E-books Coming Online This Month In China

The B2C e-commerce website Dangdang.com reportedly plans to launch a new e-book business channel in the second half of December 2011.

According to reports in Chinese local media, while preparing for the new sector Dangdang.com will also launch apps targeting Apple’s iOS operating system and Google’s Android operating system. In the future, the online retailer may cooperate with terminal device manufacturers to launch its own branded e-book reader.

In November 2010, Dangdang.com established a digital publications business department, led by Li Guoqing, joint president of Dangdang.com. According to Li, the digital reading business has become a strategic business unit for the website.

Li previously said during an interview in June 2011 that Dangdang.com will not launch its own branded e-book reader, instead it prefers cooperation with terminal device manufacturers on the iOS platform, Android platform, and mobile Internet browsers. However, an insider has revealed to local media that Dangdang.com is actually considering making its own e-book reader which could put it in direct competition with Chinese companies like Shanda.

For the pricing of e-books, Li once said the average price will be only 30% of the same paper books. He also revealed that after the sale of these e-books, the writers can gain 10% of the income as royalties, and the publishers gain 10% as well.