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)

• brian.oleary@magellanmediapartners.com

42