E-books Arrive in Korea

“Something that will definitely arrive someday, but hasn’t yet.” This is whatmost people thought of e-books until recently.This presents a dilemma. In the business world, there aren’t that manyexamples of products that people are sure will be created. New products, ortrends, suddenly emerge, betraying peoples’ general expectations. If a productdidn’t emerge in such a revolutionary way, it probably wouldn’t be called a newproduct. It isn’t easy to anticipate and prepare for a new trend. People mayconduct painstaking research trying to predict what kinds of desires consumerswill come to have in the near future, and what kind of products will emerge torealize those desires, but only a few are fortunate enough to predict accurately.Unlike other products, e-books are something that people believe willeventually happen, so many have been preparing for their arrival. E-books,however, have still not yet completely arrived. With preparations having to bemade, but no signs yet to be seen of their emergence, it has always been deemedtoo early to make a huge investment. So for a long time, those involved werecaught in a dilemma.In Korea, 2012 should be recorded as the year in which such a dilemmabegan to come to an end, for the e-book market is gradually emerging aroundmobile devices. With this development, a number of publishers and distributorsstarted to get busy. So did the Korean government. The Ministry of Culture,Sports, and Tourism sponsored several e-book related programs last year, and isexpected to continue sponsorship this year.The e-book market in Korea, of course, is still in its early stages. Though themarket has emerged, it is no more than a potential market at present. To be sure,plenty of opportunities for growth exist.In this special report, we will take a look at the various movements relatedto e-books in Korea, including e-book related legislation, distribution, sales,foreign rights, DRM, readers, smart phones, software, fonts, libraries, prices,technology, and future outlook. In particular, we think it is worthwhile to takea look at how major Korean publishers have formed an organization calledKorea Publishing Contents, and the way they respond to various issues relatedto e-books. We hope that this special report will serve as an opportunity forpublishers around the world to share their thoughts on a new and still growingpossibility. 

by Kim Su-yeong