The Disruptive innovation: Can the "New" propel the "Old" ?

Online book stores in India are a confused lot as according to the latest US data from The Association of American Publishers (AAP), the iPad isn't just proving to be a category creator but it is threatening to be a category killer as well. The threatened category is our very own "physical books" or hard-copies with variants like hardcover or paperback. The AAP data shows that in January as well as February 2011, trade print sales witnessed double-digit declines, thus confirming our worst fears that digital sales is cannibalizing print. So "e-book" is the disruptive innovation that we love to hear about and if the online book stores are increasingly focusing on e-books then it's not a surprise. Isn't it? Let's now shift our focus to India. I know it's a bit abrupt but please bear with me.

The Indian Scenario

We can say that in the US, the digital version could very well maul the printed ones. By the way the traditional print newspapers have already learnt it the hard way. So should the online book stores in India go the same way, i.e. shift their focus from the printed versions to the electronic ones? After all in India things are a bit different as online book shopping in India is currently growing at 50% y-o-y driven solely by print sales. Most of us know that India is under-penetrated with low literacy levels (65%) vis-à-vis US and has low internet connectivity. Thus even "print newspapers" is a growing category in India. So how can the advent of e-books affect their counterparts i.e. the printed books? Will online book stores in India achieve more growth in e-book segment than printed books? To answer these question let's go through a major happening centered in India. It's the case concerning the telecom boom.

Changing Reading Habits in India

Online book stores have been critical in influencing the reading habits around the world. But have they influenced the Indian landscape as well? In order to assess the impact, let's discuss the changes in reading habits in India.

Reading is the process of using one's 'eyes' and 'mind' to understand the literal as well as the hidden meaning of what the writer is attempting to convey. Academicians consider a good reading habit to be based on four stages:

• Exploring
• Checking the Vocabulary
• Analyzing for Comprehension
• Synthesizing for Understanding

What constitutes "reading habit"?

Before we carry forward the discussion on reading habits, it is necessary to describe what constitutes "reading habit". Text book reading does not amount to reading habit. In fact it's reading as a hobby that makes the cut. So reading a novel, poetry, biography or books by Indian writers on travel, gardening, health or entertainment would come under the ambit of reading habit. I would quote a few lines from an international journal that for me describes reading habits succinctly. "Reading habit is the art of personal investigation and self-study. It should be followed by self-thinking and analysis, and only this kind of self-study on one's own accord, can develop into good reading habit."