale now. The specs:
Diagonal screen size: 10,2 inch (25,9 centimetres)
Screen resolution: 1.024 x 1.280 pixels.
Screen size: text on a A4 format can almost be shown 1 on 1, as the white margins have been cut out; developers have been compromising between the A4 paper size in Europe and the legal paper size in the USA
Dimensions: 27 cm x 21,7 cm x 1, 2 cm (!)
Weight: 570 gram
Operating system: open source Linux
Document formats: most common formats such as PDF, HTML, TXT, JPEG and PowerPoint.
Version DR1000: 499 euro (650 US dollar)
Version DR1000S with digital pen and write functionality: 599 euro (750 US dollar)

The specs look good and interesting. The Open Source Linux will attract diverse applications. The size is interesting in a business environment and will not be dependent on book formats or newspaper formats. The DR1000 is clearly intended for the business market as it can show documents in the most current formats. Missing from this new reader is the bar to flip the pages back and forth, which is available on the iLiad. I thought that this was a new reading tool, but apparently not for the business environment.

But the disappointment of the introduction was the absence of the DR1000SW with Wifi, Bluetooth and 3G functionality, which will be available later this year. No price was mentioned in the press release about this version; however Forbes indicated that it would cost 850 US dollar, which would translate to 699 euro. To me this would be the most interesting one of the set. So why not introduce this one at the same time. Or are the DR1000 and DR1000S just teasers to warm up the market? I think there is more behind this introduction. iRex Technologies is getting nervous as Plastic Logic has been much in the news sporting its reader with 10,2 inch diagonal screen, which is due to be released in the second quarter of 2009. So, yes the DR1000 and DR1000S are teasers to warm up the market. And iRex Technologies will have to launch the DR1000SW before the second quarter of 2009 to keep the initiative. But by doing so it ill also have to set the price of the device, offering Plastic Logic the opportunity undercut the DR1000SW price of supposedly 850 US dollar.

I will be saving in the meantime in order to buy either the DR1000SW or the Plastic Logic reader.

Blog Posting Number: 1229

Tags: digital paper,e-reader, e-book

BPN 1228 While waiting for the new from iRex

Today iRex Technologies, the manufacturer of the e-reader iLiad is said to unveil its first 10,2 -inch e-book reader for the business market tomorrow. The iRex site says that iRex Technologies will unveil a new thing. So I will be checking the site continuously today. But the magazine Forbes was able to unveil some details already, even with a picture of the e-reader (see photograph). The basic message is, according to Forbes, that iRex Technologies will release a large size reader with a screen, which measures diagonally 10,2 inch. It looks like Rex Technologies is going to shift gears in battery life, software and addressing target groups.

From the small Sony PRS 500 to the iLiad, it was already a step forward. But the move from the iLiad to the 10,2 inch screen of the iRex Reader 1000 is a giant step. Especially for the business sector this will be interesting as most documents are still A4 or legal size. Whether the Reader 1000 will be more interesting for newspapers will depend on the price; the first rumblings are that iRex Technologies will again be on top of the price list.

It looks like iRex Technologies is the only one in that field, if the announcement is correct and concerns the Reader 1000. But just a week ago Plastic Logic was also in the news showing a large e-reader with the size of 8.5 x 11-inch, diagonally measuring up to 10,2 inch. Plastic Logic will start selling the product commercially at the beginning of next year. If all the rumours around the iRex Reader 1000 are true, iRex Technologies will start selling immediately in the USA.

So, we are witnessing a new step ahead in size of the screen. It will also be an incremental step in battery life and software. But I will wait to see the specs. But I can hear the critics already saying that it is not a step ahead as the screen is still using 16 grey tones and not colour, while also video is still missing. I am not impressed by that type of comments as colour will come around by 2009, as indicated by Russ Wilcox, the chief executive of E-Ink. Video is said to be on the horizon by 2012. So far digital paper has proven to be unruly for web processing and certainly for video; a few years might be needed to get around the problems involved. Yet a large screen will already be a step ahead; the next logical step would not be web browser functionality and video, but flexible digital paper.

Blog Posting Number: 1228

Tags: digital paper, e-reader, e-book

BPN 1180 Telcos seriously look at e-Papers

Der Spiegel, the sister publication of the German newspaper Bild, published a story on Deutsche Telecom being interested in digital newspapers. However the story was rather vague as the spokes person told the reporter that the telecom company did not have a content agreement with a newspaper nor did the spokesperson say anything on the e-reader(s) to be used. The story should be taken serious as Deutsche Telecom is picking up experience from its US sister network Verizon which is working together with Amazon’s e-reader Kindle, of which more than 240.000 have been sold already.

But the announced project does not really be on its way yet or does not want to tell too much about it. But in the fall the telco wants to start a pilot by handing out e-readers to some thousands of clients. The project is called News4Me and it is known that the telco tinkers on producing a personalised electronic newspaper. The site of Deutsche Telecom says: The News4Me project aims to create an individual electronic newspaper. Subscriptions are possible to complete issues or to individual sections from differing newspapers, which will then be transmitted to mobile devices. The contents and the layout adapt constantly to the way that you read. In future, wherever you are, you will benefit from easy access to current news and information which correspond to your personal interests.

