Amazon's announcement that it had sold more electronic books than the print variety during the pre- Christmas shopping season was firm evidence, if any was needed, that the era of the e-book has finally arrived.
For those who still remained unconvinced, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January brought a slew of new e-readers and tablets, with HP, Dell, Lenovo and many lesser-known companies all unveiling new products.
So far, most of the e-reader excitement has been generated by the hardware vendors, particularly by the Kindle device from Amazon. But NDS is cementing its position as a technological innovator, as the first software vendor to launch an end-to-end solution for the e-publishing industry. Building on its experience as the world's leading provider of security and middleware systems for pay-TV, NDS has created a rich, multi-level solution for the e-reader which addresses the needs of all players in the e-publishing ecosystem, from device manufacturers and publishers right through to the end user.
The role of publishers is key to the success of any e-publishing solution, as ultimately, e-readers need content to display on their screens; which in turn provides publishers – of books, newspapers and magazines – the opportunity to regain at least some of the ground they lost during a decade of ineffective dabbling on the Internet.
The digital revolution has not been kind to print publishers, who have seen sales plummet in recent years, along with an even more precipitous decline in advertising across all print media. Publishers have good reason to be wary of the Internet and the devices that display the electronic versions of their products – more often than not without regard for copyright.
Alongside the threat, however, the digitization of print media also holds out the promise of desperately-needed new revenue streams – a facet made possible by the NDS solution. Crucially, the NDS system supports advanced advertising techniques, including targeted and contextual advertising, telescopic and click-through ads, and advanced purchasing models such as the ability to rent, gift or lend content.
The inadequacy of Internet advertising as a replacement for lost subscription revenue was the key lesson the publishers took from their Internet experience. The NDS e-publishing solution will enable them to return to a two-pronged revenue strategy, while utilizing the full advertising potential of the electronic platform.
Publishers are determined not to repeat the mistakes they made in giving away their content for free on the Internet. Thus, their move into e-publishing creates a requirement for robust and effective e-publishing technology solutions, above all for Digital Rights Management (DRM,) the technology that enables publishers to realize revenue from the content published on an e-reader or similar device. To fully address those needs, the NDS solution includes protection of the service, to allow controlled access to content based on user rights, protection of the device, to prevent modification, and protection and authentication of the content itself.
Proving true to the end-to-end solution, NDS is also able to provide the e-reader user interface, which can be based on the look-and-feel of the print product, and a variety of advanced capabilities. These include proven measurement and analytical technologies, which enable service providers to better understand their users' reading habits and thus to tailor their services to their customers. And to complete the package, NDS also provides consulting services for publishers who would like to better understand the technical issues in the value chain. Indeed, before defining an e-Publishing strategy, a lot of issues need to be addressed, such as content aggregation and reformatting, security and control of the content on the end device in a retail market etc. NDS expertise is this domain is well recognized and NDS' consultancy services are well positioned to support Publishers in making the right decisions.
For now, many publishers seem to be content working with the established e-reader hardware vendors. But such cooperation is, in all likelihood, a holding tactic. Many publishers are said to be dissatisfied with the deals they are getting from the hardware vendors (typically 30% for the hardware vendor, according to published reports) and they dislike the vertical nature of the business, they would prefer that their content be available across multiple e-readers and other mobile devices.
Eventually, the publishing industry is likely to follow the lead of the Hearst Group, which launched its own e-reader at CES. "We are going to create an entity by publishers, for publishers," group president Kenneth Bronfin told the Wall Street Journal, adding that the company would also establish a portal with its content available for paid download to a variety of electronic devices.
Other companies that are reported to be planning to head in the same direction include Time Inc., Conde Nast and News Corp.
Publishers have a long road ahead of them before the print revenue they have lost to the Internet can be recovered on the e-reader. But they seem to be determined to see it through, and they will need the support of strong and innovative technology partners if they are to succeed. NDS is just such a partner.