More positive news for the digital publishing market
As teachers and observers of the digital publishing revolution, we are drawn to the positive stories coming out of the digital publishing environment. We share these stories with you, because as publishers, this information can impact the way you present your content and change the way you think about your business.
The recent information brings to light new potential devices, sales and revenues that are all helping to shape the future of digital publishing success:
– 237.5 million iPads sold. It’s been clear from the start that Apple has the lead in tablet sales. Recently the company announced selling 12.3 million iPads in Q4, which is down from previous years but likely due to market saturation.
– Millions of Kindles sold. Although Amazon isn’t transparent about how many Kindles they sell, they do admit to “millions.” Morgan Stanley estimates that Amazon sold around 5 million Kindle devices this year and will sell around 5.5 million in 2015.
– Nokia sells 20,000 tablets in four minutes. Nokia’s N1 tablet sold out in minutes on January 8th, 2015 when it was released in China. 500,000 ended up on a waitlist.
– Tablet sales will surpass PC sales in 2015. Steve Jobs said it would happen, and Gartner thinks this is the year. Gartner is predicting a sale of around 320 million tablets and 316 million PC sales. They’re also predicting that 49% (1.17 billion) of those mobile devices and PC computers will run on Android.
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– 87% of connected device sales will be tablets and smartphones by 2017. As explained by Forbes, IDC predicts that “by 2017, 87% of the worldwide smart connected device market will be tablets and smartphone, with PCs (both desktop and laptop) being 13% of the market.
– Advertisers will spend $592 billion in 2015. According to eMarketer, this year will see a 6% increase in overall ad spending, with the United States as the highest spender with 32% of the market.
– Mobile ad spending will hit $64 billion in 2015. Think that’s great? Consider that it’s predicted to hit $158 billion by 2018. eMarketer is predicting that mobile ad spending will account for 22% of ad budgets by that time. It’s worth mentioning that mobile media was the fastest to media to reach $1 billion.
– 58% of adults own a smartphone. According to Pew, in 2014, 58% of adults owned a smartphone, whereas 32% own an e-reader and 42% own a tablet computer. This number has made quite a leap from 18% in December 2011 when we first started tracking.
When was the last time you saw an industry grow like this? Considering the predictions for the next few years, more impressive increases are expected to come.
Digital publishing is no longer a dream. Today, legacy publishers can bring decades of content into the digital environment and sell digital editions to a viable audience. The learning curve is minimal on tablet devices, massive audiences are scooping them up and digital publishers are starting to offer high-quality digital content.
The digital revolution is well underway; something publishers were hoping for.
