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By David Rothman

iphoneSteve Jobs may keep saying—not too credibly—that e-books aren’t worth his trouble. But tell that to the Chinese. He could be missing out on a nice embryonic market for E.

The latest out of China, perhaps true, perhaps not, is that 400,000 unlocked iPhones have hit the market there. So says a market research firm named In-Stat, quoting China Mobile, which AppleInsider describes as “the nation’s largest wireless carrier.”

E-books among common phone uses in China

“The surge is credited to a fundamental difference between American and Chinese buyers,” AppleInsider reports. “Where most US buyers confine smartphone purchases to the workplace, Chinese customers often use their phones for entertainment or Internet access, such as playing music or e-books. Apple’s focus on this last usage pattern for the iPhone, especially with its user interface, makes it a logical fit for the market.”

Remember how I’ve said that the phones will probably outnumber Kindle-style machines as e-readers? Well, what better case than this of the possibilities? Of course, given Jobs’  statement, we don’t know how helpful the last sentence in the above paragraph is.

An M question

The challenge, of course, for publishers, isn’t just to get people reading but also to make money off the activity that Steve Jobs keeps dissing. The Chinese market will need the right business models for publishers. Perhaps subscription-related? That would certainly tie in with current telecom practices.

 
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