E-reader marketshare numbers

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Amazon has had library lending (via Overdrive) since September of last year. Is it not available for Canadian libraries?

eP

No.

This is a significant factor since libraries in Canada have decent funding and a pretty good selection of ebooks now (a quick search shows 21,660 EPUB titles in my library) and should give Kobo extra traction.

[ProfCrash]

I think Kindle sales would grow if Kindle could get library books into OVerdrive in foreign countries.

[elemenoP]

That's interesting, I guess it's can't be a problem of rights, because Overdrive has already ascertained that the rights to the books it offers in Canada are available in Canada? Seems like it would be easy to roll out internationally (but what do I know?).

eP

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

That's interesting, I guess it's can't be a problem of rights, because Overdrive has already ascertained that the rights to the books it offers in Canada are available in Canada? Seems like it would be easy to roll out internationally (but what do I know?).

eP

I don't really understand why, but Amazon doesn't seem that focused on foreign markets. There are a lot more non-Americans than Americans, but Amazon seems a little fuzzy on that point. No market outside the U.S. has the Kindle Fire yet. No market outside the U.S. has the Kindle Touch 3G. Some markets don't even have the non-3G Touch yet. There are fewer books available on Kindle outside the U.S. There are no libraries supporting Kindle outside the U.S. (at least, none that I'm aware of).

Yes I know it would be hard to offer an Amazon Prime-like service outside the U.S. for the Fire, but that doesn't stop them from releasing the device (Apple originally released the iPod in Canada *without* the iTunes service, and it was a success).

Amazon is fiddling while the Kindle burns, at least in Canada. If I know that Kobo has grown to 46% total e-reader marketshare, and that the Kindle has dropped to 24% (and these are all-time totals, not just the last quarter, or the last year, but all Canadian e-reader owners), then I'm presuming Amazon knows this too? If so, for whatever reason they're not taking much in the way of action that I can see. Their total user base is still growing: when they had 25% marketshare it was 25% of the 4% of Canadians with e-readers at the time, and now they're down to 24% but that's of the 10% of Canadians who now have e-readers. But (based on the numbers in the study, and estimating Canada's current population at about 33 million), in the time that Kindle has grown from about 330K Kindle e-reader owners to about 790K in Canada, Kobo has gone from around 380K to about 1.52 million in this country.

Perhaps they feel the damage is done in Canada, and they're refocusing on preventive measures to make sure no one does this to them again in another market? Or maybe the feel the market strength of Chapters/Indigo in the Canadian market is truly unstoppable? I don't know, but the numbers are definitely interesting. Also interesting to see the drubbing that Sony, the former market leader, is taking here.

One reminder, these are for people who own e-reader devices, not people who use Kobo, Kindle, etc., apps on other devices. That probably does skew the numbers somewhat, but probably only somewhat as both Kobo and Kindle apps are available for almost everything you can shake a memory card at.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

That's interesting, I guess it's can't be a problem of rights, because Overdrive has already ascertained that the rights to the books it offers in Canada are available in Canada? Seems like it would be easy to roll out internationally (but what do I know?).

OverDrive might be having trouble getting permission from Canadian publishers to allow Kindle lending? Since they started with Canadian publishers later than US perhaps the contracts are more restrictive?

Originally Posted by scrapking

No market outside the U.S. has the Kindle Fire yet.

As you say Amazon hasn't built the accompanying digital media availability in other markets yet. The way they market the Fire I'd think they need to get that in place first? Not sure why their app store isn't international.

No market outside the U.S. has the Kindle Touch 3G

You can get it on the UK, DE, FR, IT and ES sites.



It does seem strange that they don't have a separate Canadian Kindle store yet. I can't believe that they've given up on the market, but maybe that's coming. They seem to like to do it one site at a time and perhaps they felt there was more room for growth in the other markets?

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

As you say Amazon hasn't built the accompanying digital media availability in other markets yet. The way they market the Fire I'd think they need to get that in place first? Not sure why their app store isn't international.

Then release it in a different way. When Apple launched the iPod in Canada they did it without iTunes, despite the fact that they had both the iPod and iTunes available in the U.S. It was still a success. There are people who would buy it for the e-reading and Amazon App Store elements alone.

You can get it on the UK, DE, FR, IT and ES sites.

It does seem strange that they don't have a separate Canadian Kindle store yet.

To my great surprise, you're quite correct. Bizarre that Canada doesn't have the Touch 3G as an option given that, then. Especially *since* we don't have our own store yet and have to buy through the U.S. store, which means they have to go to the trouble to specifically block the Fire and the Touch 3G from us on the website (it frequently shows up as a recommendation for me, only to crap out every time I try to buy it).

[taming]

I decided that I was not interested in Kindle when they would not ship the devices that were available to us during the run up to Xmas. The message that I'm not part of their target market came through loud and clear. I guess they are just fine with the idea that I am no longer interested in buying their ebooks or devices.

[scrapking]

I just got an email from Mary-Beth Barbour of the Ipsos Reid market research firm. The August 2012 wave of their on-going research on the e-reader market in Canada shows:

Kobo up one point to 47%
Kindle down one point to 23%
Sony now at 17%

Dedicated e-reader penetration in Canada is now at 12%, up 2% (which, if you look at it the other way, is a 20% increase). This doesn't include people using smartphones, tablets, or other devices for e-reading, these are Canadians who own dedicated e-readers. I wonder how that percentage stacks up against other countries? That's a statistic you don't hear often.

The swings in the numbers are less than they used to be due to the market maturing. The numbers swung around violently as the market went from 2% to 10%, but as it's gone from 10% to 12% it's now understandably harder to move the needle.

[scrapking]

ETA: If this study is representative of the Canadian population as a whole, then:

- by August 2012 Kobo had about 1.974 million e-readers in the Canadian market (an increase of about 384K, or 55% of the 6 months ending August 2012)

- by August 2012 Amazon had about 966K Kindles in the Canadian market (an increase of 126K, or 18% of the 6 months ending August 2012)

I estimate that the rest of the market grew by about 190K during this 6 month period (mostly Sony, but also some e-readers not backed by e-book ecosystems) which would represent 27% of the sales for the 6 months ending August 2012.

[scrapking]

Up until now, we've only seen stats on e-reader sales in Canada, but what about the e-books? Kobo is reporting that they now have #1 marketshare for e-books in Canada, according to Bowker: http://blog.kobobooks.com/triple-digit-growth-at-kobo/

Though a couple of web searches has failed to come up with the report itself, has anyone seen it?

[scrapking]

MaryBeth Barbour of Ipsos Reid just sent me the most recent market research on e-readers in Canada. These are cumulative marketshare numbers of the entire Canadian population, not just the last quarter or last year. Note that they are talking just about people who own dedicated e-readers, not people who use tablets or other devices for e-reading.

"Hi Steven – Thanks again for your continued interest. In the latest wave of Mobil-ology (collected in January of this year) eReader penetration is up to 14%. In terms of market share, Kobo continues their strong lead (54%), followed by Kindle (23%) and Sony (16%). The remaining 7% is split across a series of small brands."

Interesting numbers given 6 months earlier Kobo was at 47%, Kindle was at 23%, and Sony was at 17%. All three are growing, as the market has grown hugely, but Kobo is definitely getting the lion's share of the growth as the others are attractive just enough new customers to keep level marketshare. For comparison, two years ago the numbers were:

Kobo 29% in January 2011
Kindle 25% in January 2011
Sony 30% in January 2011