MARKET RESEARCH 1. Is there a market for digital readers for use in Education in India?

Huge untapped market for e-reader based education in India, majorly in Urban India. Publishing Companies like Pearson, McGraw Hill increasingly investing in India in digital publishing. More and more schools going Smart using technology (20 more schools every day), e.g. SmartClass from Educomp Solutions, integration with such devices offers huge potential and foundation into education market. Partnering with State Govts. E.g. in Haryana State, US$59 million project is launched to digitize 2622 schools. Promotion of eReaders by Indian Govt Launch of Akash, low end tablet for K12 sector. Flipkarts digital store saw a huge opening in purchase of ebooks(50,000 ebooks purchased in just 4 months). A few players in the market yet Datawind(Akash), HCL, Pi etc, so lesser competition. CBSE has instructed schools to set up digital classrooms from primary to secondary level for every subject. 2. What is the size of this opportunity (in USD) ? 1.3 Million Schools in India, out of which 20% (260,000) are private, of which around 100,000 top tier schools offer immediate market for this product. Current market size for digitized school products(including eReaders) in private schools is around US$500 million, expected to grow at CAGR of 20%, will be US$2 billion by 2020. For Govt. schools it is US$750 million currently. Indian Govt. spent US$150 million on Akash, a low end tablet/eReader for Indian students. Amazons Kindle has got great Brand Equity, it is expected to dominate the Indian eReader market. 3. What are the ways this differs from western countries? Western countries have already a well developed ecosystem for eReaders, their eBooks, other softwares etc. High penetration in West- Nearly a third of Americans own an E-Reader or Tablet Dedicated e-reader US penetration grew a 250% increase in just 12 months. India is a developing country, and the penetration and ecosystem of eReader is not that much yet. Reading habits in India People still prefer to buy and read paper based books because of unavailability of a stable/dedicated eReader ecosystem in India. Western Market is saturated, Indian Market is growing. The e-book industry has grown from $78 million in sales in 2008 to $1.7 billion in 2011. SEGMENTATION AND SIZE OF OPPORTUNITY 4. What are the various segments we can target? In which order? K-12 and Undergraduates Technical and Vocational Training Institutes Private Learning Institutes e.g. NIIT, Ducat, Career Launcher etc General Open Market Low end and High end customers 5. What is the business model for each segment? For K-12 and undergraduate, we will basically focus on collaboration programs with schools. Pay per license model to be used. For Technical and Vocational Training Institutes, we will be targeting on attracting the customer based on learning resources available with respect to their programs. Pay per Book model to be used. Great Lakes Institute of Management

For private Learning Institutes, partnership with them to enable the digital learning in classrooms. Pay per license model to be used. General open market Focus more on Low end Market (for semi urban population), as for High end market there are already major players in the market. Pay per Book model.

6. What should be the go-to-market strategy for each? K-12 and Undergraduate: Collaborating with digital classroom programs such as Smartclass from EduComp solutions. Offering customized software packages according to the institution. Focus on Low to Medium end products. Demonstrations to the schools and institutions to get them an understanding of the benefits associated. Creating awareness and collect feedback from parents and teachers through surveys, seminars and TV ads. For Technical and Vocational Training Institutes: Going to colleges and technical institutes to create awareness and collect feedback about the courses available online as eBooks. Develop an ecosystem for their courses and spread through word of mouth. For private Learning Institutes and Preparatory learning: This is the group of students who are preparing for exams like GMAT, CAT or UPSC or learning extra courses apart from contemporary education. Conducting surveys and market research in such groups to get idea of their requirements. Providing customized packages in accordance with the institutes and courses. General open market : Setup kiosks in semi urban and urban areas to get prospective customers hands on the featured products. Constant feedback surveys and communication to know needs and drawbacks. LANDSCAPE 7. Who are the players in the current ecosystem? Infibeam Pi Datawind Aakash Barnes and Noble Nook Sony Asus EEE JetBook Lite Wink HCL MyEdu Micromax Funbook Though there are enough players in the market, however, there is a need of a stable and reliable ecosystem, analogous to Google Market Place where users can buy eBooks and publishers can publish the same. Besides this, they still lack of integration between the school environment and Digital Reading, e.g. integration between SmartClass and Tablets is a high potential area where Amazon can focus upon. 8. How will the players react to the change? Players already in the ecosystem might try to lower their price range in different segments or can offer discounts on eBooks. Competitors are also likely to initiate the collaborative development of School ready Tablets / eReaders to focus on K12 market. They might also look for integration to Digital School Products e.g. SmartClass etc. Great Lakes Institute of Management

Competitive Players might also look for Govt Partnerships to help their ecosystem grow.

9. How will their roles change over time? With such a competitive market in eReader products need to be continuously augmented with new features. The competitors will try to capture the market through developing their ecosystem. Their business models might change e.g. from open market to smaller and specific closed markets. They might focus more on one specific segment of market, e.g. Akash tablet focuses on low end market segment. 10. What is the recommended approach to succeed in the ecosystem? Partnership with government and other educational institutions. Providing new additional features like glow light for night readers. Collaboration with Publishers to get more education books online. Engagement with Big publishers such as Pearson as well as individual authors to get more eBooks. Launching Kindle Apps for marketing and access to Kindle market. Easy accessibility to Kindle eBook market. Partnership, Collaboration and integration with other Digital companies in K12 market such as Educomp etc.

PRODUCT 11. What are the hardware and software features for the ideal device? Since the Indian market is largely segregated into 2 segments, i.e. Low end and High end, it would be best to target each market with different set of specifications in terms of Hardware and Software in accordance with the cost. For Low end market, i.e. Price between Rs.2500 Rs.6000 : Hardware Features like : 256MB-512MB RAM, Low On board memory with expandable option, Cortex-A8 based processor, USB port, 7 inch resistive touch screen, nominal battery life, nominal display(800x400), non HD screen, WiFi, 3G Dongle connectivity, normal audio etc. Software Features like : OS, Amazon Market Access to buy eBooks. For High end market, i.e. Price between Rs.7000 Rs.20000 : Hardware Features like : 1GB-2GB RAM, High On board memory with or without expandable option, Snapdragon High end dual core processor, USB port, 7-8 inch capacitive touch screen, High battery life, HD resolution, Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G inbuilt connectivity, High Deifinition audio etc. Software Features like : OS, Market Access to buy eBooks, extra features like Education softwares, Audio Readers, customizable to Schools needs etc. 12. What is the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to go to market with? Considering the Indian Market, early adopters and existing products, a Minimum Viable Product would be a eReader with other features what Android has: 7 inch Capacitive Screen 1 GB RAM 4 GB on board memory with expandability Wi Fi and 3G Dongle connectivity Audio Amazon/EBook Market Access USB Port Good Processor and Graphics Processor eBook Portability/availability between same platform devices(Android)

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