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such as Oetinger (publishers of the Hunger Games trilogy)or Lübbe (with 1,500 ebook titles available, who succeededin spearheading the market in genre fiction, notably withdigital editions of their decade-old Perry Rhodan sciencefiction series). Romance and fantasy books also constitutea significant share of ebooks, allowing some small nicheplayers to broaden their presence in the market. A numberof publishing companies have started to create specialdepartments for ebooks, entertainment (Lübbe), or epublishing(Aufbau, Gräfe, and Unzer).Digital reading devices were a highly popular gift at theend of 2011, and ever more so in 2012, followed by a widelyrecorded surge in subsequent ebook downloads in Januaryof each year according to strong anecdotal evidencefrom distributors (no exact figures have been made public).Tablets have also broadened their presence (by 142%across Western Europe in the first half of 2012, accordingto GfK) and can be expected to be used for reading in themost media-savvy consumer segments. Moreover, retailprices for many devices have come down significantlysince the end of 2011, with E-Ink devices dropping below€60 (e.g., Weltbild, which is arguably Germany’s secondlargestonline platform for books behind Amazon.de, promotesthe Kindle from €79), and with the range of tabletdevices offered broadening rapidly. Summer 2012 saw theadvent of Android platforms on a larger scale (includingGoogle’s Nexus 7). And in the fall, Kobo introduced its nextgeneration of devices, as did Amazon (notably its Fire),bringing the barrier of entry for tablets under the thresholdof €200. Weltbild’s Tablet PC4 even sells at €179.99.As reading devices increase in popularity among Germanreaders, research also shows a strong divide betweenthose migrating their reading at least partially to screensand a majority that, for the moment at least, claims to readonly printed books. According to a 2012 survey by BIT-KOM, the German association of ITC and new media(www.bitkom.org), 14% of the German online populationaccess ebooks, with 7% prefering dedicated ereaders, 5%opting for tablets, and 2% using both. Another 24% planto explore these devices in the future. Yet 55% of the onlinepopulation claim to never read ebooks, and another 8%say they don’t read books, regardless of the format (BIT-KOM and Deloitte: “Die Zukunft der Consumer Electronics”,2012, page 18).The broader debate in the public and most media howeverin 2012 and earlier was focused not on ebooks, but severalentirely different topics.Most remarkably, the issue of copyright infringement inthe first half of 2012 developed from a niche topic into amainstream issue, producing headline news in early summerand drawing almost as much attention as the Eurocrisis and Germany’s role in preventing the continent’seconomies from drifting apart (see the discussion of piracyin “eBook piracy in Europe: The example and debate inGermany, and related findings” on page 97 for a detailedaccount).In retail, the traditional chain and independent storesfound themselves on a steady downward path, having lostsome 8% in sales over the past decade. Professional mediafor the book community found their defining momentswhen arguing over how the two largest book chains havebeen running into ever deeper trouble since late 2011.The market leader in brick-and-mortar book retail, Thalia(owned by the perfume and drugstore chain Douglas,which was acquired in 2012 by the private equity groupAdvent), fell behind its old owners’ expectations—particularlyin its online performance, which despite being thestrongest part of the company failed to compete with eitherAmazon or Weltbild. At Thalia, profits declined from€30 million in 2010 to €5 million in 2011, and sales for thefourth quarter of 2011 underperformed in comparison tothe overall market. At the same time, online revenue atThalia grew by 20%, casting even darker shadows over thegroup’s brick-and-mortar performance. Online sales accountedfor 14% of Thalia’s revenues. By early fall 2012, itwas decided that the entire Douglas group was to be soldto a US investor, Advent International; its bookselling armis undergoing severe restructuring, which might involvethe closing of up to 50 locations (buchreport, September5, 2012).A similar trend in favor of online sales occurred for Weltbild,a chain store that is the second-largest online bookstoreafter Amazon.de. But Weltbild turned these developmentsto their advantage by heavily promoting its own E-Inkreaders and tablet computer starting in late 2011, makingthese the “absolute top-selling products” for Christmas2011 (Weltbild digital head Klaus Driever, buchreport, January12, 2012). On December 25, 2011, Weltbild recorded17,500 customers buying ebooks, compared to an averageof 10,000 before Christmas (buchreport express, 51 and 52,2011; buchreport, December 21, 2011). Amazon reportedsimilar sales. At Hugendubel —which is, together withWeltbild, part of DBH, the Deutsche Buch Handels group—revenue from ebooks for the first time accounted for more28 The Global eBook Report