• China’s largest e-publisher, Shanda Literature Group, has launched the Bambook, a dedicated e-reader, as well as an e-bookstore featuring more than three million titles.
• A report from GAPP, China’s government agency responsible for publishing, compares the Bambook favorably to Amazon’s Kindle, on which the design is closely based.
By Wenguang Huang
China’s General Administration of Press and Publication, or GAPP, has announced that the total value of China’s electronic publications across all platforms surpassed traditional print publications in 2009. What’s more, it did so before Shanda Literature Ltd (SDL), the country’s largest e-publisher, offered a dedicated e-reader. That changed yesterday when SDL joined other e-reader manufacturers in China such as Hanvon and Acuce, and launched its own e-book device and dedicated e-bookstore.
Dubbed Bambook, the device is priced at 998 RMB ($147) and offers a six-inch gray-scale e-ink display, Wi-Fi and an ExpressCard expansion slot for use with mobile Internet data cards. The device includes voice functions in Chinese and English, primarily to enable the use of popular language learning books. It offers 24-day standby on a single battery charge and the company promises to offer solar recharging, though it is not yet clear if this is built-in or via an adapter.
Yesterday, the company released the first 3,500 Bambooks, but only to existing Shanda customers and as part of an “internal trial.”
In an email to Publishing Perspectives, SDL’s CEO Hou Xiaoqiang said the name Bambook combines the English words bamboo and books. “In ancient China, people wrote on bamboo slips, which became the earliest forms of books,” said Hou. “While the invention of paper revolutionized the book industry, the evolution from regular paper to e-paper signifies a similar revolution.”
Hou said that at launch, SDL’s “cloud bookstore” offers three million copyrighted titles, more than 10,000 books published by 60 of China’s major traditional publishing houses, 1,000 e-magazines, as well as work from some 1.1 million SDL users who publish their own work on Shanda’s various sites.
The company is not being shy about its inspiration for the device: Amazon’s Kindle. According to SDL’s press release, a GAPP affiliated agency has evaluated Bambook against Kindle and found that Bambook offered more titles, a better design, faster search times, more complex interactive features and better compatibility across file formats.
Hou believes that Bambook has the potential to do well not only in China but also overseas. “We are not just targeting the e-reader terminal market. We are focusing on selling out content,” said Hou. He suggested the product will enable SDL to successfully duplicate the Amazon business model in China.
One Comment
Looks good, but is it useful for guys abroad?