Hanvon made a slew of startling announcements at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, wowing the book buying public and German Parliament at the same time. In fact, Hanvon made such a great demonstration of its multilingual e-readers that the German Government has decided to buy the devices in bulk for its Members of Parliament.
Nobody knows for certain what the German Parliament is planning on doing with the e-readers just yet. They could be using it as a replacement for paper used in the offices, or they could be looking into a new way of regulating the book publishing industry. Currently, the German government dictates the price of paperback and hardcover books, to ensure that there are fair market practices between large scale bookstores and small indie book shops. Cheap, quick to download e-books could devastate this landscape, making it hard for printed book business to recuperate.
Killing the Kindle?
The only company that displayed any hardware at the Frankfurt Book Fair was Hanvon, giving them an unfair advantage over the competition. This was very odd, since Amazon had just made its announcement to begin selling Kindles in Europe. Of course, this makes more sense when you realize German Publishers are slow to embrace the Kindle, with most of them refusing to create e-books for the device and most of them ignoring e-books and e-ink altogether.
Their reaction comes as no surprise to US Publishers- the Kindle is notorious for giving publishers as little as 10% of sales, and dictating the low-price of $9.99 per book. This is compounded by the fact that the Kindle’s e-books are far more expensive in Europe than their US counterparts. If the German Parliament is following after the Hanvon e-reader, they might be searching for a less expensive alternative to the Kindle. Something that won’t put anymore strain on the already strained publishing industry of Germany.
Schools and Libraries
The adoption of the Hanvon e-reader by German Parliament is also a great start for adopting the devices in school and libraries across Germany and Europe. By experimenting with the e-reader and adopting it as their primary platform we can hope that they will lead by example, and bring the adaptation of e-readers down through every level of government, even getting them inside of the public schools and libraries.
Until now, getting e-readers into the hands of the people who would find them most useful, schools and libraries, has been very difficult. There have been Universities experimenting with e-readers from both Sony and Amazon, but yielding very disappointing results. If the German Parliament can find away around this, it could be a great boon to future generations, giving them quicker access to the books they need without all the bulk of carrying the heavy books around.
Libraries could also benefit greatly from having an electronic repository of books, using e-readers that allow lenders access to the virtual library.
The Cushing prep school in Boston, Massachusetts (US) has completely adopted a digital platform, ditching the countless musty old books and replacing them with slick electronic devices and massive servers storing tons of virtual books for the students. This plan is still in production, so we won’t know the success of it until a few years down the road.
To Infinity, and Beyond?
Other governments could soon follow suit in Europe, adopting the gadgets for most of their day to day business, and providing a revolution in the way we deal with books and the electronic page. Hanvon is really pushing the envelope with adaptation, even getting a version of their e-reader on the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft.
In the US, where the competition for the dominant e-reader is fierce and almost conquered by the Kindle, Hanvon has struck a deal with publishing conglomerate Harper Collins. This blow will have a direct effect on Amazon’s strangle hold on the market, which is already loosening thanks to a new up and coming e-reader from Barnes and Nobles that carry all the strengths of the Kindle with none of the weaknesses.
It will be interesting to see how the German Parliament uses their new e-readers, as well as what effect it will have on the rest of Europe. Hopefully this bold step will inspire other countries to join in on the e-book revolution, and bring us all that much closer to a paperless society.
Is this a brave step towards adoption of e-paper in the governments of Europe? Or is this just an experiment doomed to fail, like the Universities in the US that tried to use e-readers and got a less than favorable reaction? What is your take?
By Paul Jessup
e-reader, german parliament, germany, hanvon
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I just wonder if hanon e-reader is cheaper than amazon-kindle? Why did they receive hanvon instead of kindle? Anyway, does nobody feel that the background of e-ink paper is so dark??
Weng said:
Yes, the Hanvon E-reader is significantly cheaper than the Amazon Kindle. This is most likely because Hanvon is a lesser known brand. They do not spend as much on marketing as Amazon and so that cost is not added to the e-reader.
[...] citizens of Taiwan. Such a broad move of support from this government casts a pale shadow over German Parliament’s bulk purchase of e-readers. If the future will be e-paper and e-readers, Taiwan wants to be the heart and soul of it’s [...]
This is a very promising development, and the Hanlon reader looks to be well positioned for the markets mentioned in your article. The ability to take notes directly on the screen will be critical for the adoption of this technology in schools.