Mobile Reading Comes Of Age
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Transcript of Mobile Reading Comes Of Age
Mobile reading comes of age
NFAIS Workshop on the Mobile Delivery of Content
October 30, 2009
This morning’s presentation
• A mobile context• Current options for mobile reading• Expected developments• Implications for content creation and
management
2
Core take-aways
• Mobile content demand is expanding rapidly• The market starts with e-readers but includes
an array of multi-function mobile devices• Low-cost “netbooks” are becoming widely
available• Content forms are likely to evolve significantly
as use of these devices expands
3
Mobile reading advantages
• Portability• Searchability• Breadth of selection• Affordability (lower selling price for content)• Increasingly offering the benefits of the web– Open, social, linked
4
A mobile profile
5
Yes, we have cell phones
6
Held together by an allegiance to a common cell-phone plan …
We also have a Kindle …
7
Strength in What
Remains, by Tracy Kidder
Nifty Kindle cover, only
$49 atM-Edge
Download 25 titles a
month at an average price
of $5.20
… and iPod Touches
8
Clean, shiny, new
=mine
Used and
wired =not
mine
With wireless access and commerce
9
Stanza
B&N
Kindle
Shortcovers
Classics
BookShelf
BookZ
Libris
… as well as standalone book
apps
All part of an evolving value chain
10
This list covers only (most of) the existing players …
Source: Forrester Research; Magellan research
The future will be even more robust
11Source: Forrester Research; Magellan research
Keys to mobile reading success
• Wireless coverage• Seamless transactions• Extensive content libraries• Device reliability• Content interoperability
12Adapted from work by Andrew Brenneman, Book Business
Mobile reading segments: a range
13
• Various platforms• Game consoles
(Wii, X-BOX)
• Sony Reader• Amazon Kindle• BN Nook• iRex• BeBook• Bookeen• Plastic Logic• … and more
• Treo (Palm)• Blackberry (RIM)• iPhone (Apple)• Android (Google)• Ovi (Nokia)
• Asus• Acer• Dell• Courier• Apple Tablet (?)
How book content is readFormat All digital reading Excluding PDF
PDF 60% --
E-book compatible 17% 42%
iPhone OS 8% 20%
Palm OS 4% 10%
All others 11% 28%
14
The breadth of content consumption (still) relying on PDF file formats suggests that readers are willing to forego a lot of bells and whistles
just to get content digitally.
Source: Bob LiVolsi, Books on Board, BEA 2009
Ebook sales have exploded
15Source: AAP
Book networks are also booming
• Open, social, linked• Visual Bookshelf: 6 million
users, 108 million books• WeRead (Facebook): nearly
2 million readers, over 45 million books
• LibraryThing 750K visits a month; Goodreads 500K
• BN, Amazon, Scribd and Wattpad all play a role here
16Adapted from Brad Inman, Vook; Magellan research
Sizing the e-reader opportunity
17
$199 price point
$99 price point
More wireless devices
Color displays available
Content, brands grow
Early adopters drive a small market
More mainstream, frequent book buyers adopt eReaders
Students and business consumers
Source: Forrester Research
A range of e-reader participantsStatus Competitors
Leaders Sony Reader – Pocket, Touch, Daily Edition (3G, touch screen)Amazon Kindle – seamless order and delivery; proprietary format
Existing or announced
Astak MentorBarnes & Noble NookCOOL-ER ReaderCybook Opus (Bookeen), Gen 3Ditto BookeSlickExtaco jetBookHanlin eReader (BeBook)HanroniRex (touchscreen, international, through Best Buy)Plastic Logic eReaderPolymer Vision’s ReadiusTxtr
18Source: Book Business; Magellan research
And growth of e-book stores
• Amazon: 300K to 400K titles• Barnes & Noble: 700K (600K?) to start; over a
million in a year• Google: estimated 1,000K public domain titles• Apple: as many as 10,000 book apps?• Scribd: 10 million documents published
19Source: Book Business; Folio:; Magellan research
A significant challenge: formats
Segment Options
File types RTF and PDFBBeB.lit, mobi and AZWPDB and FB2HTML, RB, CHM and OEB.. And EPUB
Digital rights management
Microsoft ReaderAdobe AdepteReaderMobiApple FairPlayDNL… and others
20
Today: Device + Format + Discovery + Acquisition + Installation + DRM = “Confusion”
Adapted from work by Neelan Choksi, Lexcycle; “Confusion” courtesy Peter Brantley, Internet Archive
Some format/DRM examplesFAQ Explanation“What formats are available for Secure Mobipocket Format eBooks and what devices can I read them on?”
“EBooks marked [Secure Mobipocket] are available as encrypted Mobipocket files. Mobipocket is a free reader application that is currently available on these platforms: Personal Computers Palm and Palm compatible; PocketPC; Franklin eBookMan; Symbian OS, including the Psion5, Psion5mx, Psion Revo, Psion Revo+, and Diamond MAKO organizers, and the Nokia 9210 (European model), 9290 (American model), Ericsson R380, R380e and R380 Smartphones.”
