The E-book (R)evolution: Two Reports from Financial Times’ Digital Media Conference

The panel took place today in London.
From The Next Web:

“Amazon was apparently invited to join this particular panel discussion at the Financial Times’ (FT) Digital Media Conference today, according to the FT’s West Coast Editor Richard Waters who was moderating the session, but alas the digital behemoth evidently chose not to participate.
The E-book (R)evolution sought to analyze the book publishing industry and look at its “dramatic digital shift”, with e-book sales and related ventures on the rise. Amazon was a notable gap in the line-up, but there was nonetheless a pretty solid entourage of influencers from within the industry.
Up for the debate were Santiago de la Mora, Partnerships Lead EMEA at Google Book Search; Matteo Berlucchi, CEO at aNobii; Tim Hely Hutchinson, Group Chief Executive at Hachette UK; and Michael Serbinis, CEO at Kobo.”

From The Tab Times:

…Kobo CEO Michel Serbinis revealed that eReading is growing ‘faster than expected’ on a month-on-month basis and said that a market which first boomed in the US and Canada, is ‘beginning to play out’ in western Europe. Despite this boom, Serbinis stressed that there is a profound difference in usage between dedicated eReaders and tablets.
“The people buying these devices (eReaders) are reading more frequently than those with tablets.  They read for longer sessions and are more committed”, said Serbinis. “We definitely see tablets as for casual readers. These readers are reading a book every other month, which is a lot less than the average for those using eReaders. Some romance readers are reading up to 30 books a month.”

Filed under: Publishing, Reports