What ereader decline? Kobo pumps up the volumes despite grim forecasts
Big gains in 2012 even though world+dog in a fondleslab frenzy
A chirpy Kobo has claimed it now has more than 12 million registered users, four million of them creating ebook buyer accounts with the company during 2012.
It lauded its device sales too - well, its e-ink kit, not its Android-based tablet offerings - insisting it had captured 20 per cent of the world ereader market in 2012.
Kobo's numbers bear closer scrutiny. While market-watchers IDC and IHS iSuppli both reckon ereader sales were lower in 2012 than they were in 2011 - by 28 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively - Kobo said its sales “were up nearly 150 per cent in December”.
Alas, Kobo didn’t say whether that was year on year - or simply month-on-month. You would expect a sequential increase, December being the Christmas sales period. Given the overall trend, a big year-on-year jump seems unlikely, but not impossible if Kobo is starting off from a low base.
During 2012, Kobo expanded its territorial reach beyond North America and the UK to Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa and the Netherlands, which may have helped lift its ereader sales even as punters in its core markets were migrating to tablets.
The Register’s Underground Index, our informal, anecdotal measure of a device’s consumer acceptance based on how often - or not - we see it being used by Tube travellers, shows a small increase for Kobo kit. We saw hardly any last year, but a couple have already been spotted in the early weeks of 2013. The numbers are nowhere near those of Amazon’s various e-ink Kindles, mind.
And Kobo’s claim that its December sales increase helped “the company to carve out 20 per cent of the global ereader market”? That’s based solely on a November 2012 forecast made by hacks at Taiwanese tech site DigiTimes that 9.82 million will ship during the year.
Even DigiTimes reckons ereader shipments fell in 2012. And that’s a trend that will continue into 2013, the analysts at iSuppli and IDC say: down from 14.9 million units to 7.8 million by 2015, say the former.
Compare that 14.9 million units to the 122.3 million tablets IDC reckons shipped during 2012.
Yet US pollster the Pew Research Center says its survey data shows 23 per cent of Americans read ebooks in 2012, up from with 16 per cent in 2011. Demand for digital books is clearly there. The question is, will punters acquire and view them on tablets or ereaders?
In the US and UK, there’s a consensus among market watchers that the tablet is where it’s at. But in other developed and developing markets there’s room for growth - Kobo may be right to be emphasising its push into fresh territory.
Futuresource Consulting, a lone voice among market watchers, it seems reckons even here in Blighty ereader sales will continue. Rather than a fall during 2013, analyst Simon Bryant reckons sales here will top 2.4 million units - what they were in 2012. Sales will begin to slow in 2014, however.
Tablets will continue to dominate ereading - their sales lead can’t help but do so - but there’s clearly sales to be had for the e-ink incumbents, Kobo among them. ®
COMMENTS
Just a consumer.
I'm only a user, not an analyst, but from my point of view I really can't understand why anyone who wants to read books would use a tablet.
Since my first Kobo and now Kindle, I have read a lot of books. Far more than I have in the last ten years with only paper books as an option.
E-Readers do all that I want of them. They hold books and display them for me to read.
E-Readers have a long battery life.
Tablets do a hell of a lot more than an E-Reader, but then again, I have a mobile phone only for phone calls so what would I know.
Re: Just a consumer.
@Joe Harrison
You good sir are a pompous arse and should think before you speak in the future.
Re: Just a consumer.
"However try using your Kindle for PDF reference material intended for A4 size, you will soon wish you had a 10 inch tablet instead."
That is SO true. Also, try using a Kindle for digging foundation for a new building, and you'll soon wish you had a mechanical digger. What point are you making? That you should use an appropriate tool for the job? Brilliant.
Re: Just a consumer.
I am not a big fan of Mills & Boon -style paperback fiction but I'm sure it's a "great reading experience" for you. However try using your Kindle for PDF reference material intended for A4 size, you will soon wish you had a 10 inch tablet instead.
I do exactly that on my Sony PRS-T1. Pinch-to-zoom is obviously a bit laggier than a capacitive screen but works perfectly well.
I'm one of those people that believes in having the best gadget for a particular job. I own a smartphone, but keep an iAudio J3 for my music, because it's just far better at it, and has an insane battery life. Same goes for my e-reader, my PSP, etc; I have them alongside my smartphone because they're better at their given tasks.
Sure, I could read my eBooks on a larger, heavier, more cumbersome device with a lower battery life and a screen that can't be read in the sun. Alternatively, I could continue reading them on a device that fits in my jacket pocket, has a battery that lasts a month, and weighs practically nothing.
Seriously, when Sony touted this reader as the "lightest on the market", I honestly didn't give a shit. I've never gone in for "oooh, ours is so thin" with smartphones - hell, I used to own a HTC Athena - but I was surprised at just what a difference it makes with an e-reader. Makes a lot of sense when you think about it. I'm going to be holding the device I read on in any number of positions (such as above my head in bed) for long periods of time. Even the difference between the Sony and a Kindle is noticeable to my keyboard-buggered wrists. I'd hate to try using a large tablet for the same.
I love both!
Some people have a toolbox with a few tools in it and 'make do', personally my toolbox is full of the right tool for the right job, and I personally think E-readers are the right tool for the job of leisure reading.
I read on my iPad sometimes, I read on my Nexus4 (occasionally), but the best experience for me (by far) for ebooks is my Kindle paperwhite.
Why? because it's lightweight, good battery and the ambient light levels are pretty much irrelevant! It's also much cheaper to replace, so travelling with a Kindle is definitely a good option. It's horses for courses, but I'm glad I bought my Kindle, and if it was stolen/destroyed, I'd buy another one tomorrow.
