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Two new e-book readers will be launched in France as the run-up to Christmas begins. Fnac unveiled its Fnacbook, an open device that will be introduced in mid-November and will retail for €199. The price will include 50 French and foreign classics already downloaded, and free wifi and 3G internet connection in France to enable consumers to buy books from fnac.com any time anywhere.
On 28th October, Bertlesmann’s French subsidiary DirectGroup France will launch OYO through the France Loisirs and Chapitre at €149 per unit, with some of the same features as its rival.
The Fnacbook weighs 240g, with a six-inch screen, an initial 2,000-book capacity, and will offer the Android operating system from early next year. E-book prices will be set by publishers, and files will be interchangeable with all other digital equipment, except the Kindle. "We would be prepared to change that if Amazon agreed," said Fnac c.e.o. Christophe Cuvillier.
The group will stock the device in its stores, on fnac.com and in the major outlets of SFR, which is providing the internet connectivity. It will continue to carry rival readers and does not exclude distributing the new reader through competitors later on, added Cuvillier,FR who claims the chain is Europe’s largest bookshop.
The e-bookshop now stocks about 80,000 titles from most of the major publishers and is growing by 5% to 10% a month. While wider choice should help deter pirates, Cuvillier predicted that e-books would represent only 5% to 10% of all book sales by 2015. Digital and print books were complementary and would "develop in harmony".
He welcomed proposed laws in France to introduce a fixed price for e-books, even though Fnac had opposed the idea for print books in 1981, and for VAT to be cut to the reduced 5.5% rate. But he said bookshops abroad selling into France should respect the same rules.
Platforms in Luxembourg pay 6% VAT on e-books, the rate on authors‘ rights rather than services. "Inequality between (EU) states is unacceptable," he asserted.
Meanwhile, the French authors, publishers, booksellers and libraries associations said in a joint editorial in Le Monde this week that the right framework on digital books has yet to be found. Although applauding the imminent legislation, it deplored the absence of intellectual property protection for authors and publishers and questioned whether the government will inject sufficient cash into digitisation.