21 : The Global eBook Market: Current Conditions & Future Projections Publishers as well as retailers strongly promoted ebooks and reading devices in the pre-holiday period, with anecdotal reports of a sizable increase of purchases of ebooks. Bestselling titles included the Prix Goncourt– winning novel L’art français de la guerre by Alexis Jenni, La delicatessen by David Foenkinos, and the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Perhaps more de nitively for the overall trend, devices (both ereaders and tablet computers) saw a substantial increase in sales the market research rm GfK predicted gures of 1 million tablets purchased by users in 2011 and 3 million for 2012 (Livres Hebdo, January 9, 2012). According to an article from Les Echos, 1.45 million tablets were sold in 2011, 450,000 in December 2011. Notably, in the fourth quarter of 2011, strong promotional campaigns accompanied the launch of Amazon’s dedicated French Kindle store, the respec- tive entry of Kobo into the French market (by introduc- ing its ereading device and entering a partnership with the largest French online retail platform, Fnac, which claimed to have sold 50,000 Kobo readers between mid-November and the end of December 2011), and the strategic move of Virgin to get into the ebook market segment forcefully by extending its online platform to ebooks (with a catalog of 150,000 titles) and ereaders (notably the Cybook Odyssey of the French manufac- turer Bookeen at €129). Virgin also concluded a deal with Amazon for distributing its Kindle Fire tablet in France (Reuters, November 8, 2011) and is considered to have thus instantly become the second-largest online retail platform in France, after Fnac. Also in 2011, legal action was taken to facilitate the emergence of a stronger ebook market, notably by extending the reduced level of VAT from printed works to ebooks as well, although the reduced value of 5 per- cent VAT—instead of the normal rate of 19.6 percent— will be increased to 7 percent e ective April 1, 2012 for printed books (Livres Hebdo, November 7, 2011). However, this alignment of VAT for printed and electronic be played, its once singular position has become every- thing but comfortable. French book professionals still feel that they are having a hard time getting what they want or what they deserve from the digital world. Eric Marbeau of Gallimard argues about shortcomings in the representation of their ebooks in the catalogs of Amazon and Kobo, in adjusting metadata standards, and coming to agreements on digital rights and retail prices (interview for this report). Several serious issues need to be sorted out with regard to regulating a market that barely exists, but which everybody seems to be preoccupied with, which at least indirectly hints at how seriously the broader perspective is thought to be. The European Commission has started investigations into pricing arrangements and is expected to look very closely into the procedures of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) with regard to the American “agency model,” and the dealings of French publishers with regard to support of an extension of the xed price system for ebooks. The gap of VAT on printed and digital books has been brought down from 19.6 percent for ebooks to the print level of 5 percent in 2012, and will probably further drop to 5.5 percent from January 2013. For the second half of 2012, a serious dynamic with regard to reading devices, and notably all sorts of tablets, is expected, which could result in a surge in ebook downloads after the year-end holidays. All actors, nota- bly in distribution, are expected to spend heavily on related marketing. Developments in 2011 Although no exact sales gures have been released for ebook sales at the end of 2011, a number of indicators point to strong overall development, with a strong drive from all the major domestic actors (in retail and publish- ing) and the entry of Amazon and Kobo with localized actions.