textunes releases figures: 1 million e-book downloads, enhanced e-books are most popular

textunes presents new insights and indicators on SmartPhones and tablet computer user behavior at Frankfurt Book Fair 2010

* textunes doubles e-book downloads to 1 million

* enhanced e-books are five times as popular as conventional issues

* lavishly animated children’s books set the new standard for enhancement

* on average one sale in every five tryouts

* EUR 8.88 average price of e-books for SmartPhones

Downloads have doubled to 1 million in the past six months

The Berlin start-up textunes has sold around 1 million e-book downloads, 100,000 of which for a fee, since it was launched 18 months ago. “The introduction of the iPad in Germany has given an additional boost to our user numbers. We more than doubled the amount of e-books sold in the past six months,” explained Simon Seeger, Managing Director.

The majority of downloads are for iPhones (62%), followed by iPod touch (28%) and iPad (10%). At Frankfurt Book Fair, textunes is now showing off its business with another promising platform – Android. “Market data shows that Android-based devices are closing in on the iPhone and iPad and users want to keep their options open about which e-book readers to use in the future. This is why we are counting on Android and selling cross-platform e-books.”

Enhanced e-books five times as popular as conventional issues

So-called enhanced e-books are becoming increasingly popular. They not only include text and image material but use interactive and multimedia content, opening up new possibilities and taking story-telling to the next level. “Enhanced e-books are already five times as popular as conventional electronic issues,” confirmed Simon Seeger.

textunes has been concentrating on developing enhanced content in recent months. Right on cue for Frankfurt Book Fair, the company, in cooperation with the leading Oetinger publishing group, is presenting “Olchis aus Schmuddelfing”, the first lavishly animated and interactive children’s book in Germany.

Being able to spontaneously read on the go is the most important reason for using SmartPhones as e-book readers

textunes benefits from the trend towards mobility and the rising number of SmartPhones and tablet computers as well as growing customer demand for interactive and multimedia content.

“We have found that being able to spontaneously read on the go is the most important reason for using SmartPhones as e-book readers. More than 76% of textunes users read e-books on the go, and 72% say that they browse e-books when they have to wait for someone.”

But they don’t just stop at browsing. On average, the company makes one sale in every five tryouts.

As textunes points out: At EUR 8.88, the average price of e-books for SmartPhones is just slightly less than the average price for a paperback, which cost an average EUR 9.19, as calculated by company consultants PwC in one of its current studies.

About textunes

textunes is a start-up company specializing in publishing editorial contents on mobile devices. The company cooperates with over 150 of the largest European publishing houses. It publishes contents for iPhone, iPad and iPod as well as a large number of enhanced contents and is the leading provider of German language editorial contents for SmartPhones and for a large part of the German e-book market.