Reading undergoes throes of change
One of the biggest attractions at the ongoing Shanghai Book Fair is the latest technology in paperless reading, judging from the crowds massed around the booth of Chinese technology innovator Hanwang Technology Co.
On display were Hanwang’s Hanvon hand-held e-book devices, similar to Amazon’s popular Kindle, that display printed works on 5-inch or bigger screens. Users are able to store hundreds of digitized books in the Hanvon readers, which sell for between 1,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan (US$441).
E-books and related devices, including smart phones, are forecast to be the next big technology wave to sweep China, though their development still faces challenges such as lack of content and copyright issues, industry officials said.
“Kindle’s success (in the United States market) has created the foundation for the Chinese e-book market though the market here still needs time to mature,” Gao Chao, Amazon China’s public relations director, said in a phone interview.
On Taobao.com, China’s biggest online auction Website, there were 340 results found for sales of Kindle, though the device has not yet been launched in China.
In the US, Amazon has sold about 1 million Kindle devices, which feature 6 inch, 4-level grayscale display screens, a full-function keyboard, Wi-Fi and bundled accounts with Amazon’s online book stores. Sony, Philips and other vendors have launched similar products globally.
Worldwide, e-book reader devices are forecast to surge from about 1 million to 29 million units in the next five years, according to In-Stat, a US-based IT research firm.
The market potential in China has attracted the interest of companies ranging from telecommunications to online content and service providers.
Beijing-based Hanwang displayed several e-book readers at the book fair, including a white D21 model that resembles Kindle. The Hanvon readers fully support Chinese language displays and feature functions similar to Kindle. Users can easily add notes and bookmarks during reading.
The Hanvon models, without Wi-Fi, are on average 20 to 30 percent cheaper than the Kindle equivalent.
Hanwang’s users have first to download e-books to a computer. Then they copy the downloaded e-books from the computer to the Hanvon model.
All Hanwang’s e-books are free and users can access the online book store with a password that is given after purchase of the Hanvon model.
Wang Ruchen, a reporter working at China Business News, spent 1,600 yuan to buy a Hanvon model earlier this month.
“Now I can read in my free time such as on the metro or at bus stops,” said Wang, who stores hundreds of books in his device. “I read much more now that I have an e-book reader.”
Alan Cao, an advertising designer in Beijing, said he has read about 20 books with a Kindle he bought on an overseas trip, triple his usual reading.
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