Bookmate, the leading social ebook reading service has announced a partnership with Indosat, one of the largest telecommunication networks in Indonesia, and service providers to launch a mass market mobile reading service under the Bookmate-Cipika Books brand. The union expands Bookmate’s services to reading fans in the Indonesian market.
Andrew Baev, Managing Director of Bookmate, commented: “The global book publishing industry is worth $120 billion, about eight times the size of the music industry, and we are seeing an accelerating transition to digital and mobile. Our strategy is to focus on high growth, under-served markets where readers are jumping the gap directly from paper to mobile reading. Indonesia is right in our sweet spot for offering our mix of fun, social and on-the-go reading.
“We are excited to announce our partnerships with Indosat which will bring mobile reading to a large number of mobile users via a hard-bundled offering. Smartphone penetration and mobile services growth are booming in Indonesia and we see this as a huge opportunity to build the market leader in mobile reading together with Indosat, Indonesia’s most progressive mobile operator.”
Ahead of the launch, Bookmate has signed deals with the leading Indonesian publishers to bring 4,000 titles in Bahasa in addition to its library of 250,000 English language titles.
Carlos Caro Caro, Division Head Digital Commerce at Indosat, added: “Indonesians are keen consumers of all types of media via their mobile phones and we are excited to be able to offer them an innovative mobile reading solution with our partner Bookmate. Local readers will now be able to enjoy the experience of a state-of-the art mobile reading service under the Bookmate Cipika-Books brand.
“Together with Bookmate we will be offering a broad catalogue of local and international authors in English and Bahasa languages and Indosat customers will have the chance to use this service for free.”
This expansion comes after Bookmate’s first launch in the Asia Pacific market last year with StarHub, Singapore’s fully-integrated info-communications provider.
Stephen Lee, Head of i3 at StarHub, also commented: “We are delighted that Bookmate is continuing its international expansion in this region, starting with us in Singapore and now with our Conexus Mobile Alliance partner Indosat. Bookmate’s unlimited book streaming service has revolutionised reading, and through our close collaboration with Asian telco partners, we want to bring the fun and ease of ebook reading to more mobile users in this part of the world.”
The Asian ebook market is forecasted to reach $2.2 billion by the end of 2016 and with high levels of smartphone penetration this provides an ideal basis for Bookmate to introduce its mobile reading service.
