| Summary: | Amazon於2007年推出了電子書專用閱讀器Kindle後，帶動了全球數位閱讀之風潮，與電子書產業的蓬勃發展。然而，隨著電子書產業發展至今，數位內容與電子書專用閱讀器分別面臨著各自的挑戰：數位內容具有高開發成本及近乎零元的再製成本之特性，使其可輕易地流通於網路空間中，而著作權人則不易從中獲得應得的版權收益；硬體部分，電子書專用閱讀器面臨平板電腦與智慧型手機的夾殺，導致其於銷售市場上較不如前兩者受消費者青睞。面對如此困境，電子書產業鏈上各角色之廠商該如何應對，並極大化收益。 本研究認為免費之商業模式將是可行辦法之一。係此，本研究透過分析「零元手機」以及「iPod」兩個不同類型的個案，找尋出各自於市場上如何以免費商業模式獲取成功之因素，並探討其於電子書產業中得否亦可以發揮效果，且該免費商業模式為何。
研究顯示，硬體為主要獲利來源，而免費提供數位內容之模式並無法成功運行於電子書產業，主因為硬體本身毛利並不足以補貼數位內容的虧損，且硬體與數位內容兩者之間互補性不強；反之，透過銷售數位內容獲利，而以免費電子書專用閱讀器以吸引消費者，盡而快速累積使用群體，此為較可行之免費商業模式。研究並指出，教育與商用市場將是未來電子書產業廠商可積極佈局之利基市場。
=== After Amazon launched Kindle in 2007, digital reading became the spotlight of the world and the eBook industry has been growing vigorously. However, digital content and e-readers are facing their own challenge respectively: high development cost but low duplicating cost. It is easy to copy the files on the internet, but it is difficult for the copyright owners to retrieve the deserved profit; as for the hardware, e-reader is facing the keen competition of tablets and smart phones and is no longer attractive to customers on the market. Under these challenging circumstances, how can each entity on the supply chain of E-book industry react and maximize their profits? This research assumes that free business model would be one of the possible solutions. In this research, “iPod” and “Zero-Price Handset” are selected as two different types of case study. This research tries to figure out what the key successful factors are in these two cases and discusses how these factors can fit in the eBook industry and the possibility of creating success or achieving their goal. If the answer is positive, then what the business model would be?
This research shows that “Free digital content, Hardware sales as profit source” model cannot work in eBook industry. The main reason would be that the net profit of hardware cannot compensate the shortage of free digital content. On the other hand, the net profit of selling digital content would definitely compensate the shortage of free hardware, because the sales of digital content are continuous instead of one-time sale. What is more, free hardware could attract more potential customer and accumulate a huge amount of customer base. This model would be one of the possible solutions. This research also points out that educational and commercial market are niche markets for eBook companies and they should set strategies aggressively base on that fact.
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