7.30.10: Smartphone > eReader?
One of my earliest columns quoted a review that Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal wrote about eReading devices, like the Kindle, especially pointing out that while he liked reading on his Kindle at home, he most often resorted to using his iPhone to read eBooks; he simply did not wish to carry two devices while out and about. Some ebook news bloggers expect smartphones to overtake devices as the main eReading platform.
Smartphones with big screens–like iPhone & Droid–are becoming more popular worldwide; sales are up in the UK, garnering 73.5% of the UK contract market according to UnwiredView.com. In a PublishingPerspectives.com piece on July 23rd, Edward Nawotka asked “Will Cell Phones Prevail Over Dedicated Devices for Mass Market E-Reading?” Nawotka then went on to state: “In emerging markets, cell phone are far more ubiquitous than dedicated e-reading devices, which are more expensive than phones and thus more exclusive and rare. In the US and Europe, dedicated devices have a foothold in the market, but as cell phones continue to grow in size and functionality, the relevance of dedicated e-readers looks to wane.”
More ebooks in Spanish and Portuguese will soon be poured into the mobile-reading cauldron. Spanish telecom giant Telefónica and the Spanish Association of Publishers’ Guilds shook hands on an eBook-purveying deal; their announcement coincides with the launch of Libranda, the e-book distribution platform backed by Spain’s largest publishing houses.
US consumers are not far behind in this trend; according to ComScore.com, 45.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones in an average month during the December 2009 to February 2010, up 21 percent from the three months ending November 2009. Also in the ComScore report: 18 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter from December 2009 through February 2010, up from 15.1 percent from the prior period.
On the blog NielsenWire, Nielsen analyst Roger Entner had this to say of the issue: “We are just at the beginning of a new wireless era where smartphones will become the standard device consumers will use to connect to friends, the Internet and the world at large…“
What does all this mean for eBook writers? Lately, a few column visitors have remarked on the rather chaotic feel of a market containing such a swirl of names, stats, formats and devices to contend with. It does indeed seem that selling books to the burgeoning eMarket is a bit more complicated than the good ol’ method of simply sending in your typed manuscript to a publisher. Writers considering branching out into eBooks may have to provide titles in multiple formats, probably in both EPUB and in Kindle’s proprietary software, along with convincing an editor to barter for services as well as doing most of their own promotion. It couldn’t hurt to have your eBook translated into other languages as well; in browsing freelance websites like Guru.com and oDesk.com I’ve seen a spike in manuscript translation jobs available as more and more eBook writers seek the attention of foreign customers.
As the evolving book industry and technology advancements align, the convergence appears to be equally favoring mobile customers, app writers and eBook writers.
–Meredith Greene
Meredith Greene has been a reviewer for SBR/SFBR since April of 2009; a wife of thirteen years, mother of four and self-published novelist. She, nevertheless, finds time for poetry, blogs, home projects, and gardening. Come on over and read what Meredith has to say about home, gardening, and other general musings in her column Greene Ink. Visit Meredith’s website www.BelatorBooks.com.
