eBooks: reading devices and price wars
Amazon launched its Kindle reader in India. It is estimated that Amazon has sold about 1000 readers in India since its quiet launch in October 2009. This has set the ball rolling for Indian players to launch their indigenous reader versions in the Indian market.
Cost of the eBook reader is an important criteria that will impact sales in India. The Indian consumer may prefer buying a laptop than an e reader. The e reader is still not in the must have accessory list for most Indians.
The Kindle costs INR 18,000-20000. This includes import taxes and duties (estimated to be 30-40% of the cost) and shipment charges. With 3G stuck in red tape, how does one download the eBooks ‘wirelessly’?
There is news of two Indian firms launching Indian e readers in the market. Infibeam’s Pi is in the market and EC media’s e-reader is set to hit the market soon.
The comparative prices for some of the e readers in India are:
Kindle (Amazon): INR 18000+
Pi: INR 10000
E Reader (EC media): INR 8000-18000
As far as Kindle is concerned, Amazon has acknowledged that international consumers will pay more. For downloading eBooks you will need to connect to the internet to download files on your laptop and then transfer them to Kindle. There are varying projections about the exorbitant download costs to the international consumer as local networks will be charged by AT&T (which has a tie up with Amazon’s wireless Whispernet).
Check out Amazon’s wireless coverage map. Amazon claims that the direct download works with most GSM networks in India. I read somewhere that download charges in India are expected to be about INR 100 or more for using local mobile networks (no authentication available about this as yet).
Several publishers believe that users will prefer mobiles instead of dedicated readers. As a result, they are working on plans that ensure consumers are able to download and read their book on any platform. The big names that are focused on the mobile phone as a reading device include big wigs like Penguin, Simon & Schuster and Random House.
Promoting the same concept is Cell Stories, the brainchild of a Columbia Journalism school professor, who believes that Sony and Amazon have got the eBook reader fundamental all wrong. He believes that cell phones of today are devices for contemporary reading and his website is focused on providing stories for cell phones.
In India, RCOM decided to test readership of Pinki’s Virani’s new novel by delivering it through short messaging services (a total of 90 messages). The company is in touch with publishers and it will be interesting to the see the response of Indian subscribers to this service.
At the global level, the battle between Apple’s Ipad and Amazon’s Kindle has just begun. Deals with publishers are price wars are just beginning. Industry watchers believe that Amazon does have an edge over Apple due to its robust ecommerce platform.
The publishing industry is in a state of flux. Multiple devices and new improvisations are added every day. The challenge for publishers is to be able to deliver content through multiple channels.
