(Overview). The following report represents efforts by the International Digital Publishing Forum's standards working groups to identify consumer satisfaction with electronic books and areas of improvement for ebook industry.
The vast majority of this report details the responses of regular purchasers and users of eBooks. Those identified in the report are often referred to as ''early adopters'' whose opinions on available eBook products will help publishers, retailers and technology companies produce better products in the future. Invitations to fill out the survey were made via IDPF's email lists to approximately 6,000 people and directly to eBook customers from two leading eBook retailers, www.ereader.com and www.fictionwise.com. This is especially important to keep in mind because the customers of the above retailers may purchase and use eBooks differently than customers who purchase at other retailers.
That said, with over 700 respondents to the survey and the participation of two leading eBook retailers, we are confident that the views expressed below represent the combined views of a significant sampling of current eBook users.
The survey was split into three sections. The first, ''Past eBook Experience'', attempted to measure the usage, purchasing frequency, format and platform preferences of the survey pool. The second, ''eBook Features'', attempted to quantify both the importance of specific features to eBook users as well as their level of satisfaction with current implementations of these features.
The third, ''Suggested Improvements'', was a free form section allowing survey respondents to suggest areas of improvements for retailers of eBooks, publishers and hardware and software vendors. We have collected the most common observations and also some additional interesting selections for reprint in the report.
The report was commissioned and released by the International Digital Publishing Forum (http://www.idpf.org). The report is made available to the public free of charge. IDPF members only, however, will have access to the raw data of the survey which details all respondent's comments as well as specific commentary for individual publishers, software and hardware vendors and retailers.
For more information on joining the International Digital Publishing Forum, contact Nick Bogaty, Executive Director IDPF, at 212-924-9081, nbogaty@idpf.org or visit www.idpf.org for a membership application.
The survey (PDF) can be found on the IDPF website at:
