Electronic books are taking over but Kindle and Kobo e-book readers face tablet trouble

ELECTRONIC books continue to grow in popularity but e-reading may be swallowed up by tablet computers unless new Kindle and Kobo devices turn it around.

Tablets throw the book at e-readers

AUSTRALIA may be on the cusp of a second e-book revolution.

Electronic books now represent 20 per cent of all money spent on books in Australia, raking in $400 million last year, and an industry expert predicts that figure will rise to as much as 35 per cent in coming years as readers say goodbye to printed novels.

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To fuel the trend, the world’s two leading electronic book sellers are this month releasing advanced, competing e-book readers in Australia with crisper screens, slimmer bodies, and faster operation.

Fresh look ... The Kobo Glo HD e-book reader boasts a better screen resolution than its predecessor.

But technology analysts warn the devices may not offer enough versatility to convince readers to invest, and the future of reading could be swallowed up by tablets and smartphones.

The first e-book readers arrived in Australia five years ago, but Kobo Australia content acquisition director Malcolm Neil admits the initial devices were not as good as they should have been.

Early e-readers were large, slow and, he says, the Australian e-book stores was incomplete compared to those overseas.

“The consumer expected something that was like a tablet or a smartphone and what they got did not meet their expectations. A lot of people who entered the market were disappointed,” Neil says.

“But we’re now at the start of the next cycle and people will re-adopt or upgrade their devices. It’s the upgrade cycle we have seen in overseas markets.”

New generation ... The Kindle Voyage is the newest model from Amazon.

The “catalyst” for these upgrades, Neil says, is improved e-reading technology.

Both the Kobo Glo HD ($180) and Amazon’s Kindle Voyage ($299), released in the past fortnight, feature six-inch screens with 300 dots per inch resolution — a 30 per cent boost on the previous models.

Both also deliver subtle illumination for reading in dim lighting, wi-fi connections for quick book downloads, and access to large electronic bookstores.

The local arms of those stores, Neil says, now offer similar libraries to those seen overseas, breaking down another barrier for avid readers.

“You have to hunt to find a book that’s not there now as opposed to finding a book that is there,” he says. “The only books not available are older books and books that aren’t digitised. Those are the books you can’t find in (bricks and mortar) bookstores anyway.”

Bolstered by availability, and the price of e-books at roughly a third of paper versions, Australians now spend 20 per cent of their book budgets on digital titles.

There is still “room to grow,” Neil says, and he predicts Australia will catch up to countries like the United States, Canada and United Kingdom where sales are sitting between 35 and 40 per cent.

Reading transition ... Australia’s book sales are increasingly digital.

“We’re five years into what is potentially a 25-year or maybe longer transition,” he says.

Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi says Australians spent $400 million on e-books in 2014 in what is a growing trend.

“People are switching from physical books to electronic books for a number of reasons: portability, accessibility, and also price,” he says. “E-books are easier, quicker and cheaper to access. There is a strong future for electronic content.”

But Fadaghi says Australians are not necessarily choosing e-book readers to dive into their electronic novels and nonfiction titles.

After a rapid initial adoption, Fadaghi says the market for dedicated e-book devices has “flatlined,” and is now restricted to existing, dedicated e-book readers who appreciate their black-and-white screens over the backlit screens of tablet computers.

“Just shy of 3 million Australians still use e-book readers,” he says. “To convince those who don’t have one already to buy one over a tablet is going to be a struggle.

“There are still people who want a stand-alone product but the mass market appeal for those products has diminished.”

Fadaghi says the growing resolution and dwindling weight of tablet computers makes them a more likely winner in the book battle, though only time will tell how the story ends.