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on 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: ConclusionThere are other digital initiatives in Brazil. In higher education,for instance, Estácio de Sá, a private university of260,000 students, is already offering digital textbooks toits students. Telecom companies such as Vivo, Claro, andOi, too, are starting to offer ebooks for weekly fees to theirmobile clients, and several magazines are 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.ChinaUpdate 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 has“overtaken America to become the world’s biggest e-commerce market, in terms of sales.” (The Economist, 21September 2013). In 2012, the Chinese mobile Interet reportedlyaccounted for RMB 159 billion of sales (ca. $26Billion, according to China Internet Watch; the report includesan overview of the most popular ereading devicesand apps, and their estimated market share.)With a mobile phone user base of 1.1 billion by mid 2013(BGR blog, 26 June 2013), and a strong increase in thepenetration of smart phones, mobile platforms are the keyfor the dissemination of copyrighted content, includingebooks, as its “reading population is gradually shifting online.”(Quoted from a strategy paper issued by the technologyompany Huawei, “Mobile reading as a strategic focus”)The Global eBook Report 65