BPN 1646: Google starts e-book sales in the Netherlands (2)

The big question is of course: Will the arrival of Google Play Store have much impact on the Dutch e-book market? In order to answer this question, we will have to look at the Dutch market for e-books.



Short history of e-readers: Sony EBG (1993; above left); Franklin Rocket eBook (1997; above right); iLiad (2006; below left); Bebook Neo (2010; below right). Pictures © Collection Jak Boumans

It has taken quite a while before the Dutch publishers and readers accepted e-books. The first Dutch e-books on mini-disks were produced for the Sony EBG in 1993. In 1997 the internet distribution was started. And with the sales of the e-Ink screens such as the Iliad of iRex from 2006 onwards, a new round started. By 2010 Dutch publishers started to get serious about e-books. Sony with its e-readers has been a driver in this new wave, while Kobo is now an upcoming favourite. And the turn-over of the e-books can now be measured.

The sales curve started in 2011 with 1,3 per cent of the total book sales. In 2012 e-books were good for 2,5 per cent of the total sales of physical and e-books together. In 2013 the market share is growing to 4,1 per cent.  

In this e-book market Bol.com, part of the large food and non-food retailer Albert Heijn, sells 10 per cent in digital copies of all Dutch book sold. The web shop has also sold tens of thousands of Sony e-readers since May. Also the largest bookshop chain Polare (a new combination of Selexyz and the rams distributor De Slegte) registers 4,5 per cent of its online turn-over. 

However the Dutch e-book market is a dwarf in comparison with English language countries like the US, Canada and UK. France is doing slightly better than The Netherlands, while Germany is on the same level as the Dutch market. As said before France has a competitive advantage as  its VAT is in the lower bracket, much to the chagrin of the European Commission.

It should also be noted that the acceptance of e-books in a country is not a question of acceptance by the readers only. Of course there are many ink addicts and they will only get smaller in numbers over the years. But also the publishers are still hesitant. They know the trade of printed books which have a fixed price in The Netherlands as well as many European countries.  Besides they see e-books still as cannibalisation of a cultural product. And of course, they are afraid of the pirating.

So operating from Luxembourg, having the advantage of a favourable VAT bracket, and serving the rest of fragmented Europe will be interesting for international companies like Amazon, iTunes and Google Play Shop.  Local retailers can play a part in this, but they will mainly get their turn-over out of print books.

But looking at the market of e-books, there are still three questions to be answered:
- E-books from the library;

- How long will the e-book still exist;
- How is the acceptance growing or translated how many e-books are pirated.

Stay tuned for the next posting. Or, if you can't wait, send in your messages about the end of the e-book and pirating.

Update 1 August 2013
Recent GfK market research shows that of all Dutch language titles only 12 per cent is available as e-book. This is most likely a reason why the e-book market in the Netherlands is slow.

In the first half of 2013 e-books had a turn-over of 3,5 per cent of the total book sales. Last month another source claimed 4,1 per cent. Last year the per centage was 2,4.

In the first half of 2013 almost 800.000 e-books were sold in the Netherlands, good for 7,6 million euro; on average 9,50 euro per e-book. More than 80 per cent came out of fiction, while only a little bit more than a quarter of all Dutch language fiction titles are available as e-book.

 

BPN 1421 Digital paper pioneer iRex in chapter 11

The Eindhoven (The Netherlands) based ereader manufacturer iRex Technologies has gone into a comparable situation as chapter 11 last Tuesday. The company has cash problems as US sales have been delayed.

Last year iRex Technologies announced a deal with the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble and the online shop Best Buy. The ereader DR800SG customised for the US market with 3G functionality and a touch screen was supposed to reach the stores by the Christmas season. However, the Federal an inspection Communications Commission (FCC) took more time for inspection of the device than hoped for and iRex Technologies missed the season sales. As a replacement Barnes & Noble launched the Nook at the end of October 2009. In the end also the Best Buy deal did not work out as foreseen.

