Electronic books: Whats driving their popularity?

According to Mc Quivey, Mulligan and Corbett (2010) of Forrester Research, the digital book market almost surpassed 1 billion dollars this year and is set to surpass 3 billion by 2015. The launch of electronic devices such as the new Apple iPad and the Samsung E6 book reader will further fuel this market making the e-book’s proliferation into the mainstream market even more successful. The popularity of digital books has led to the Times announcing that it will start publishing a e-book fiction and non-fiction best seller list starting next year. (Albanesius 2010)

iPad book reader. Click image for source.

In an interview regarding the steady rise in digital books, Deborah Cornwall (2010) states that although digital books only makeup 6 – 7 percent of the market in US and Britain, most are made between the first 24 hours of a book’s release, this is attributed to the easiness in purchasing books electronically. With just a swipe of a finger, users can now download books titles straight to the device. Another subject Cornwall touched upon in her interview was the convenience of digital libraries that allow you to upload PDF files into your e-book reader immediately and automatically erases itself from the memory when the borrowing time is up.

Books, unlike music and movies have not faced a paradigm shift for hundreds of years. Sony’s digital reading head Steve Haber predicted e-books to be the dominant form of reading within five years. (The Electronista 2010) Three years ago, Steve Haber estimated that it would take 10 years of electronic books to exceed print books, but he now believes that it would only take half the time as digital text has already passed a point of mainstream acceptance. A research by Springer (2010) encompassing 882 respondents at the University of Illinois found that a majority of users use e-books for research and study leaving leisure to play a secondary role. However this may be limited to educational institutions only, Cornwall (2010) states that the majority of e-book readers are middle aged women who read for pleasure.

New technologies and the upcoming gadget savvy generation is only going to contribute to the rising e-book trend. However I still believe we are far off from forgetting books altogether; traditional print books still has its charm and many still prefer the feel of a solid book than one on a handheld electronic device.

References:

Albanesius, C 2010, “New York Times to Launch E-Book Best Seller Lists,” PC Mag, published 11^th November 2010, accessed 13^th Novmber 2010, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372546,00.asp

Cornwall, D 2010, “E-books popularity on the rise,” The 7:30 Report, ABC News, published 18^th March 2010, accessed 14^th November 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2849989.htm

Electronista 2010, “Sony: e-books more popular than print n five years,” published 3^rd June 2010, accessed 13^th November 2010, http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/06/03/sony.sees.digital.reading.inevitably.taking.over/#ixzz15ElAeV2U

McQuivey, J L Mulligan, M Corbett, A E 2010, “eBook Buying is about to spiral upwards,” Forrester Research, published 5^th November 2010, accessed 13^th November 2010, http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/ebook_buying_is_about_to_spiral_upward/q/id/57664/t/2

Springer, 2008, “The End User Experience,” accessed 14^th November 2008, http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/eBooks+-+the+End+User+Experience?SGWID=0-0-45-608298-0