They’ve been around for several years. Back in 2004 there was a minor craze for ebooks, before that in 2001, and even as far back as 1996 the concept has been floated as a new and exciting enterprise for the digital age. Each time the hype died back down shortly after as obstacles like an ironic public unwillingness to read books on their computers and lack of intuitive measures in e-readers made it infeasible as a format and insoluble as a business. Combine that with the lack of interest in publishing companies to produce high quality ebooks of popular novels, and you have a lot of hype that amounts to very little in terms of an actual industry.
Recently, an ebook distributor called LibreDigital got $15 million in venture capital for second round financing from several different firms. Considering the incredible difficulty in getting funding for business in the floundering world economy, especially from venture capitalists, this speaks volumes for the viability of this company. One must wonder exactly what it is about it that attracted a class of businessmen and women known for very careful investment to this particular company.
My guess would be that many of the hurdles that prevented the ebook fad from taking hold previously are being overcome by expanding technology. 2009 has seen the release of nine new ebook readers (compared to seven total from 2006-2008), seven of which were released between June and now. These portable devices allow for the storage of gigs of books and easy access to all of them, not to mention ease of reading. The advent of devices such as this which are also small and light enough to carry on an airplane (though not for long the way airlines are limiting luggage), mean that ebooks may actually become a profitable enterprise this time around.
There is an old saying in law enforcement: “Follow the money.” This also applies to business. Business trends are often set by what is invested in them, filtering up from the street only when money is infused into marketing and sales. In this case, the money is going into R&D and I suspect soon actual advertising. Either way, watch the ebook business over the rest of the year, especially during the holiday season, for a huge expansion.
