Twenty-Five Percent of Annual Textbook Sales Revenue to Be Digital By 2015

COLUMBIA, Mo., March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new study by Xplana, textbook publishing in the Higher Education market is fast approaching the digital tipping point. By 2015, annual revenues from digital textbooks will represent 25 percent of the new textbook market and will reach approximately $1.5 billion in sales revenue.

The study, "Digital Textbook Reaching the Tipping Point in U.S. Higher Education – A Revised Five-Year Forecast," projects annual sales growth and market trends for digital textbooks over the next five to seven years. It is based on private surveys conducted by Xplana and its parent company, MBS Direct, as well as other industry and market research.

Building on research first published in 2010, the report addresses the accelerated growth of the digital textbook market and the trends driving that growth. Key factors influencing the eventual dominance of digital textbooks over their print counterparts include: rising textbook prices, the popularity of tablets and smart phones, the increased availability of free and open Web resources, and new competition in the market from digital-first publishers.

"Everyone wants to know when the digital textbook market for Higher Education will hit the 'tipping point,'" says lead author Rob Reynolds, Director of Product Design and Research for Xplana. "Our research shows that, in terms of reaching that point where the dominance of digital over print will occur within five to seven years, we have likely already arrived. Our revised estimates show that digital textbook sales should match print sales by 2017."

According to Reynolds, reaching this "tipping point" is already forcing publishers to rethink both their product design and business strategies. To remain successful, publishers will need to alter all aspects of textbook functionality, including the design of both functionality and content.

The full report can be downloaded from the Xplana research blog, The Xplanation, at http://blog.xplana.com/reports/.

About Xplana

Xplana provides digital content and learning solutions for both the Higher Education and K-12 markets, and is a service offering of MBS Direct, LLC. MBS Direct is an industry-leading online bookstore and distribution service provider that delivers learning materials (print and digital) to private K-12 and Higher Education institutions. Additionally, MBS Direct distributes digital textbooks for leading educational publishers, maintaining a catalog of more than 30,000 e-book titles from 55 academic publishers.

For more information, please consult the Xplana and MBS Direct websites: www.xplana.com, www.thexplanation.com, and www.mbsDirect.net.

SOURCE Xplana