China's e-Book and Digital Reader Markets Grow, while Legal and Technological

As much as one may love to sit down with a nice hardcover book from one's favorite author, those days are changing, like much else in our lives in the digital age. The transition from obtaining information via traditional books to digital readers is growing around the world. It is estimated by DisplaySearch that the number of digital readers in China had grown to "3 million in 2010, which account[ed] for 2% of the global market." ¹ Aside from the current market leader globally, the Amazon Kindle, numerous Chinese manufacturers have also entered this marketplace with competing products, ² including many "shanzhai" or imitation products. ³ It is indeed a market with promise, even more so when one considers that with over 400 million internet users in China⁴ and well over 200 million users in China accessing the internet via mobile phones,⁵ the means to access e-books via various devices will only continue to grow.