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also has the fourth largest installed base of smartphonesin the world, and according to Nielsen, over 90% of thesmartphones sold at retail in the first half of 2013 wereAndroids. It is fair to say that many of those initial Googlesales are people experimenting with ebooks and testingthe store. Google actually has a very low customer returnrate, and most purchases up to now have been made byfirst-time customers. While Amazon sells more backlist titlesthan any other retailer in Brazil, Google Play’s frontstore accounts for around 80% of the sales, making it a verybestseller-focused ebookstore.IBA IBA was launched in March 2012 by Grupo Abril, oneof the largest media companies in Brazil, with a huge presencein magazine publishing, K–12 book publishing, andcable TV. It presents a very solid platform, with a proprietaryDRM control, so the readers do not need an Adobe ID.The purchases are made on the website, and the readingis done in apps for iOS, Android, and PC. It is greatly focusedon magazines and newspapers, perhaps even more thanon ebooks. It has not gained much traction in the ebookmarket so far.Kobo Following its strategy tested in Europe, Kobo’s businessmodel for Brazil was to partner with a strong localretailer, and they found one in Livraria Cultura, one of themost important Brazilian booksellers, with 16 storesaround the country. Livraria Cultura also has a very strongecommerce background since it pioneered selling booksonline in Brazil during the late 1990s. Kobo took advantageof the existing Livraria Cultura ebookstore—that theymerged into their platform—allowing them to save severalmonths in contract negotiations and to launch in December2012. Kobo offers Touch, Mini, Glo, and Aura devicesin the Brazilian market, so far always sold throughLivraria Cultura. The level of exclusivity in the partnershipdeal has not been disclosed, but Kobo has been makingan effort to have all contracts now signed directly withpublishers and distributors. Kobo keeps a local team inBrazil.Saraiva Livrarias Saraiva is the largest Brazilian bookstorechain, with over 100 stores around the country. Along withthe publishing and educational divisions, they are part ofa larger public company that ranks among the top threepublishing groups in Brazil. They also have a strong onlinepresence in the book market with a well-known ecommerceplatform that also sells electronics, computers, andtelecom products. Their ebookstore was launched in early2010. Their platform is non-proprietary, based on BlueFiretechnology and on Adobe’s DRM. They do not offer a devicebut have iOS, Android, and PC apps. The main challengesthat Saraiva faces today are global competitors andthe need to find a way to better use its brick-and-mortarpresence and brand to increase their ebook sales.Submarino Submarino could be called the Brazilian Amazon.It is a large Brazilian e-retailer that sells everythingfrom books to wine, cosmetics, and perfumes. They startedan ebookstore in a partnership with Gato Sabido, but inSeptember 2011, they canceled the deal and invested in anew partnership with New-York-based The Copia. Theyhave not, however, shown any relevant traction in themarket until now.Brazil: Conclusion There are other digital initiatives inBrazil. In higher education, for instance, Estácio de Sá, aprivate university of 260,000 students, is already offeringdigital textbooks to its students. Telecom companies suchas Vivo, Claro, and Oi, too, are starting to offer ebooks forweekly fees to their mobile clients, and several magazinesare going digital.The growth of tablet sales in Brazil is probably going to bea key element for the development of the ebook marketin the country. According to IDC, 5.9 million tablets will besold in Brazil in 2013, and Nielsen has reported that retailsales of tablets increased 400% in the first semester of 2013compared to the same period in 2012. Even more impressiveis the fact that 94.9% of the tablets sold in at retail inthe first semester of 2013 were Androids. On the smartphonefront, Brazil is also a huge market. According to astudy by Morgan Stanley, released on May 12, Brazil had70 million smartphones, making it the fourth country inthe world in the number of such devices. IDC expects 28million smartphones to be sold in Brazil in 2013.The tipping point for the ebook market was December 5,2012, when Amazon, Google and Kobo arrived. This was agame-changer, and according to market trends, 2013 willbe the first year of digital growth in Brazil—just in time forBrazil to host soccer’s FIFA World Cup in 2014, when thedigital market will tend to grow even more, helped by thebooming market for tablets and smartphones.ChinaBy Veronika Licher Update fall 2013In 2013, several initiatives occured that together will probablyreshape the scope and impact of ebooks - and morebroadly, of the digital dissemination of copyrighted content- in China, as the world’s most populous country has67 The Global eBook Report