Samsung Electronics employees show the company’s electronic book (e-book reader), SNE-50K, which will allow users to download and read content provided by the Kyobo Bookstore, at a news conference in Seoul, Monday.
/ Korea Times |
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Amazon, the U.S. e-commerce giant, has generated a serious international buzz with its electronic book reader, Kindle.
Now, Samsung, is taking a leaf from Amazon's book.
Samsung announced Monday a partnership with Kyobo Bookstore, the country's largest book retailer, to create a new mobile device, "SNE-50k," enabling users to download books for reading.
The companies see great potential for the e-book market here as the country has one of the most advanced third-generation (3G) mobile networks in the world.
But skeptics see slow development of this market due to the lack of available content and copyright issues.
"We don't expect a sudden huge profit as the country's e-book market is still in its initial stage," Lew Jae-young, vice president of Samsung's visual display unit, said.
"Nonetheless, our e-book terminal will give us a chance to grab an early lead when the market gains momentum."
Kyobo will convert about 1,000 books into an online format monthly to provide content for Samsung's e-book device. The downloaded versions of the books will be about 40 percent cheaper than hardcopies, Samsung said.
Amazon's success with Kindle has the world's leading high-tech companies, including Sony and Apple, experimenting with similar products. Apple also released Kindle applications for its iPod and iPhone portable devices.
The global market for digital books is expected to grow steadily. Amazon and Barnes & Noble made a smooth start despite its book-scanning project becoming the subject of regulatory scrutiny.
Samsung's involvement in the e-book business is likely to embolden other local firms to jump onto the bandwagon.
Yes 24, the country's biggest online bookseller, and its industry rival, Aladdin, have jointly invested in a new entity. This may give the companies enough capacity to explore new opportunities on the e-book front.
Copyright, Content Drawback
But it might not be easy to copy Amazon's success here as few local e-book makers have an online business equivalent to that of Amazon. And Korea's rampant online piracy is a drag on consumer willingness to pay for e-books
Its success is highly dependent on the strong willingness by bookstores to provide content and the government's measure to deal with copyright issues.
They add that manufacturers of e-book readers are also urged to team up with mega bookstores armed with an unlimited supply of content and mobile phone manufacturers to gain the upper hand in the market.
"Bookstores are reluctant to provide their best-sellers to electronics companies for e-Books out of a concern over the quality of hard copies," a manager at the Kyobo branch in Gangnam told The Korea Times.
Samsung's Lew said the company plans to introduce advanced e-book terminals next January and plans ties-up with carriers for more content.
It might take time to reconcile any potential legal disputes between authors and publishers.
Such devices introduced by Amazon and Sony are roughly the size of a slimmed-down paperback book and are capable of storing thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, or any other electronic document.
A key difference in the devices is how books can be purchased. Sony requires content to be bought on a personal computer and transferred to its terminal through a wired connection.
"Publishers were concerned over copyright issues," Lee Dae-hee, a law professor at Korea University said. He expects telecom operators to jump into the market.
yckim@koreatimes.co.kr
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