The ebook is taking over the world as the traditional book publishing industry enters a period of long-term decline. Book revenue for US publishers, including both ebooks and paper books, will decrease at a compound annual growth rate of three percent from 2010 to 2014. This according to a survey by IHS iSuppli published on April 28:
For the traditional book publishing industry, the implications of the rise of the e-book and e-book reader markets are frightening given the decline in paper book printing, distribution and sales. The industry has entered a phase of disruption that will be as significant as the major changes impacting the music and movie businesses.
The US trends are expected to spread throughout the world as non-US sales of ereaders increase. Sales of ebook readers are expected to more than triple during the period 2010-2014, although dedicated ereader shipments will fall short of expecations because of the increasing trend to reading on media tablets such as the iPad and, even, on smartphones. In many cases, manufacturers have cut the cost of dedicated ereaders to the bare minimum where margins are near-zero. Despite this price advantage, they are having a hard time competing with the more versatile tablets.
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