E-book publishers say sales up
This directly contradicts the position of B&N and other major retailers. Interesting...
"In the first half of this year, alone, eBook sales revenues are up by 30% and unit sales up by 40% over the same period in 2002. This compares to an annual growth rate of just about 5% in traditional print publishing. The Open eBook Forum (OeBF), the electronic publishing industry�s trade and standards organization, reveals detailed statistics on the current state of eBooks and provides a comprehensive industry analysis in its first quarterly eBook and eDocument Publishing and Retail Statistics. Compiled from data submitted by 34 of the world�s leading publishers and retailers, the analysis marks the first-ever quantitative assessment of the electronic publishing industry."
Source: email from OEBF - www.openebook.org.
Online bookstore Barnes&Noble.com has discontinued sales of e-books because of poor sales of the download format.
http://www.silicon.com/news/500012/1/5938.html Wed 10 September 2003 09:06AM BST
The push to replace the humble book has stumbled, commercially. There is not enough public acceptance of electronic alternatives. A commentator observes "I doubt whether [e-books] will be the preferred way people read everyday things". [Into that same category I add Internet Refrigerators.]
A pity for the forests that supply paper, but this demonstrates again that demand for technology is driven by people, not corporations. E-book developers should remember that the physical and social characteristics of books contribute to the reading experience as well as the content.
9/16/2003 8:36:18 AM EDT
Item posted by AutoEditor at 10:49 am ::
