Market share of ereaders? - Page 2

JSWolf · 06-19-2011, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chas0039

I read a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that reverse engineered the numbers and came up with close to 50%.

In English, a guess and pure nonsense at that. The numbers don't exist outside Amazon so it's a guess and not the real numbers. People who quote these sorts of articles (you know who you are) as gospel are just making themselves look foolish.

JSWolf · 06-19-2011, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

But in a very real sense it doesn't really matter what the figure is. Christopher simply wants to know what devices to ensure his book works successfully on. Kindle is number one; whether the figure for its market share is 25%, 50%, or whatever, nobody denies that it is number one, so it's an important device to produce a version of his book for. That's really all that matter here.

The two formats to create are ePub (#1 format) and Mobipocket (#2 and seriously obsolete format). That's all that's needed these days.

HarryT · 06-19-2011, 10:24 AM

That's what I said in post #3 in this thread, Jon

.

volwrath · 06-19-2011, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The two formats to create are ePub (#1 format) and Mobipocket (#2 and seriously obsolete format). That's all that's needed these days.

If you cant know the marketshare of readers, surely you cant say which format is #1, except from a technical perspective. From a numbers standpoint of ebooks if you state epub is #1, then it is purely a guess.

HarryT · 06-19-2011, 10:39 AM

This is just a pissing contest. ePub and Mobipocket are the two formats to consider, and that's really all there is to it.

volwrath · 06-19-2011, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is just a pissing contest. ePub and Mobipocket are the two formats to consider, and that's really all there is to it.

I know it .. I was being a little snarky

Christopher Wood · 06-19-2011, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Just get an iPad and you have all you need ...
Also, get the Kindle Previewer ...
Oh and also get Reader Library ....

LOL

JSWolf · 06-19-2011, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by volwrath

If you cant know the marketshare of readers, surely you cant say which format is #1, except from a technical perspective. From a numbers standpoint of ebooks if you state epub is #1, then it is purely a guess.

ePub is the number one format worldwide. You cannot just take the USA into account and forget the rest of the world.

chas0039 · 06-19-2011, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

In English, a guess and pure nonsense at that. The numbers don't exist outside Amazon so it's a guess and not the real numbers. People who quote these sorts of articles (you know who you are) as gospel are just making themselves look foolish.

Well, I don't feel foolish, but thanks anyway.

Christopher Wood · 06-19-2011, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ePub is the number one format worldwide. You cannot just take the USA into account and forget the rest of the world.

If we don't know how many Kindles are out there, or how many people read Mobi on iPad, then why do you say ePub is number one?

Not challenging you, just asking. I want to know.

HarryT · 06-19-2011, 01:45 PM

We know that Kindle is #1 in the US, and is massively #1 in the UK, and together those two markets probably account for 80-90% of the world's eBook sales, so I'd say personally that it's highly likely that Mobipocket is the most read format.

ucfgrad93 · 06-19-2011, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is just a pissing contest. ePub and Mobipocket are the two formats to consider, and that's really all there is to it.

Agreed.

EowynCarter · 06-21-2011, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christopher Wood

Yeh, reflowable text is a great idea, but once the novelty wears off, one tends to want to go straight back to a PDF or some such formatted page.

I should mention, I've been a typesetter for the last 25 years. (Nowadays my b.card reads "graphic designer," but the work is much the same, except for the kids nowadays not knowing wtf a ligature or an inchmark is, and mixing Helvetica and Arial with abandon.)

I've reading a paper book. I went a bit "arrrgggg !!! why can't I set the font bigger !!".

re-flow, with some decent hyphenation, kills everything. Yeap, computer made hyphenation isn't as good as human made hyphenation, but the comfort of being able to set YOUR font size is worth that loss.

boswd · 06-21-2011, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

We know that Kindle is #1 in the US, and is massively #1 in the UK, and together those two markets probably account for 80-90% of the world's eBook sales, so I'd say personally that it's highly likely that Mobipocket is the most read format.

is AZW the same as Mobipocket? If not then I don't think you can say mobipocket is the most read format, if it is then yes you might have a claim.

but also it's not the most widely distributed and that is what I think JSWolf is referring to. What format are ebook stores around the world including the US and UK uisng? If the majority are using ePub then that is the most widely used.
I'm not sure how it is with the publishers out in the UK but all mainstream publisher are either on AZW or ePub here in the US, mobi is used on more obscure smaller publisher, self publishers and authors.

Zetmolm · 06-21-2011, 11:55 AM

If we are talking about formats used worldwide: in Russia fb2 is the leading format.
In many countries in the world the marketshare of the mobi format is zero.

It's so easy to draw the curtains and jump to conclusions.

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06-19-2011, 10:24 AM	#18
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	That's what I said in post #3 in this thread, Jon .

06-19-2011, 10:39 AM	#20
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	This is just a pissing contest. ePub and Mobipocket are the two formats to consider, and that's really all there is to it.

06-19-2011, 01:45 PM	#26
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	We know that Kindle is #1 in the US, and is massively #1 in the UK, and together those two markets probably account for 80-90% of the world's eBook sales, so I'd say personally that it's highly likely that Mobipocket is the most read format.

06-21-2011, 11:55 AM	#30
Zetmolm Guru Posts: 615 Karma: 2362786 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: PocketBook Verse Pro Colour	If we are talking about formats used worldwide: in Russia fb2 is the leading format. In many countries in the world the marketshare of the mobi format is zero. It's so easy to draw the curtains and jump to conclusions.