Claim new technologies will boost eBook market

Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 06 January 2010 08:16

IT Industry - Market

Adelaide-based eBook device designer, Mike Ottoy of Ubiq Technologies, claims 2010 will see accelerated growth in the worldwide eBook market, with the release of a new wave of flexible and affordable devices and multi-purpose technologies boosting consumer sales.

According to the Ubiq CEO, with millions of books now available on the Internet, 2010 is shaping up as the “Year of the eBook” with the new devices driving strong sales further accelerating the momentum of 2009 which he said witnessed the launch of many new eInk electronic book devices and the dramatic expansion of eBook content.

“Millions of books are now available for downloading from the Internet from thousands of sources. Some eBooks are available for purchase while others are free of charge. 2010 will see far more content available to the consumer as well as the emergence of a new breed of eBook device that gives readers the freedom to browse and download a range of texts directly to their eBooks,” Ottoy predicted.

“As a result, the enormous and magnificent collections made available by organisations such as Gutenberg, World Public Library and even Google Books will be directly accessible, and viewable in colour, on an eBook rather than reading them on a PC.”

Describing himself as a long-term “true believer” in the great potential of eBooks to win the hands and hearts of consumers and corporate customers, Ottoy says that since the 1990s he has imported a wide range of eBook products as well as undertaking a long-term project to design and develop his own eBook device.

According to Ottoy, the eBook sector is still relatively small in global terms, with annual sales of about five million devices, but he predicts that, as this market expands during 2010, we will see more players enter the market which will put downward pressure on retail prices from the current $400-$1200.

“Those price reductions are great for both consumers and for the market itself because eBooks have so much potential. eBooks can provide people who have vision difficulties or other disabilities with ready access to the world’s literature. Adjustable font sizes, colours and icons make reading a far more enjoyable experience while electronic distribution makes it a much less expensive proposition.

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