PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have published today a study in which they have examined the outlook for consumers magazine publishers and media buyers, as they adept to the digital revolution. You can download it here.

According to the study the publishers are facing a dilemma.

With the current ‘cash cow’-strategy, they are getting as much profit as possible from print, but in the long run this strategy is not feasible, as more and more consumers turn to the internet to search for information and entertainment and are less willing to pay for a digital version of a magazine.

This means that publishers are at a crucial point in their existents to actually take advantage of the new digital media, however the majority still have conservative idea’s about how to make money with digital content. To enter the digital era with success, the time is now to acquire knowledge and invest in technology, to be able to adept and survive in the digital environment of tomorrow.

Steve Jobs observations on the Amazon Kindle book reader, and reading in general has caused some interesting debate on the whole matter.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.” - NYT

I think the statement is not completely incorrect but I tend to agree with Charles Arthur from The Guardian.

“It would be foolish to predict how electronic reading is going to pan out, because there are two unstoppable trends going on which have been continuing for at least 20 years and show no signs of letting up: people prefer to read bite-sized pieces of information, and people are reading more distinct pieces. Whether we’re reading more in terms of the volume of words compared to 20 years ago is hard to tell, but I’d guess so.” - The Guardian

This trend is not limited to reading alone but part of a Snack Culture which embodies the phenomenon of products, services and experience becoming more temporary and transient; products that are being deconstructed in easier to digest, easier to afford bits, making it possible to collect even more experiences as often as possible, in an even shorter time frame. The signs are everywhere, from ubiquitous commerce to fragmented media to fast fashion to temporary ownership to Netflix-style all-you-can-eat models.

It is a fact that people read less books in the traditional way but the same goes for other types of content. Let’s have a look at the music industry. The sales of the traditional music CD are going down year after year, but I wouldn’t conclude that people don’t listen to music anymore. I just believe that the consumptions patterns are changing and digital content fits better with these consumptions patterns.

A good example is the iTunes WiFi Music store. Say you’re in line at Starbucks. You hear this amazing song wafting from the speakers. You gotta have it. Now. Tap the iTunes button on your iPhone or iPod touch, tap the Starbucks button, and preview, buy, and download whatever you like, right then and there. Basically the idea behind the Kindle is the same - with a tap of a button you connect to amazon.com and can access, preview and buy ten thousands of books.

So I believe Mr. Job has it wrong, when he says that people don’t read anymore, they just read different things like RSS feeds, websites, forums, blogs and of course e-books in different ways using e-readers like the Kindle or the iLiad or other devices like a laptop or a mobile phone, dare i say iPhone?

The Dutch bookstore chain, Selexyz will start with the sales of e-books and the iLiad from November onward. The iLiad will be on display and for sale at the Selexyz bookstores in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. As a promotion the first iLiads will be provided with an e-book edition of Max Westermans new book ‘In alle staten‘.

On Selexyz.nl are currently more than 100 free e-books available for download, in near future this will be extended with the commercial titles also available at the stores.

**Update**

The Dutch NOS Journal made a short report last night on the iLiad. You can view it here (skip to 06:38).

Earlier this week a nice article about the future of e-books appeared in The Independent: The end of the page-turner

In just a few short years, MP3 downloads and the iPod changed the face of the music industry. CDs are going the way of the dodo, and high-street music stores fear for the future. Now there’s a revolution on the horizon; this time in the realm of books.

Read more …

It still remains to be seen how and if the printed industry will follow the same path as the music industry but we can’t deny the fact that there has been a growing interest in e-books over the last year. More important is the noticeable positive attitude toward e-books and for more and more people the future of digital reading seems to be a bright one and I count myself as one of those.

What do you think? Do you think print is dead?

The Frankfurt Book Fair will take place from 10 to 14 October this year and it is considered to be the meeting place for everybody who is anybody in the industry and will be host to authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, art dealers, illustrators, agents, journalists and of course readers.

iRex Technologies will be attending the fair and you can find us at the digital market place in Hall 4.2 Stand J 442. I will also be present at the fair and if you are interested to have a chat with us or have a look at the iLiad and hear about latest developments than we are more than happy to welcome you there.

For those not coming to the fair, I will cover the highlights of the fair here on the i-to-i blog. One of the things I am certainly gonna check out is a presentation from Amazon: The Future of Books: digital text at Amazon. During which Genevieve Kunst, the Head of Business development for Digital Media will introduce Amazon’s current digital offerings and latest developments.

With the recent events that seem to indicate that the launch of the Kindle is imminent, will this be the event where they will unveil the Kindle?