The CEO of iREX Technologies, a Philips spin-off, incorporated in Luxembourg, claims that the position of the company is not hopeless. The company has a problem with cash flow and banks are not really accommodating. However, the CEO Mr Brons still hopes that the situation will be solved.

iRex Technologies was the first manufacturer to appear on the market with an ereader based on the e-Ink display technology in 2006. The US has been the target market for iRex Technologies from the beginning. In comparison to the multilingual Europe, the US is a homogeneous market with many nationals reading the languages English and Spanish. However, the company was unable to sell its ereader with the Mobypocket reader to Amazon and had to settle for Barnes & Noble.

In Europe iRex Technologies has not made many inroads. In its home country The Netherlands, the company was unable to organise a marketing action with the book and newspaper publishers. It has had sporadic projects. The national quality paper NRC Handelsblad started cooperation, but no other paper followed due to the high price and technical problems. A project with the bookstore chain Selexyz was not a success; having been selling more brands of ereaders, Selexyz now has signed with Samsung for the E60 ereader. The company missed the Dutch market completely when the Dutch bookpublishers adopted the EPUB standard instead of Amazon’s Mobypocket and Sony with a cheaper ereader made a deal with the online bookstore Bol.com.

Tags: ereader, ebook

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 1055 First Dutch university on eBook

As the first Dutch university the Open University offers its course material on eBook readers. Students in the management Studies department, taking HRM courses, receive an eBook reader for free with a substantial part of the course material. The offers fit in the OU’s strive after time- and place independent studying facilities.

With the eBook project the OU looks for sensible solutions using new methods, tools and technologies. The eBook reader can contain a complete cupboard with books and reads as well as a printed book. The OU has chosen after a trial (see photograph) for the Hanlin V3 for its stability and user friendliness. The battery life is 8.000 page flips long. And interesting is the facility on which mp3 files can be played. With the experience of using the eBook readers the university is able to continue its policy to use, extend and optimise e-material. Also course material as mp3 file is seriously researched. It can save time, while also visually impaired students can participate.

The OU is the first university to offer its material digitally for eBook readers, as the OU develops most of its content itself and digitally. It converts also the content with text-to-speech material, so that the texts can be read and listened to. Other universities are more dependent on publishers, who are more cautious and wait for a standard to crystallise.

It looks like eBooks and eReaders are slowly making inroads, despite a recent marketing survey, basically telling that only 2 per cent of 600 respondents will buy an eReader and 16 per cent might do so. But eReaders and especially the digital paper ones, are products of national pride, as in The Netherlands three companies, all Philips spin-offs, are actively developing digital paper eBook readers. iRex Technologies has brought the second version of the iLiad wireless eReader. Polymer Vision is still developing the mobile phone Readius, while Liquavista has just taken the colour digital paper, based on the technical principle of electrowetting from the drawing board in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) to start industrial production in China. In terms of sales The Netherlands is starting up. Last year the book chain Selexyz started to sell the iLiad and has sold 273 units till March 2008, while 50 Dutch language eBooks were available. A pilot was held at a secondary school. This year so far the Dutch quality newspaper NRC Handelsblad started its ePaper edition and sold in two weeks more than 500 iLiads. The Dutch language eBooks have doubled since last year to 100 titles, while 279 Dutch language eBooks are in the public domain. Also the libraries subscribers can now borrow eBooks. The consultancy PWC expects this year a turn over of 0,5 mln euro.

Blog Posting Number: 1055

Tags: eBook, eReadereBook, eReader, digital paper, ePaper

Dutch public libraries in e-books

The Dutch service organisation for libraries NBD/Biblion will offer public libraries a collection of digital and audio books within two months. The members of the public library will be able to download e-books and audio books at home. The new online service is an addition to music download service for members of the public library, which was started late 2005.

The service organisation will produce a portal, which will be launched for trial in the second quarter of the year. There is a curious detail: normally e-books can be rented out to members instantaneously. However, in this case a limited number can rent the e-book copies due to license limitations. In first instance a few hundreds Dutch language e-books will be available, included copyright ones, as well as a few thousand English language books in the public domain.