So Deutsche Telecom or T-labs still have to agree on cooperations with newspaper companies. What DT wants looks like Google News. This asks for a lot of conversions from the various newspaper formats. Of course it has been demonstrated by Google and can be done for an e-reader.

The e-reader is still subject to speculation. However researchers of T-Labs have spoken about the specifications in June to Innovations Report and talked about an a screen almost as large a newspaper page, flexible and not an LCD screen with backlit facilities. The researchers referred to the product of the Dutch company Polymer Vision, the Readius (see photograph), with a rollable screen. They would also like to equip the e-reader with broadcast facilities, by which I think they mean video and audio.

It is interesting to see Deutsche Telecom going into e-papers as a telecom company and not having the support yet of the German newspaper industry. It is almost unbelievable as the international newspaper research institute IFRA is in Darmstadt and has been conducting an e-paper project for some years. Some US companies now benefit from the project by offering their newspaper to the public through Kindle. Besides IFRA recently performed a focus group test of e-reader with black and white screens provided by irex Technologies and Sony, but also colour screens, provided by Bridgestone.

But all these details aside: DT is the second telecom multinational going into a pilot of e-papers. Earlier this year France Telecom through its Orange Labs started the project Read & Go, the first 3G-connected mobile newspaper kiosk with the newspapers Le Monde, Le Parisien, Les Echos, L’Equipe and Télérama. Orange has specifically developed Wifi/3G coupled connectivity with a dedicated distribution platform, user interface and browsing capability. The Read&Go device has a storage capacity of 1 Gb – more than 200 newspapers – and also contains a e-library of thirty or so books (literature, strip cartoons, children's and practical publications, etc.) provided by Feedbooks, Médiatoon (Dargaud, Dupuis, Lombard et Kana) and Mango editions. The project will have 150 test persons. So far an iLiad has been used in the marketing utterances.

The move of the telecom companies France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom is interesting as the pilots are not just undertaken by newspapers and equipment manufacturers only like the projects of NRC Handelsblad in The Netherlands and Les Echos in France

Blog Posting: 1180

Tags: newspaper, e-paper, e-reader

Mindtrek 2007 (7)

Disruptive media in a convergent market

This is a nice title to keep people in suspense. The element innovation is in it as well the consolidation of the present market. Yet the presentation was about TV and print, or to be more specific about TV and newspapers and the presenter was Mr Jan Geissler, a researcher with Vodafone.

Mr Geissler started out with a short presentation on research at Vodafone. Media is the largest section of the research department in Vodafone. The research method Vodafone uses is to start a research project as a submarine; it will only surface when there are results to show. Mr Geissler has been involved in the project Papyrus, a project on electronic newspapers and DVB-H. It was the first time I heard about the project.

He started out giving statistics about the average daily media consumption in Germany:
- Internet: 26 minutes;
- Magazines and books: 12 minutes;
- Newspapers: 24 minutes;
- Television: 230 minutes.
And he sketched the average family situation in Germany. The family Miller pays 4-8 euro rent for a 3,5 rooms of 89 meters in a house with multiple parties. The family has a Grundig TV set, cable television and VHS.

This is the background against which the project Papyrus is set and researching DVB-H and newspapers. DVB-H is the standard for mobile interactive broadcast. In 2004 the first trial was held in Berlin with 200 users. In the meantime mobile broadcast is being deployed in Italy. Of course the DVB-H consortium would like to see the use of mobile interactive broadcast for the Olympic Games in China. But Vodafone saw also other applications for DVB-H as carrier for electronic newspapers.

The newspaper business is declining rapidly. It still has a 46 billion euro turn-over worldwide. The newspaper business now invests in online editions and social media and experiments with digipapers like mobile, e-readers and hopes for electronic tabloid newspapers. The advantages are seen as a lightweight newspaper, updates with wifi, to be printed anywhere with dynamic, customised content and advertisements.

Vodafone did not choose for the e-readers like iLiad and STAReBOOK as Les Echos did. It started working together with Benq, a joint venture of Siemens, in developing the electronic tabloid newspaper. But Benq sunk and so did that part of the project. The consortium, in which Bertelsmann participates, is now investigating other digital paper producers like Plastic Logic.

The presentation did throw up observations and questions. Interesting is the observation that broadsheet are getting smaller to the size of tabloids and perhaps in the future to magazine size, while the electronic newspapers are getting larger, from small telephone screen SMS like messages to A5 e-readers like the iLiad and STAReBOOK with a view on an electronic tabloid or even broadsheet.

Another question is: why should the digipaper succeed. Although presently advertisement revenues still go to television, internet takes more annually.

But the real question is of course whether the generation under 35 years of age still need a newspaper, regardless whether it is printed or a digipaper. A generation which has been fed with Google News, why should they buy an electric tabloid?

Blog Posting Number: 888

Tags: newspapers, e-reader, digipaper