South African-based mobile applications developer Cellbook has launched a solution enabling book publishers to publish books and monetize their content on mobile phones.
Downloading a CellBook is as easy as sending a text message, the company says. The user simply sends a keyword to a shortcode, and a CellBook link is delivered to the phone by return. All the user has to do is click on the link to download the CellBook. The download process takes a matter of seconds, with the book stored on the phone itself or on the phones memory card. CellBook says its technology works on about 95% of mobile phones in the market. There is no charge to publishers wishing to make their books available via CellBook.
Luxverbi Publishers, one of South Africas largest Christian publishers and part of African media giant, Media24, implemented the CellBook technology through the Luxverbimobile website. Cellbook is in the process of developing a range of new technologies that will change the face of mobile book publishing.
We are excited about the CellBook technology, as it allows every mobile phone subscriber the possibility to read an entire book on a mobile phone, says Bertus Preller, Marketing Executive at CellBook distributor, ChristianMobile. ChristianMobile was the first company in the world to deliver the whole Bible on mobile phones via text-sms and distributed more than 50,000 Bibles, Testaments and Individual Bible Books through this medium in South Africa alone.
The CellBook technology has already been adopted by some of the largest Christian and secular publishers in South Africa, including Lux Verbi Publishers, Struik Christian Books and New Holland Publishers, which has already distributed more than 2,000 books through this medium in the first week of the launch.
The possibility to distribute books on mobile devices opens up new and untapped revenue streams for publishers, and enables them to monetize content in a dynamic way in a world where the mobile phone has become the worlds most popular digital device, Cellbook notes.
We have engaged with some of the worlds largest publishers to create CellBook versions of a host of exciting Christian and secular book titles, says Cellbook Director, Pieter Traut. Our aim is to have 500 book titles available for download by July 2008.”