In The Netherlands activities concerning e-books are fragmented. iRex Technologies is selling the iLiad. There is an online e-book site. The Dutch book chain Selexyz has started to sell the e-book reader Iliad and e-books (the company sold already more than 150 e-book readers). The software development company Edupaper has held a trial in a school environment and is now selling e-book readers like the Iliad, Booken Cybook, Polymer Vision Readius. And a few public libraries, among which the public library of my hometown Almere, bought e-book readers to rent them out. However, there is no united consumer promoting campaign for e-book readers and e-books by manufacturers, publishers, developers, book shops and libraries.

Blog Posting Number: 976

Tags: e-book,
e-book reader, public library, library

E-books in the Netherlands: here we go again

Yesterday the Dutch daily financial FD (registered access) sported an article on e-books. Basic message was that the bookshop chain BGN will start to distribute e-books through its Selexyz consumer channel. The motive: “We have to.”, according to Matthijs van der Lely, the managing director, “ As Selexyz we need to be in the front. Look at what happened to the CD, with the downloading of music, with iTunes. You need to go with the flow as bookshop, even if you put an axe in the roots of your own business”.

His offer: “The e-reader which Selexyz will sell is dear: it will cost 650 euro. The customer can only download English language titles for now., in total 25.000 titles through the website of Selexyz. Some titles are free, others can be read against payment. Dutch titles are not available yet. They still have to be digitised..”

I looked at the article and could not believe my eyes. The man spoke like a stranger in Jerusalem. I wondered whether he took the decision after the saleman of iRex Technologies had dropped in with his blue eyes or having read a proper marketing report. I personally think that the iRex salesmen passed by and won him over.

E-book in the Netherlands: here we go again, now for the third time. In 1993 Sony tried to swamp the European and Dutch market with its EB player. It cost 1200 Dutch guilders (roughly 600 euro now). This e-reader (see my mini-series on retro gadgets), an adapted Data-discman playing a minidisc, was the first incorporation of an electronic book: the device was the hard cover and the minidisc could contain 200Mb in text, images and sound (which was an innovation for books after the sound books by Bertelsmann). In 1995 Sony stopped the sale of the EB reader in the Netherlands with no more than 1.000 units sold and roughly 6 Dutch titles produced. .

By 1997 in the upswing of internet, a new ground swell came up with e-readers from Softbooks and Rocket e-book. It looked like it would work. But by 2000 no e-book tsunami had passed. The bookshops of Barnes & Nobles threw the e-books out of their assortment. Some specialised companies stayed with the e-books, but the owners did not become millionaires from it.

In both waves many success and failure characteristics had played their part. Of course it was interesting to read electronic books, having them in one device. But the weight, the screen, the battery life and the price contained technical failure elements and the perception that everything is free on the internet, including e-book, as well as the offer of e-books were a marketing failure characteristic.

By 2006 the third wave came up in the Netherlands. iRex Technologies introduced the iLiad, an e-reader with a screen based on the e-Ink technology; a very readable screen with a smart power consumption system. The iLiad was also positioned as an e-book reader, but also as an electronic newspaper reader, an electronic manual reader and a device which could be used in schools and hospitals. It is an open system so it takes for example the Mobipocket format, which can be read on Windows, Palm and Pocket PCs. In the meantime the e-book business had grown slowly in the Netherlands and e-book.nl offers e-books in various languages, including at least 140 Dutch language copyrighted books.

Will the Selexyz wave bring on the e-book tsunami? Did the situation really change? Technically there have been major improvements in the weight, digital paper screen and power management. But for the rest not much has changed. The perception that everything is free on the internet has changed a little bit, given the success of iTunes. But so far nothing has changed in price and the offer of copyrighted books in Dutch.

One conclusion can be drawn from history: do not start at the distribution end, but start at the producing end. Before Mr Van der Lely should have talked to the financial newspaper, he should have organised a production pipeline with publishes for e-books and audio books and then he should have started a publicity campaign with the publishers, producers and the distribution channels. He should have made sure that the 1 kilogram book of Geert Mak In Europa should be available in electronic form or the 1032 page book about Pierre Vinken, the former CEO of Reed Elsevier; these would prove the advantages of e-book. Now he is left with an expensive offer of an e-reader for which hardly any Dutch language books are available. In short Selexyz has create a guarantee for failure in the e-book distribution.

Blog Posting Number: 904

Tags: e-book, e-reader