An article in China Knowledge says that:
… sales of electronic books in China may exceed 3 million units in this year, the China Business News quoted Wu Qifan, senior executive of e-book provider Beijing Gorld Technology Co Ltd, as saying.
“The monthly sales of e-books have exceeded 300,000 in China, so we expect the annual sales will hit 3 million units in 2010.” said Wu.
At least dozens of domestic companies have revealed plans for launching e-books. Hanwang Technology Co Ltd<002362> and international companies such as Amazon, Sony, Lenovo have stepped into the e-book market. Some middle- and low-end domestic manufacturers also entered the market with their relative lower prices.
Wu pointed out that it is not the price that determines the sales of e-book but the content.
China’s total e-booker reader sales volume was 249,100 units in the first quarter this year, and 66.04% of them were sold by Hanwang Technology, China Knowledge reported earlier.
Despite the use of the term “ebook”, the context indicates to me that the article is really talking about readers, not books.
Thanks to Resource Shelf for the link.
Analysts better get use to it, but Asia is going to determine the technological future in consumer products., especially as Europe and America are facing serious long term economic decline and crisis.
Apple’s iPad won’t make a ripple for a variety of reasons, but the German WeTab might, but the vast bulk of these ereaders will be open market e-ink.
Devices not chained to any distribution network, without DRM — the Chinese market aren’t made up of suckers.
There is definitely a growing market internationally for ereaders. Just read this article recently pointing out the announcement of a joint venture between LG Display and iRiver, two Korean companies who will be forming a new company together in China. Source
This is hopefully good news for the ereader market, in light of the price cuts made recently which will undoubtedly hurt a few of the secondary companies.
Greg: I disagree about the iPad not doing well in China. Apple has tended to do well there historically and a cursory look at the number of iPad “clones” on sale in Shenzen’s markets demonstrates strong interest. Just like the other i-devices from Apple, the iPad is selling well to overseas Chinese who are shipping it back to family and friends in Asia. Chinese versions of Manga are very popular and the Pad supports Chinese text very well (I have Chinese newspapers and books on mine).
English language books will also do well in China. The number of people in China who read English as a second language is huge, and growing.
I lived in Asia for 22 years, was deeply involved in print and early digital publishing and (electronics) technology there, including chairing a national electronics industry association for 10 years, and am moderately fluent in Chinese.