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The concerns raised in German or North American buy localinitiatives are not just fancies of the most affluent audiences.On the periferies, in fragmented, crisis struck markets,in Central and Eastern Europe, but also in Spain or Italy, thechallenge from the global players is felt as a direct menace,as they cater, notably through reading in the English language,to the strongest, best educated, most versatilereaders - while increasing the stiff competition with thelocal industry.The United States plus Western Europe are not anymorethe sole centers of gravity. China continues to grow, alsowith regard to books and publishing, and readies severalof its largest publishing groups to have a role internationally,while the - long delayed - advent of Amazon and theKindle, as devices and as an online shop, are expected toaccelerate Chinese responses.In Brazil, as in India, and throughout all the other emergingeconomies, the global players have arrived, expand theirfootprint, while the local book industries feel the mountingchallenge from an economic slow down, even furtheraggravated by the recently chilly developments in formlerlyfriendly currency markets.But in those same countries, yet another factor is framingthe ebook trajectory, and that is various ambitions of governments,to actively shape the new horizons throughregulation. In the US and in the European Union, they havestepped into the arena, to have their say on central businesspractices (and notably competition issues, which aredefining pricing strategies and, as a result, on the powerbalance between publishers and distributors), and oncopyright. In all emerging economies, government spendingare crucial in framing the educational sector. It is farfrom certain though, if these ambitions, in the long run,will meet the initially outlined political goals.Throughout history, books, and the content contained inand disseminated through books, has been a scarce andalso well-guarded source of knowledge and entertainment.This will change drastically and most likely rapidly,as books get embedded in the global flows of digital content,easy and affordable to access, anywhere, at any time.One thing is clear though, as 2013 comes closer to its finalquarter, with again, forseeably, the annual peak in booksales, including ebooks, and a new generation of evercheaper devices charming readers, as consumers: Ebookshave started to transform the entire ecosystem of publishingand reading. By 2014, expect the entire value chainto be under scrutiny from all sides. And expect the transformationof the book, and of publishing, to morph into atransformation of reading.108 The Global eBook Report