E-books refer to transition products

Shanda Bambook is finally priced at 999 yuan, and it is not just a commotion that has brought the e-book market. Some people began to consider whether this industry can really go on. "The lifespan of e-books is also 3-5 years, and it's just a transitional product." This kind of judgement has caused the controversial e-books a layer of tragic fate.

However, those who have already committed themselves and are about to participate in e-books can’t wait for three or five years: Bambook's low-priced singles, Amazon Kindle is plotting to enter China, and cottage e-books are leaving. Other iPads and smartphones are eyeing digital reading. E-books should be born from time to time, but whether they can grow along with the trend requires three levels: hardware profitability or content profitable quarrels; brand control or a mystery of types; and other digital reading terminal attacks.

What does it depend on to get profit?

The subtle impact of 999 yuan

Why are e-book makers instigating? Because Hanwang's market share of more than 90% of the e-book market in 2009 made eye-catching by the bystanders, because a grand Bambook claiming “hardware loss” used 999 yuan to impact the psychological defense of consumers and competitors. More and more urgent, how to win the market has become a top priority.

Just like all IT digital products, how to make money from e-books is not really a problem at first. "Selling hardware", shipments of millions of units a year, "two or three thousand dollars a, to control hardware costs, how much can be made to sell how much", a simple mathematical algorithm to enter the confidence of manufacturers. Until a product called Bambook surfaced, the "ultra-low price" of 998 yuan touched the sensitive nerves of the industry during the period of internal measurement. Although Shanda emphasized that the official price would be raised, the result was "symbolic." Increased 1 yuan." Bambook stubbornly believes that "the road to compensation," and then peer bombardment of its industry as a "spoiler" does not help. In fact, there are various signs that 999 yuan has forced some e-book makers to lower prices, and even to produce "cheaper" products to deal with. Not only that, Bambook lifted the appetite of consumers, according to a portal survey, more than 60% of users of the e-book psychological price has dropped to 500 yuan. Can price passive eBook makers still have confidence in their desire to buy?

Not only does Bambook have an impact on prices, it also uncovers the scars of profit models for all vendors. Previously, manufacturers were also happy to describe the e-book terminal and content as the relationship between the "turret" and the "blade", and only need to communicate with the copyright owner of the content. It is enough to replace the blade in time. Even so, it will be circumvented by the copyright owner due to copyright issues and sharing issues. Now that Bambook is killed, the positioning is "China's Amazon Kindle." Although they were born, they first used the price to bring the seniors to the fore. What is even more deadly is that, behind the “losing money and making money” stands Shanda Literature and Yunzhong Book City, and Shanda relies on the content profit model, which really “can't compensate for this”.

"Now look, Shanda e-books hold a 'double-edged sword', but the 'low price' and 'content supply' are both hacked to the competition, and it is difficult to find a grand weakness." An e-book practitioners He expressed his concern to reporters. One Bambook made the Chinese e-book industry just starting to fear. The reporter recently learned that the Amazon Kindle, which is considered to be the industry benchmark, has entered a substantive stage. It is expected that the book-based B2C website will operate with excellence, and the Chinese name will be initially designated as “Golden Reading”. How can anyone be more like a Kindle than Amazon?

The dilemma two depends on what to retain the manufacturers

Cottage and big-name manufacturers choose to evacuate

Like mobile phones, e-books have not escaped the fate of being a fortress, but the traces of copycat e-books are gradually receding. Mainstream e-book makers still have such concerns: E-books are difficult to succeed on hardware platforms alone, and vendors must provide users with timely, rich, targeted, and attractive content. It is the special requirements of the e-book industry that emphasize the perfect cooperation between content and terminals, which has created an insurmountable threshold for the cottage manufacturers. According to industry insiders, from a pure hardware point of view, the e-book cottage is actually very simple. However, these cottage manufacturers could not get support from publishers and they were in a deadlock on content supply.

The reason for the previous cottage e-books was the low price advantage. However, with the Kindle, Bambook brand e-books brought down the wave of price, the unique advantage of the cottage products will disappear.

Not only is Shanzhai products, some analysts believe that despite the enthusiasm of all IT companies to enter the e-book market, but ultimately control the situation is still Kindle, Bambook, Hanwang and other manufacturers of mature brands. The same reason is that the "content + terminal" industry chain model of e-books requires manufacturers to have strong bargaining power over content copyright parties and hardware suppliers. "Small and medium-sized manufacturers obviously do not have such strength and advantages."

In fact, on a global scale, the fierce competition in e-books has caused many genuine manufacturers to paralyze. According to sources, the bookstore of the nation’s largest chain bookstore, Bonno Bookstore, caused losses to the company due to its move to the e-book market, and was under pressure from investors to consider selling the company. Foxit Software's overseas division also plans to abandon its e-reader product called eSlick. Even the electronics giant Samsung is reevaluating its development plans in the US e-book sector, or it will withdraw from the market.

Under the impact of other reading terminals such as the iPad and e-books themselves, the e-book is going through a watershed. Wang Bangjiang, Vice President of Hanwang Technology once stated that the large price cuts of foreign e-book giants have significantly squeezed out the profit margins of hardware manufacturers, and some manufacturers may therefore choose to withdraw.

Now, 999 yuan has started to impact the rickety price system in the domestic e-book market. The brands that survived the war are still unknown.

Dilemma three depends on what continues life

E-books or just transitional products

People are just getting used to the name “2010 is the first year of Chinese e-books”. Hanwang, Shanda, Taipower, Patriot, Newman and other traditional hardware and digital brands also competed for it. Even most of the industry people have the forecast that China's eBook shipments will soar from 500,000 units in 2009 to more than 3 million units in 2010. Perhaps these have propped up Hanwang Technology Chairman Liu Yingjian to make bold predictions: “After 10 years, students no longer need to carry heavy schoolbags. Instead, they are replaced by a light e-reader; doctors and nurses take electronic notebooks during the inspection tour. The most annoying 'bookworm' moves will be wiped out with 'de-papering'."

The industry's exuberant predictions and Liu Yingjian's ideas are all wonderful, but for the digital reading industry, e-books are not the only choice. It is probably the other terminals that are responsible for "paper-based reading." To this end, the industry has such a voice, "Tablet PC represented by the iPad is completely possible alternative to e-books." They believe that tablet computers can not only complete the text-based reading function of e-books, but their audio and video and other applications are more suitable for the public's demand for the portability of digital terminals. In fact, Lv Junde, chairman of Zhenxing, one of Taiwan's largest e-book foundries, has pointed out that the IPO of the iPad has affected the shipment of e-books.

In addition, smart phones, which are also represented by the iPhone, are also setting off a storm all over the world, and the potential for mobile phone reading is even greater. In this regard, a media research expert believes that e-books have successfully modeled the traditional reading format. Massive and convenient storage methods have also tempted consumers' reading desires. However, such "monotonous" products tend to be "transitional" stage products, usually only three to five years of life cycle. “E-books have inherent errors in positioning, that is, they simply simulate traditional reading.” However, there are more than 800 million mobile phone users in China, far more than any reader user. It is technically very easy for mobile phones to become reading terminals. Not only that, the mobile phone's charging platform has been built maturely, and there is no problem that e-books need to search for payment methods again. The hardware design of the screen, such as folding, can completely solve the current, inconvenient constraints of the mobile reading interface.

From this point of view, there is an embarrassing possibility hidden behind the excitement of e-books. If they are not careful, they will be "eliminated." What exciting manufacturers are there now?