MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Was in Shanghai yesterday and ebook readers were everywhere

ForsCream · 05-03-2013, 11:31 PM

As a Chinese MR member, I think I can explain some truth about eBooks in China.

1, the brand "Hanvon" is a pretty old brand, as far as I can remember, it might come out at the same time with Kindle. But these years they are dropping rapidly, and the the price which HansTWN mentioned (more than $300) is not the average e-ink reader price in China. Here we can also buy an e-ink reader under $100.

2, Chinese digital contents publisher are struggling fighting with the piracy, and there are 3-4 big B2C e-commerce sites are selling eBooks. One of them hit the sales record of 3,000,000,000 US Dollars on Nov. 11 last year. Yes, 3,000,000,000 US Dollars on just a single day.
(I don't mean it sells eBooks for $3,000,000,000 on that day. I just want you to know this site has a huge influence in China, and it begun to sell eBooks last year )

3, Since 2012, more and more people were beginning to know the e-ink reader, and in the first-level cities like Shanghai, Beijing, you can always see people reading eBooks on e-ink readers on the subway.

4, Most of Chinese people still think .txt is what an eBook is.

5, The most popular e-ink reader in China is Kindle. Although we can't buy a Kindle from amazon.cn, but we can buy it from other site like amazon.com or amazon.jp.

6, There are rumors that Kindle is going to enter China this year, I believe it will help China's eBook market become mature.

05-03-2013, 11:31 PM	#24
ForsCream Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 495132 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: iPad, Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite	As a Chinese MR member, I think I can explain some truth about eBooks in China. 1, the brand "Hanvon" is a pretty old brand, as far as I can remember, it might come out at the same time with Kindle. But these years they are dropping rapidly, and the the price which HansTWN mentioned (more than $300) is not the average e-ink reader price in China. Here we can also buy an e-ink reader under $100. 2, Chinese digital contents publisher are struggling fighting with the piracy, and there are 3-4 big B2C e-commerce sites are selling eBooks. One of them hit the sales record of 3,000,000,000 US Dollars on Nov. 11 last year. Yes, 3,000,000,000 US Dollars on just a single day. (I don't mean it sells eBooks for $3,000,000,000 on that day. I just want you to know this site has a huge influence in China, and it begun to sell eBooks last year ) 3, Since 2012, more and more people were beginning to know the e-ink reader, and in the first-level cities like Shanghai, Beijing, you can always see people reading eBooks on e-ink readers on the subway. 4, Most of Chinese people still think .txt is what an eBook is. 5, The most popular e-ink reader in China is Kindle. Although we can't buy a Kindle from amazon.cn, but we can buy it from other site like amazon.com or amazon.jp. 6, There are rumors that Kindle is going to enter China this year, I believe it will help China's eBook market become mature. Last edited by ForsCream; 05-03-2013 at 11:35 PM.