| | By John Daly in Germany @ Monday, March 09, 2009 7:20 PM
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| | German ITC industry association Bitkom states 2.2 million Germans have set their sights on buying an ebook this year. The rather high number is the result of a poll done by market research institute Forsa, which Bitkom told to phone around. Apparently, the greatest demand will be for non-fiction titles, where content overrides the haptic delights of feeling up a nice novel. Scientific titles will be lapped up, as texts can be searched by terms (and copied & pasted). Publishing research as an ebook will also keep prices low, making titles accessible.
Greatest demand will come from students, school pupils and trainees ranging from 14 to 29 years. Bitkom said one in 20 in that age group would want to buy an ebook. However, one in 20 is merely 5%. The results of the survey are also questionable - there is a major difference between asking someone if they think they'd buy an ebook during a certain space of time, and the respondent actually doing so. It also seems the 2.2 million was derived by simply applying 5% to the general populace under 65, or a similar statistic group. Nonetheless, the results are bound to add spin to the Leipzig Book Fair, which this year will open its gates on March 12.
Bitkom didn't say how many people plan on actually buying an ebook reader, such as Amazon's Kindle, or would simply buy a text to work with on their laptop or netbook. X
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