Among the players the caution is however

Difficult, from tomorrow, to escape the Sony e-book at FNAC stores. Capable of storing 160 digital books, Reader will receive is not in a RADIUS, but in two high-tech products as in the area of the books. With a staff trained on the object in the two spaces.

If it is not the first aircraft of this type on the French market, with offers such as the Booken Cybook or the iRex iLiad, it is the first to engage with such means to the public. The exclusivity of six months given by Sony to sign and a few weeks with Hachette Book indeed encourage the pooling and concentration of marketing efforts. This is not a luxury. Breaking with habits of reading, the e-book has great need to accompany his arrival by the pedagogy.

In these times where the word-of-mouth has never been more prized, the apparatus has therefore been loaned upstream some clients of the FNAC. The first testimony had been published online in September at the time of the announcement of the launch and will again appear on the site. Instead of selling advertising is, it, also high-tech with a display outlining the capabilities of the device. During three weeks, and demonstrators will provide explanations. "The important is to show and to reassure," said Hervé Vancompernolle, marketing director of Sony France. Before the holidays, the Reader will, in addition, made available to members of the FNAC during the night so that they can manipulate them. And, to preserve markers, as for the disk where the beginning of the songs to listen on the Internet, the first pages sold books in digital format is feuilletteront on the website of the cultural sign.

Attraction of novelty

Referred to the public: "the techies, those looking for mobile products, frequent travellers but also large readers who will appreciate the use", underlines Fabien Sfez, Director General France of the FNAC, even people who have a professional use.

The attraction of novelty has, apparently worked. Product packages were more numerous than expected. Among the players, the caution is however. "We will take our time, listen to what say consumers." Our ambitions are modest. "But we wanted to propose a simple product, not a Swiss army knife," said Hervé Vancompernolle. "It is a new and atypical object for the client." The market will rise gradually in power. The e-book will have the same type of success than MP3. "The question is whether if this will be in three months or three years," says Fabien Sfez.

The displayed price, 299 euros, imposes rewarm in advance to convince the potential customer of possible uses. Asset for the e-book, the success of the MP3 popularized digital formats while the development of cerebral programs and other video games for the Nintendo DS, Sony competitor in consoles, has already accustomed audiences of a certain age to read elements on the small screen of a mobile device and use a stylus. In addition, unlike the first generation of Reader launched in the United States, Sony chose not download linked to a platform which would own. Conversely, the book is nomadic par excellence, already easy to slip into a bag, which can play to the disadvantage of the Reader when it is not necessary to carry a library with itself.

Technology adoption

The launch of the product is in any case within an evolution of the technology adoption. "The fans of innovation were previously very separated from the rest of the population and were often seen as anti-social." Today, because the technology is at the heart of the concerns of every day, their influence has taken the importance. "Thanks to the Internet, the mass audience, the more willing to adopt a technology, can follow the exchanges that have these"innovators"between them," notes Sharon Greene, Director General of cabinet Risc International and responsible for the program "technological convergence". It provides in the coming years of significant changes in the rate of adoption of the new features. In France, according to research by Risc, "innovators" and "early adopters", who follow them closely, are already a few more than the average European.

It remains to wait the first interchange on the Web on the Sony Reader and follow the comments on the first testimonials on the site of the FNAC. In any event, should wait until the balance sheet of Christmas sales to know if the e-book has eroded land on gifts such as the digital framework or the MP3 player. Only certainty today: for a sign as the FNAC, the marketing of the product will have already had an image effect. This is a way to show it can innovate and it will not deprive display, by panels interposed, the beginning of its stores. As the product will appear prominently in the Sony Store brand will open late November - early December near the Champs-Elysées in Paris.