The e-book industry ushered in a major reshuffle: the passing party’s patriots will quit

Recently, the e-book industry finally ushered in a big reshuffle. In May, many e-book makers launched an unprecedented price war. In mid-July, Hanwang announced that its performance in the first half of this year will be a huge loss. Followed by patriots, Founder and Other manufacturers have spread news that will exit the e-book hardware business. In Shenzhen, most small and medium e-book manufacturers switched to tablet computers. Although abroad, Amazon has just announced that sales of e-books based on the Kindle as a carrier have surpassed traditional books, but domestic e-books have become a tasteless, unpalatable, abandoned pity. Did the ebook come to the end?

The huge loss of Hanwang that has been at the forefront of the industry seems to mean that the e-book nightmare has begun. In early May, Hanwang released its first-quarter 2011 results, showing a net loss of 46.18 million yuan in Q1 and a loss of 90 million yuan to 98 million yuan in the first half of the year. A few days ago, this figure was once again increased to 1.65-1.75 billion yuan. Based on this calculation, Hanwang lost more than 100 million yuan in Q2, more than double the amount of Q1.

However, in the eyes of some people in the industry, the expansion of Hanwang's loss in Q2 is not surprising. Since May, major e-book manufacturers have set off an unprecedented price war. On May 13th, Hanwang’s e-books were significantly reduced in price, with the highest drop of more than 40%. Subsequently, Patriots, Newman and other companies followed suit. Shanda reduced its popular product “Jinshu” from 999 yuan to 499 yuan, equivalent to half price sales.

It has been a good thing for consumers that the once ebullied e-books have drastically reduced prices, but the market does not seem to appreciate it. Southern reporter visited the Huaqiang North supermarkets, found that e-books have been difficult to figure in shadows, once the gates of the Hanwang counter has become extremely small, replaced by a variety of tablet computers.

Saibo said that at the best of times, dozens of e-books can be sold every day, and now they can't be sold anymore. "The e-book function is too few, far less than tablet computers, but the price is almost the same." It is learned that Onda, Taipower, Newman and other brands 7-inch tablet prices using Android system has been in the 400 to 800 yuan, and e-books until the price cuts in two months, are generally around 1,000 yuan.

Yi Yi Consulting chief analyst Zhang Yi believes that "at present most of the domestic e-book manufacturers rely mainly on hardware profit, a substantial price reduction is just a way to exhaust the fish, eventually the entire industry into desperation is only a matter of time."

Although some manufacturers have stated that the price reduction is to popularize the market, pave the way for content sales. However, Zhang Yi pointed out that "content consumption is still far from being established in China, and the publishing industry is still in a stage of boycotting e-reading. The copyright price remains high. Even if consumers are willing to buy, it is still difficult for manufacturers to provide enough content. ”

Some well-known e-book manufacturers have already begun to withdraw. It has been reported recently that Founder and Patriot both inconsistently stripped their e-book hardware business and are currently in the inventory phase. In Shenzhen, Nandu reporters also learned from different channels. Many early manufacturers who entered the e-book industry also began to switch to tablet computers. According to a person in charge of a manufacturer who declined to be named, “Last year, advertisements of Hanwang and other big manufacturers were fierce, and the entire market was heated. Those who originally made netbooks and mobile phones took advantage of the trend and gained some sweetness through price advantage. It has basically been withdrawn from this market."

In fact, even the pioneering and most successful Amazon e-book publishers plan to introduce tablets in October this year. Wang Bin, Shenzhen electronics industry analyst, said that compared with domestic manufacturers, Amazon has a very comprehensive content platform, push tablet PC is to make this platform have a better carrier, after all, e-book has been difficult to meet the growing content Demand.