Stunted Growth of e-Books Market in India
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 7th Oct. 2014
Despite the rise in penetration of Tabs/Smart phones & similar electronic devices, market for e-books or scanned artifacts' has still not yet grown to the 'full extent'. This is in part due to behavioral inclinations and habits. One of the reasons is that when one goes to retail shop say, for a print job or for a scan job; one has to bear the 'same price'. Also, the facility to 'bind' scan images to a book form, (a small software job) is not available in most 'retail print shops'. Besides, the perceived cost of an electronic device in the psyche of customer is still high compared to a 'paper book'. Also, some families and elders seriously believe that gazing at electronic screens is bad for eye's health and this perceived caution is handed down to 'new generation', though without any scientific backing or a study of changing reflexes of brightness and contrast on television vis-à-vis a static computer screen. Also, electronic is perceived to be less reliable to survive the wear & tear in rough 'college' environment, though some the colleges may pride themselves for helping students with Laptop devices with élan. The book-shopkeepers on their part fear a loss of market in promoting this 'trade' since they perceive that the target customers may start to trade within themselves (say, for samosas or breadpakoras) rather than turn to them for fresh buys. The publishers have long been comfortable with 'fixed' content and print/distribute business. Their fear is to shift to era of 'overnight changes in content' and keep evolving new & more interesting content ever, so that they remain in business other wise which market may be lost.
The fact that e-book reader or tab can store multiple voluminous books as well as is lighter & much handier to carry is ignored, as also the fact that now such tab/readers cost peanuts versus the cost of a cache of books. The teachers perceive a lack of control on the 'class' because of inability to control what the students may be peeping into, during lectures in case of e-books. Only, god knows what will be their level of fear or frustration, should Wi-fi and internet access is materialized in schools as per the promise of current leadership in government. The parents are still unsure about access of electricity to charge these devices when required as well as access to internet or other sources from where 'new course books can be down loaded' as per changing requirement, besides the quality of content being accessed since monitoring is not possible 'all the time'. The 'examination board' is at loss that their responsibility of 'fixing curriculum' will be lost for ever in such an environment as 'new authors/content providers' with 'catchy contents' will start defining curriculum. They are also not sure about the rise or penetration of AV content and its role in teaching as of yet, since teaching lessons through television has failed to have had any impact so far. Smaller problem is presently of availability of 'low cost devices' since the 'suppliers' are still not sure about opening up of a large market due the challenges envisaged.
Even though the challenges galore however for India's publishing/content development industry, such transformation is still the best bet because it gives rise to a large number of jobs in 'original content creation (where all countries can compete & we may not have an advantage)', content organization, editing, presentation, packaging and distribution in new environment (where India may enjoy an advantage or will need to progress fast especially if content is in language other than domestic languages or English), training Audio-Visual development (& tutor training service) as well as possible evolution of dynamic e-testing service industry (again India will have an advantage). This is so because with changing content, the AV presentation to show things/concepts in perspective which may be easier done through AV since 'real' or 'laboratory' replication may not be possible for 'all' areas; also due to changing content training of teachers to communicate and present ideas/concepts to student. Providing independent assessment of students on their grasp of such new concepts/ideas with test materials from content originators and assessments by back-office teams at publishing house might be a good idea and this will be needed at regular intervals. Off course a whole gamut of 'sales force' will be required to which will formulate 'curriculum' which should be exposed to students and 'internal assessment tests (subjective questionnaires as well as other tests, prepared with help from content creators)' that the students need to be subjected before they undertake the overall assessment test for 'certification board/ agency'. Presently we need to prepare the market to become ready for the change...
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 7th Oct. 2014
Despite the rise in penetration of Tabs/Smart phones & similar electronic devices, market for e-books or scanned artifacts' has still not yet grown to the 'full extent'. This is in part due to behavioral inclinations and habits. One of the reasons is that when one goes to retail shop say, for a print job or for a scan job; one has to bear the 'same price'. Also, the facility to 'bind' scan images to a book form, (a small software job) is not available in most 'retail print shops'. Besides, the perceived cost of an electronic device in the psyche of customer is still high compared to a 'paper book'. Also, some families and elders seriously believe that gazing at electronic screens is bad for eye's health and this perceived caution is handed down to 'new generation', though without any scientific backing or a study of changing reflexes of brightness and contrast on television vis-à-vis a static computer screen. Also, electronic is perceived to be less reliable to survive the wear & tear in rough 'college' environment, though some the colleges may pride themselves for helping students with Laptop devices with élan. The book-shopkeepers on their part fear a loss of market in promoting this 'trade' since they perceive that the target customers may start to trade within themselves (say, for samosas or breadpakoras) rather than turn to them for fresh buys. The publishers have long been comfortable with 'fixed' content and print/distribute business. Their fear is to shift to era of 'overnight changes in content' and keep evolving new & more interesting content ever, so that they remain in business other wise which market may be lost.
The fact that e-book reader or tab can store multiple voluminous books as well as is lighter & much handier to carry is ignored, as also the fact that now such tab/readers cost peanuts versus the cost of a cache of books. The teachers perceive a lack of control on the 'class' because of inability to control what the students may be peeping into, during lectures in case of e-books. Only, god knows what will be their level of fear or frustration, should Wi-fi and internet access is materialized in schools as per the promise of current leadership in government. The parents are still unsure about access of electricity to charge these devices when required as well as access to internet or other sources from where 'new course books can be down loaded' as per changing requirement, besides the quality of content being accessed since monitoring is not possible 'all the time'. The 'examination board' is at loss that their responsibility of 'fixing curriculum' will be lost for ever in such an environment as 'new authors/content providers' with 'catchy contents' will start defining curriculum. They are also not sure about the rise or penetration of AV content and its role in teaching as of yet, since teaching lessons through television has failed to have had any impact so far. Smaller problem is presently of availability of 'low cost devices' since the 'suppliers' are still not sure about opening up of a large market due the challenges envisaged.
Even though the challenges galore however for India's publishing/content development industry, such transformation is still the best bet because it gives rise to a large number of jobs in 'original content creation (where all countries can compete & we may not have an advantage)', content organization, editing, presentation, packaging and distribution in new environment (where India may enjoy an advantage or will need to progress fast especially if content is in language other than domestic languages or English), training Audio-Visual development (& tutor training service) as well as possible evolution of dynamic e-testing service industry (again India will have an advantage). This is so because with changing content, the AV presentation to show things/concepts in perspective which may be easier done through AV since 'real' or 'laboratory' replication may not be possible for 'all' areas; also due to changing content training of teachers to communicate and present ideas/concepts to student. Providing independent assessment of students on their grasp of such new concepts/ideas with test materials from content originators and assessments by back-office teams at publishing house might be a good idea and this will be needed at regular intervals. Off course a whole gamut of 'sales force' will be required to which will formulate 'curriculum' which should be exposed to students and 'internal assessment tests (subjective questionnaires as well as other tests, prepared with help from content creators)' that the students need to be subjected before they undertake the overall assessment test for 'certification board/ agency'. Presently we need to prepare the market to become ready for the change...