In an interview held as his company prepares to enter a U.S. e-book market becoming crowded with devices (see the chart above), Hans Brons, CEO of Netherlands-based IREX Technologies, outlined his views on the need for open technologies over proprietary formats, the future of dedicated reading devices and the American e-book market as seen from Europe.
A spinoff from Phillips Electronics in 2005, IREX Technologies was an early developer of e-ink display technology and worked on the first Sony Reader device. IREX produces four digital reading devices—with grayscale display and some with handwriting recognition—aimed at consumers but primarily focused on the professional and educational market. Last week, IREX announced plans to team up with Barnes & Noble to offer a consumer device in the U.S. in September. And while the firm has declined to reveal the price of the device, it announced specifications—8.1-inch screen and wireless access—that appear to be based on the IREX iLiad Reader, a consumer device with similar features.
Brons said IREX is growing—“100% growth year to year and 200% to 300% growth this year”—employs about 50 people and subcontracts the manufacturing of its devices. “Most of our staff is dedicated to developing technology,” said Brons. “We have a consumer background from our time with Phillips, but we thought the consumer market would take years to develop, so we focused on business markets in Germany, France, the U.K. and the Dutch market.” Brons emphasized, “We don't have a large European e-book market in any one language.”
He hailed the Kindle “for raising the flag of digital reading,” and said he sees an opportunity for IREX despite the cost of its devices in Europe, typically priced from $700 to nearly $900; the new U.S. device, Brons said, will have “pricing that will be competitive to the devices that are out there now.”
IREX has embraced the ePub standard, and Brons wants to “avoid the Apple and Amazon proprietary approach to the market. We want open competition and we want to foster other kinds of business models.” While Amazon has created a de facto price standard of $9.99 for content, Brons said European prices vary. “There's no Kindle-like device. Content in Europe is available, but it's limited in comparison to the U.S.,” he said. “European publishers are just beginning to build e-book databases and business models. Publishers are worried about Amazon coming to Europe, and they're motivated to try and identify alternatives.” And he said e-book prices should be lower; “There will be sacrifices, but publishers need to be creative.”
Brons remains bullish on dedicated reading devices even as mobile phones and Netbooks, essentially small computers, are being used for reading and offer full-color LCD screens at competitive prices. “Mobile phones with backlist LCD screens will not provide the reading comfort that we can,” Brons said, “and we have an enormous advantage in battery management.” He adds that “consumers prefer dedicated devices like the iPod for their music, when really the best device would be a full computer.”
Brons said that the e-reader market “is an older demographic, over 25 and beyond 40,” but he sees an opportunity to attract younger consumers, what he called “screenagers,” through the “educational market and through their attraction to creating their own content.” And Brons is eager for IREX to do more evangelizing to get people into the e-reading space. “We have the knowledge of how to drive the market for e-ink materials like no on else,” he said.
