Wireless ereader will be introduced in China – tough market to crack because of piracy

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By Paul Biba

This is a report from The Industry Standard. Thanks to Resource Shelf for the link.  For more info on China and ebooks see Tiffany Wong’s article here.

A Chinese company is developing an e-reader it hopes will emulate the success of the Amazon Kindle and may market the device outside China.

Hanwang Technology is aiming for an October launch of the e-reader, which will have a 6-inch screen and support China’s homegrown 3G mobile standard, said Lu Jianying, a product manager in Hanwang’s international business section. …

But one obstacle for Hanwang is the large volume of free reading material Chinese consumers can find online, including pirated books, said Frances Guan, an analyst at In-Stat China. Competition from free content makes it more difficult to earn revenue by selling e-books in China, Guan said.

Books, like computer software and DVDs, are widely pirated and sold at subway entrances and indoor bazaars in China. Pirated copies of everything from the Harry Potter series to self-help books like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People are peddled on street corners in major cities, sometimes for little more than $1.

Many Chinese consumers already download reading material to their mobile phones, but that content is sometimes pirated as well and usually free. Beijing commuters often stand lined in subway cars with their heads lowered toward text-filled screens on a mobile phone or Sony PSP.

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