Electronic paper book price conversion + transformation is facing the siege of the tablet computer how to break through

Is it an electronic paper book or tablet? Many people will not hesitate to choose the latter, the same price, or more expensive than the former, but there are more features in addition to reading electronic paper.

This is the current embarrassing situation of the e-books that once broke red. Han Wanggang, a domestic benchmark for electronic paper books, has just released a quarterly earnings forecast. It is expected that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first quarter will be a loss of 40 million yuan to 50 million yuan. This is already the second consecutive Hanwang Technology since the fourth quarter of last year. There was a quarterly loss in the quarter.

For electronic paper books, the biggest impact is the tablet computer that has been flourishing for the moment. According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, the sales volume of Chinese tablet computers reached 1,036,700 units, an increase of 32.5% over the previous period, and sales volume was 3 times that of electronic paper books. many.

For a time, the electronic paper book was under the “run” of the tablet computer. This type of electronic product, which still lacks price and functional advantages, has withdrawn from the fierce market competition with tablet computers, or has it emerged from the still-existing space?

Text, picture organizer / reporter quiet market: sales into a huge contrast two years ago, foreign countries led by the Kindle, the domestic Hanwang represented by the electronic paper book reader industry is developing very rapidly, at the end of 2010, foreign institutions have estimated that the Amazon Kindle The annual sales volume is close to 5 million units, and Hanwang once stated in the prospectus that the sales volume of electronic paper book 2008 was 700,000 units in the world, and it surged to 3.5 million units in 2009, an impressive increase of 400%. In 2009, Hanwang Technology's electronic paper book series accounted for about 95% of the domestic electronic paper book market, and its global market share also climbed to 9%.

However, with the advent of the first and second generations of the Apple iPad, and the emergence of numerous branded tablet computers, this once-hot electric paper book began to fail. According to statistics from Analysys International, in the first quarter of this year, domestic sales of tablet PCs reached 1.067 million units, an increase of 32.5% from the previous quarter; however, the sales of domestic e-readers was 342,200 units, which was even negative compared to the fourth quarter of last year. , sales fell by 4.28%. Under rough calculations, in China, sales of tablet computers are three times that of electronic paper books. Hanwang’s performance report released in April shows that it is expected that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first quarter will be a loss of 40 million to 50 million yuan, which is already the second quarter of Hanwang Technology’s consecutive quarter since last year’s fourth quarter. Loss.

The days of Amazon, the global giant of e-books, were equally difficult, despite the increase in sales of the Kindle in the first quarter, but this was due to price cuts. From this point of view, the market for electronic paper book readers, which uses environmental protection, eye protection electronic ink, and power saving as the selling point, has not been much better under the impact of the hot selling of tablet computers.

Way Out: Reduce Prices and Seek Transformation In the view of people in the industry, electronic paper books must look for their own way out under the compelling “pressure” of the tablet PC rival. The key is transformation, and there is a further downward adjustment of prices.

According to sources, on May 13th, Hanwang held a national agent conference to announce that its products have been significantly reduced in price, with the highest drop of more than 40%. It is understood that its Hanwang N510 (Elite) will be sold at a price of 599 yuan. Compared with the current sales price of 990 yuan, this product's price reduction rate is about 40%. Other types of electronic paper book products also have a large margin. The price cuts of the highest-end products were as high as 1,000 yuan, and the prices fell back to 2,000 yuan, but the details were not yet clear. The reporter learned from the Hanwang side about the price cuts, and company stakeholders said that there has been no official news.

In fact, Hanwang said earlier this year that it will follow the "three-year terminal, three-year platform, three-year service" strategic plan, in addition to hardware to be further popularized, but also to take the Amazon content platform.

However, only the concepts and rhetoric of transition are obviously not enough to foretell a bright future. Analysts believe that in order to achieve transformation, domestic e-paper book companies must have a solid hardware foundation and an independent and clear content product architecture. From the current point of view, there is still a big gap between domestic companies and Amazon.

In addition, the Hanvon has been deployed in the field of flat panel since last year, introducing a 10-inch flat panel product. According to the information disclosed by the China Trademark.com website, Hanwang Technology has recently won the “TouchPad” trademark in China for a period of 10 years. However, public information revealed that some manufacturers filed objections to the "TouchPad" trademark in March and May of this year. Analysis of the industry pointed out that it is very likely that the objectioned vendor is HP. It is understood that the TouchPad tablet PC based on webOS system launched by Hewlett-Packard in February this year, which is consistent with the name of Hanwang Technology TouchPad Tablet PC, has raised concerns about trademark use rights on the day.

It is worth noting that from the current situation, the trademark issue is not yet clear, which may have an impact on the HP Touchpad's listing plan in China.

The e-book giant Amazon is also engaged in a "transition + low price" strategy. At the beginning of this year, Amazon lowered the price of the kindle to 189 US dollars, equivalent to about 1266 yuan. The Amazon recently launched a software mall and online music, and foreign media also revealed that the third quarter of this year, Amazon Tablet PC will be equipped with Android system, with the advent of a new generation of Kindle appearance, monthly shipments of 800,000 units, to be positive with the Apple iPad Fight.

More rigorously, Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, predicts that the Amazon Kindle price may drop to zero by the end of the year. This expectation has received many responses from the industry. Analysts from the United States, a commercial website, said that the Kindle will not implement a free model, but it is very likely to implement a so-called membership system, such as providing ultra-low-cost Kindles for users who pay annual fees. And content services.

discuss:

Electric paper book short-lived?

Compared to the single-function, black-and-white electronic paper book, the current mainstream tablet PCs are more versatile. They not only have color screens, cameras, electronic paper books to read, browse the web, but also play games. 7 inches, 5 inches and other different options. More importantly, the current market price, electronic paper book is not much cheaper than the Tablet PC. It is understood that the mainstream electronic paper book prices are concentrated in 1500 to 2,000 yuan, while the price of the new iPad 2 is only 3688 yuan, a generation of iPad dropped to 3,000 yuan or less, the price difference is not large. Moreover, the biggest problem in the electronic paper book market has always been that the user's psychological price of such consumer goods is not high. The reporter learned from the interview that most consumers believe that the most reasonable price for electronic paper books is around 500 yuan. More than 1,500 yuan, it would be better to spend more money to buy a tablet.

From this point of view, has the electronic paper book industry entered a dead end and become a flash in the pan? Most of the industry does not think so. According to the sales report released by the American Publishers Association recently, electronic paper books currently surpass paper books in the United States, and electronic paper books have become the most popular reading format. It has now become a part of readers' reading habits. The results of the “The 8th National National Reading Survey” released by the China Press and Publication Research Institute in April showed that, in 2010, among the readers of various national reading media aged 18 to 70 years old, the largest increase was in digital reading. The access rate for digital reading in 2010 was 32.8%, an increase of 8.2 percentage points from the 24.6% in 2009, an increase of 33.3%.

Analysys International analysts believe that tablet computers cannot replace electronic paper books, but domestic e-readers will be confined by a tablet computer in a space, and it is difficult to break through in a short period of time. The reason why foreign users are willing to accept electronic paper books is because foreign paper is more expensive and the price of books is high. However, the reading habits of Chinese users are difficult to change in a short time.