“How do I set my Secure Mobipocket Personal ID so I can read Secure Mobipocket Format eBooks?”
“Before downloading a Secure Mobipocket Format eBook file, you must set your Secure Mobipocket Personal ID (PID) in your Bookshelf. This is a code number that you can find by using the "About" menu item in the Mobipocket application on your device. (It) is used to encrypt the file so it is only usable on your PDA. (A future version of Mobipocket will allow you to read your eBooks on more than one device that you own.)”
21Source: Fictionwise.com
Growing e-reader awareness
22Source: Forrester Research
A “reverse” generation gap?
• Average age of today’s p-book buyer is 44; most frequent book buyer is 50
• “Seniors are leading the way in the digital market”
• Over 65 = largest cohort of Kindle users• First group to move beyond the desktop for
digital content
23Source: Bowker presentation at BISG’s “Making Information Pay” conference, 2009
A growing mobile market
24
“Reach” “Exchange” “Engagement”
Source: Magellan research
Projected smart-phone growth
25Source: Yankee Group Research; Magellan research
Rich-media: powered by apps
• A mix of carrier and device stores*• Multiple rich-media readers (e.g., Stanza,
Kindle)• A growing number of books
*Apple, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Microsoft and Google are the primary players.
26
A range of operating platforms
• Apple iPhone OS• Android• Symbian OS• Windows Mobile• Blackberry
27
Application design depends on what platforms matter to your audience. Sometimes a mobile web solution would suffice.
Top uses of iPhone appsTop 5 Next 5
Weather
News
Entertainment
Directions (maps)
Sports
Traffic updates
Shopping
Work and related information (growing)
Stock quotes
“Other”
28
Although “books” doesn’t make the top ten, there is a reason.
Source: Alisa Bowen, Thomson-Reuters
Book apps: popular, not persistent
29
Used frequently, not kept
Used frequently,kept around
Used infrequently,kept around
Source: Kara Swisher, All Things Digital; Magellan research
Behind the persistence “issue”
• Each book its own app• Downloads are read
using Stanza, Kindle etc.• Readers stay, books go• “Disposable” books may
pressure publishers to open formats or lower prices
30Source: Kara Swisher, All Things Digital; Magellan research
Mobile web access: 22% netbooksConsiderations Examples
Announced players Asus Eee PC ($300, Linux, now Android)
Acer ($100 with a 2-year AT&T contract)
Dell
Courier (Microsoft tablet)
“Mythical Apple Tablet” (M.A.T.)
Netbook implications Useful while most documents still PDFs
A full-service multifunction device
A window to the web
31Source: Magellan research
Full web access = digital editions?
• Exact Editions• Texterity• Nxtbook• Zinio• Imirus• … among others
32
Digital editions: an interim fit?
33Source: Texterity Inc, “2008 profile of the digital magazine reader”
New formats, new rules
• Portrait vs. landscape• San serif fonts, larger than normal• Increased leading (4-5 points more than font)• Linked (when the device supports it)• Serving images as slideshows in a single
window
34Source: Book Business
Mobile growth creates possibilitiesTrends Examples
Current Bundling content by genre
Reading as part of a consumptive culture
Evolving Selling content in chunks
Licensing vs. owning
Role of libraries
Impact on (and from) library lending
35
Last week’s announcements by the Internet Archive open up a range of possibilities for lending digital content.
Content as a consumptive tool
• On demand• Personal• Engaging• Networked
• “OPEN”
36Source: Carolyn Pittis, HarperCollins; Troy Gibson
A cross-section of mobile models
37
Typically supported using web-based wireless
applications
Opportunity to develop and implement device-
based apps
Source: Alisa Bowen, Thomson-Reuters
Other trends to watchCategory Trends
Participants Digital-only (ebook and POD) imprints
Whatever the Internet Archive has up its sleeve
Google Books
Integrated selling with bricks-and-mortar outlets
Applying semantic tools (e.g. Peer 39) to book content
Market developments Publishers developing their own readers
Dynamic pricing
App store backlash (censorship?)
Concerns about uptime (service reliability)
38
Core take-aways
• Mobile content demand is expanding rapidly• The market starts with e-readers but includes
an array of multi-function mobile devices• Low-cost “netbooks” are becoming widely
available• Content forms are likely to evolve significantly
as use of these devices expands
39
“Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive. Information wants to be free because it has become so cheap to distribute, copy and recombine – too cheap to meter. It wants to be expensive because it can be immeasurably valuable to the recipient. That tension will not go away. It leads to endless, wrenching debate about price, copyright, intellectual property, the moral rightness of casual distribution, because each round of new devices makes the tension worse, not better.”
-- Stewart Brand (1984)
40
“98 percent of all the people who will eventually read e-books are not reading on them today …”
-- Bob LiVolsi,BooksonBoard.com
41
For more information
• A mobile biography, http://bit.ly/1g0Ll4• “Future of Books”, CQ Researcher, 5/29/2009• Book Industry Study Group (www.bisg.org) ,
“Consumer Attitudes Toward Digital Publishing” (Jan 2010)
42