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Special report: copyright in the E-book market |
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Competing in the e-book market |
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Global sales of e-readers totaled 4 million units in 2009. According to research from iSuppli Corp., this figure is expected to climb to 12 million in 2010, and 18 million in 2012. Manufacturers have already rolled up their sleeves and are ready to compete for e-book market share. Compared to European, American and Japanese markets, the Chinese market is faced with more challenges. The e-reader market thrived in 2009. Besides Hanvon, Hanlin, Dr. Yi and such e-reader originators, Founder and Datang have also jumped into the market.In addition, Baidu has queued up for e-reader (resources) The media has reported that Lenovo will place stress on this business sector as well. China Telecom released its G3 E-reader plan in May 2009 and would offer in-depth customization services Hanvon, Datang and Founder e-readers. Realizing the massive market potential of China, manufacturers want their piece of this huge cake. Despite the bright prospect, people are widly aware of the obstacles in the road: electronic paper technology is a blank in China; electronic ink technology is highly monopolized; foreign manufacturers cast covetous eyes on China’s market; the copyright problem in China is still a bottleneck; and piracy and counterfeit products are disturbing the market... more |
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Content: the key to success in e-book world |
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Hardware manufacturers launched the domestic e-book market, which was in complete contrast to e-book predecessor---Kindle. The success of Kindle is attributed partially to its pleasing appearance, strong technical skills, unique operation model, and numerous of resources with 300,000 kinds of books, 30 newspapers and 25 magazines. At present, technology is no longer the bottleneck of domestic e-reader manufacturers. Combining the E-ink display screen developed by Prime View International Co.Ltd and Samsung chip, a Shenzhen shanzhai manufacturer has designed a male die. Presently hundreds of small zhai manufacturers are capable of manufacturing the e-reader, let alone big manufacturers, and undoubtedly, there will see a sharp increase in the production of e-readers. However, the concerns of consumers are not only limited to the e-reader; but rater the contents...more |
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The Guidance from Amazon Kindle |
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With the e-reader market booming in China, multiple players are struggling for top position. From the global perspective, the Amazon Kindle is undoubtedly tops on the e-reader ranking list. Forbes website places Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos on par with Gutenberg who brought typography into Europe in the 15th century, It is conceivable that what kindle has brought to people. In the eyes of Jeff Bezos: “the books would be the last fortress of analog technology. The music and video have been digitalized for a very long time and short articles are also digitalized in the early days with the developing of network. However, there is no way out for long articles. Thus, the e-reader will be the final terminator.”...more |
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Establish the authentication mechanism of digital copyright |
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After years of market practices the once confused e-book industry has gradually cleared. The fight for hardware has evolved into one for content. The belief that, “To e-book, content is the core while copyright is the key” has been widely accepted by insiders. “Presently, most Chinese e-book producers lack content because of the copyright bottleneck. They tried to obtain digital copyrights through various channels, but even copyrights granted by e-libraries can be flawed and some producers have paid a heavy price for that,” Zhang Hongbo, deputy director-general of China Written Works Copyright Society, told China IP in an interview...more |
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Terminal: who will succeed on the beachhead |
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Over the past two years, there has been an on-going debate over whether e-reading will replace traditional reading. Looking at the current situation, it is clear that the booming availability of broadband, multi-media, Internet and digitization have all posed threats to the traditional publishing industry. This phenomenon is very common in western countries, and many Chinese enterprises regard the industrial development of their foreign counterparts as a weather vane of what to expect. According to the Sixth National Reading Survey, e-book reading in China has entered into a phase of rapid development. Currently the reading rate of various digital media is 24.5%. The China E-book Development Tendency Report shows that by the end of 2008 the number of e-book resource websites had exceeded 1,400. The market research company DisplaySearch predicted that e-reader sales in China will rise from 800,000 sets in 2009 to 3 million in 2010, which will account for 2% of the global market. As reported in China’s First Financial Daily, the largest online book retailer, Amazon, claimed that its sales volume of e-books has exceeded traditional printed books for the first time. According to its statistic data from Christmas 2009, and its e-reader Kindle also became the best selling gift. “When we talk about books today we are no longer referring exclusively to traditionally printed books,” said Juergen Boos, the director of the Frankfurt Book Fair...more |
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Shanzhai gets lost in e-book market |
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This time shanzhai hesitated when confronted by the huge success of e-books. Shenzhen has seen many intensive e-book related exhibitions and forums, and this is much like the time when Netbook was launched. At the beginning of 2008, when Netbook hit the market, a number of exhibitions and forums about Netbook were held in Shenzhen. Today, however, this has become a nightmare to the shanzhai. On March, 16, 2010, the “World E-paper Conference and Electronic Reader Exposition 2010,” was held in Shenzhen. Well-known manufacturers in the e-book industry attended while the shanzhai manufacturers, which had received major attention, didn’t appear. “I also sold e-books, but had limited orders from my clients; mainly government officers and companies, since the demand was not large and most of the need was gift-oriented,” said Mr. Wang, who has been working as a computer dealer for 4 years. “Some people asked me if shanzhai iPads were available. The answer is that none are presently available. But I don’t think it is worth it for the shanzhai to enter the e-book market. The profit from e-books is much less than that of Netbooks.”...more |