Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherCat
I have been wondering what the reader market statistics are for some time but have been unable to find them. From your claim it appears that you know them, so would you post them here?
Sony's market share over, say, the last 5 years, and as there has been brand proliferation over that time with new entrants to the market, which will dilute market share for some or all earlier entrants, could you also post the same figures for other manufacturers in order for comparison of performance.
Would you also post Sony's revenue from reader sales over the same period?
Thanks for that.
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I'm not sure why you can't just use Google to look this stuff up for yourself, but OK.
Comprehensive global statistics are impossible as market research is unavailable for some countries, but we can make some observations. And digging into the financials of e-reader sales misses the point, as most companies look to e-books as the profit driver, not the readers themselves.
In the U.S. market, various market research has suggested that the Kindle has an outright majority of the market, and the Nook has grown to a strong second place. A lot of that simply has to have come from the marketshare of previous entrants, like Sony. Kobo's growth in France, the UK, Australia, and NZ probably also came at the expense of Sony, as they were the main incumbent at retail. And you're right to say that Sony's market position was diluted due to new entrants coming into the market, so there's limited value in looking over a five year span IMO (though it would sure be interesting).
So here's something that may provide some value:
http://stevenhurdle.files.wordpress....tober-2012.pdf
It's only the Canadian market, but it is solid market research from a large, reputable firm. In that time no significant new entrant came into the market. In that time Sony's market share went from first to third, dropping from 28% to 17%. This is not quarterly sales, it's cumulative life-to-date sales (meaning, 28% of Canadians with e-readers had Sony branded ones in January 2011, and 17% of Canadians with e-readers had Sony branded ones 18 months later). In that time the market went through explosive growth, with 4% of Canadians having e-readers at the beginning of 2011 and 12% of Canadians having e-readers by the midpoint of 2012.
Kobo, backed up by the dominant book retail chain in Canada, went from 27% of the total market to 47% of the total market 18 months later. I have some stats for intervening periods and did some back-of-the-serviette math, and concluded that over the last 6 months Kobo had about 55% of the Canadian market.
What this suggests is that having an energetic campaign from a major retailer can be very effective. Nook may still be second place in the U.S., but they've managed to carve out a slice of the market that's estimated to be in the 20-30% range, from 0%, and that likely would have been impossible without B&N's B&M stores. (And it's worth noting that, with Kindle estimated to be in the 60% range in the U.S. by some estimates, that doesn't leave a lot of room for Kobo, Sony and other players.)
Some market estimates put Sony in first, Kobo in second, and Kindle in third in Australia and New Zealand. It's my understanding that some book retail chains there sell Sony e-readers, and that this has been part of the secret of their success there, much as it was Kobo's in Canada. And would Kobo be in second place if not for Whitcoulls, Borders Australia, and the like? FNAC in France has pushed Kobo to 50% marketshare there due to FNAC's energetic support, another success not likely to have been created any other way IMO.
The converse appears to be true: in countries where Kobo is not found in stores that sell books, their marketshare is piddly compared to countries where they do.
In Canada, I have seen Sony e-readers for sale in electronics stores, even in office supply stores, but never in bookstores. How hard is Staples, or Future Shop, pushing e-readers? They show up in their catalogues every now and then, they're on the shelf, but I don't think they're moving a lot of them or pushing them very hard, not from what I can see. And when I do see big in-store displays for e-readers, they're usually for Kindles (I've seen these at Staples and The Source, for example).
So I wasn't speaking entirely out of my ass earlier, I do have some (however limited in scope) market research behind my comment. On top of that we have other studies with some vaguer comments (who's first, second, and third) without numbers attached for other markets. My takeaway from all of it is that Amazon has been very successful at growing through e-commerce, and that Kobo's been very successful where they've been able to partner with a dominant retail partner who is not simply going to stock the product but who will push it aggressively. Sony has mostly relied on their traditional electronic store partners, and in those markets they've "missed the boat" somewhat as e-reader sales have exploded. Where they've partnered with partners who will push them harder, especially where it's a bookstore chain with the vision to be open to replacing revenue being lost to e-readers, they've been more successful.
Kindle succeeds because it's tied to the largest e-commerce platform on the planet. Kobo's succeeding based on revenue sharing arrangements with dominant retailers. Nook is succeeding on the same basis as Kobo. If Sony's plan is to focus on product and selling through their traditional channels, when by all appearances new channels (e-commerce, bookstore alliances) are where the growth potential is being demonstrated, then they'll continue to miss out. Sony was at its strongest when most bookstores didn't sell e-readers, it seems to me.
tl;dr Book lovers shop in book stores, and/or on Amazon. Book lovers are converting to e-readers. Kobo/Nook/Kindle e-readers are the ones most broadly available in the places where book lovers shop. Ergo, the majority are selecting Kobo/Nook/Kindle devices now.