E-Books Area of Growth, Change in Years to Come

The last couple of years were hardly the best for American businesses, but that didn’t stop the e-book market from expanding. Even while print trade sales flatlined, e-book sales from the thirteen publishers who report to the Association of American Publishers grew by 176.6 percent.

In 2010, the market is still growing and its landscape is changing. For one, Kindle’s domination of e-book readers seems to be at an end. Credit Suisse predicts that over the next five years Amazon’s 90 percent of e-book market share will drop to 35 percent. That’s because Apple and Google are muscling in with snappier readers (the iPad) and the easy-to-access, direct e-book downloader, Google Editions. Assuming Apple and Google are successful, these three powerhouses will soon be splitting the market roughly evenly. Should Amazon be worried? Should publishers?

While Amazon’s share of the pie will shrink to a third, the pie itself should be growing rapidly, from 1 to 3 percent of total books sold by the end of 2010. This means that while Amazon will sell a smaller percentage of books sold, its profits may triple by 2015. It will still be important for publishers to get their books onto Amazon, but it won’t be enough. Google and Apple will be equally important outlets for selling books, and there may be more room for other, smaller distributors.

As e-readers change and the market grows, the more platforms a publisher can offer their books on, the better. The better, too, for customers. With more choice about where to spend their money, buyers may spur giants like Amazon and Apple to greater technological heights or make a start-up into a new industry giant, keeping the e-book industry growing.

e-Readers on the Horizon: The Entourage Edge

While Apple’s iPad has dominated recent coverage in the electronics world, especially where text readers are concerned, it is by no means the only product on the market offering multiple functions in one device. The Entourage Edge, a dual-screen e-book reader/tablet/netbook, is set to release March 26, 2010, for the price of $499 and is among the first dualbooks available on the market.

Entourage seems to be targeting the field of education with the Edge, with student use particularly in mind. Edge users will be able to annotate the onscreen text by using a stylus pen on the black-and-white eInk screen, something not yet possible with the Kindle or the nook. Users can also drag images from the black and white screen to the color LCD for view. The integrated tablet notebook operates on Google’s Android platform, allows for Internet use (which lets users make connections between the text on the Edge and what is found online), contains a virtual keyboard, has two USB ports, 3 gigs of memory (with the possibility to add up to 30 more gigs), and Bluetooth capability. The Edge can also run third-party software, such as Microsoft Office. And while education might be its early target market, it shows promise as a device that will be useful to professionals in the fields of law and medicine as more and more people seek to have information and usability portable and at their fingertips.

There’s concern about its size, though (3lbs). At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in January, a blogger who got his hands on the Entourage Edge said that the device, compared to its competition, was big and clunky for an e-Book reader, but that it scored points for originality. However, considering the weight of textbooks (at an average of 3–5 lbs.each), the 3lb. Edge can pack in 30 pounds of book in just the 3, and for students lugging “libraries” around on their back from class to class, a multifunction device that gives them access not only to books, but the Internet, e-mail, and word processing, just to begin, could prove to be a relief—and an advantage.

As a first-generation product, it shows promise. Undoubtedly, with time and further technological improvements the Edge may prove to be stiff competition for Apple’s iPad, which may have the added effect of lowering the price of both devices, making these multifunction readers more accessible to users who are seeking a new way to consume books and other traditionally printed texts.

Protecting Your E-Books on the iPad

The iPad will hit the streets on April 3rd, and several major publishers—Penguin, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and HarperCollins for now—are on board. When the iBookstore opens for business, these publishers will be armored against the inevitable efforts of pirates with Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) software. DRM protects content by allowing an e-book to be downloaded only to a finite number of devices. As pirates attempt to hack the system, Apple responds with harder-to-hack software—a back and forth that began while attempting to protect music and has no end in sight.

Given the buzz about the iPad, publishers hope that this will keep e-book sales rising. The opportunity to introduce their content to millions of iTunes and Apple users is one of the reasons Penguin chairman John Mackinson is excited to have his company on board. Of course, iPad won’t just have iBooks. There will be “apps” for using “Kindle for iPhone, Stanza, Iceberg Reader, eReader, and Kobo,” just to name a few.

Prior to the announcement of the iPad, there was debate about whether or not Apple would use DRM on its iBooks. After all, Amazon has been criticized by some for using this technology and there are a handful of publishers electing to go without. Most publishers, however, including all five of the major publishers on the iPad, are opting to protect their books with DRM. In a culture where people are used to paying for books, the transition to the e-book may not mean that consumers will suddenly expect content for free. Still, it never hurts to be safe.

NBN Fusion Business Partners

I’ve had a number of requests for the full list of business partners to whom NBN Fusion is distributing e-books. We are currently working with the following partners:

Amazon (Kindle and SITB)
Barnes & Noble (Nook and See Inside)
EBooks Ltd.
Follets/CafeScribe
Google BookSearch
iGroup
Ingram MyiLibrary
Ingram eBook Retail (EBDL)
Kobo (formerly Shortcovers)
Overdrive eBook Adapter
Questia
Sony

If you would like to see a new business partner added, please e-mail Catherine with the information and I’ll submit it for review.

Follow NBNFusion on Twitter for the latest breaking news about new business partners!

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http://www.digitaltrends.com/gadgets/barnes-aligns-with-adobe/trackback/

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http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE59T3AW20091030

Illegal downloaders 'spend the most on music', says poll

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/illegal-downloaders-spend-the-most-on-music-says-poll-1812776.html

The Future of Reading: As the book changes form, the library must champion its own power base—readers

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6703852.html?industryid=47109

7 Reasons Why eReaders Make Great Gifts This Year

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356482,00.asp