Timothy Höttges it is fed to a demonstration. The head of Deutsche Telekom does not tire to rail against Internet giants like Google, Apple and Facebook. Unfair are the conditions with which the Telekom must compete against these corporations. While these are likely to exercise freely in Germany, the Telekom must undergo strict regulation.
All the more reason brightens his mood when he has a small unit speaks, that has developed a device in Darmstadt behind closed doors, which has done the impossible: Amazon to rein in
The Lighthouse project. Telecom Innovation Division is Tolino and is a reader for electronic books, in short, an e-reader. “We clearly show what we can,” says Höttges. And indeed: The Tolino is in Germany more popular than Amazon’s e-reader Kindle
Hardware is similar to
. Who takes both devices in hand, will be surprised. The differences are at first glance hardly noticeable. The e-reader are about the same size and light weight. They show on their display the letters in high definition and have space for about 2,000 electronic books
Once charged they hold -. At half-hour use per day – equal several weeks without having to again to the wall socket. Anyone who wants can buy directly on the device and download electronic books. Because they have a so-called e-Ink display, the lighting does not dazzle, fatigue and hours of reading the eyes do not.
It is therefore not the Hardware that made the Tolino the flagship project. It is rather an unusual alliance that has gathered behind the e-reader. A concentration that exists in no other country in the world.
fear Kindle
Basically, has taken this alliance forged with unintentionally Amazon. After the online retailer had thrown his Kindle in March 2011 in Germany on the market, quickly, the dominance of the US company in the e-book market became apparent in this country.
It did not take much imagination to look three or four years into the future to see what should be paid to the German book market. In the upper echelons of the big bookstore chains discomfort <"p10" class = "text prefix_1 artContent" p id => grew.
They met in secret to develop a defense strategy. As a technology partner, Telekom offered. In early March 2013, the Alliance presented then together with the first Tolino e-Reader to the public. “Nowadays, everyone needs to think about where his strategic direction and its strategic interests lie, and which partner it is the right, to assert itself against the powerful American online giants,” said Michael Busch, head of Thalia Holding.
First efforts without success
The Anti-Amazon alliance existed at the beginning of the bookstore chains Thalia, Hugendubel, Club Bertelsmann, worldview and Telekom. Before experimenting booksellers and the Telekom with their own e-book strategies, including Thalia with the e-Reader Oyo and the Telekom with the Portal Page Place. But the efforts were largely unsuccessful and were overwhelmed by Amazon’s Kindle simply.
The cooperation of the traders was not without risk, they sat the Cartel but threateningly in the neck , “We can train ourselves of antitrust learning,” says one of the participants. For critical meeting lawyers sat at the table
So it was for the e-reader not unit price, though -. With the exception of short-term discounts – at the end in all but cost the same amount. Much more important: e-books were not sold centrally. Each participating bookseller on the Tolino it sells its own e-book store, through which the user can obtain its title.
Allianz has changed
This has not changed to this day, even if the alliance now looks a little different. Club Bertelsmann represents the end of a its operations, but remains a shareholder in the merger. The wholesaler Libri has now been joined.
Mobile reading
The best e-reader in the Test
Last are the chain bookstores Mayerische with Added 40 stores and Osiander with 34 branches. But the Tolino is now also sold in Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.
Why should a bookseller its customers in the e-book World nudge, and then to lose him as a buyer of paper books? Initial resistance was quickly overcome, according to the Alliance participants because booksellers on sale of every e-books earn on the devices. Your customers are therefore not lost. On the contrary: Many e-reader users buy still often paper books
market share rises to 45 percent
The perseverance of the Alliance has paid off. While in countries like Britain and the US, the Kindle has a market share of 70 and 80 percent, there are in Germany according to the figures of the GfK market research institute less than 40 percent. 45 percent of all downloaded books on the other hand are to land on a Tolino.
“Almost every second of a total in this country seven million-selling e-books in the year is a Tolino downloaded, “said Nina Hugendubel, managing partner of the Munich bookstore chain, most recently before the Frankfurt Book Fair. “We were surprised that we have done it so quickly,” said Thalia boss bush.
Today the Tolino in 1800 by 6000 Germany will Bookstores sold. There are now 1.7 million book titles, from which users can choose. Unlike the Kindle the Tolino does not rely on a closed proprietary format, but on the open standard ePub.
Open System
Anyone who owns a Tolino, can buy with his unit at Thalia, tomorrow and the day after at Hugendubel Libri today. While the book shops are each pre-loaded, but a partly filled with Internet browser and the competition is reached.
The Telekom operates in the background a digital book shelf that is located on a server on the Internet. Whoever loses his device, can all still access purchased titles. According to the company, there are no read tracking at Telekom. Telekom also knows not the client, but gets the bookseller reported only one book shelf number. The customer relationship remains with the bookseller. “We attach great importance to data protection”, puts it at the Telekom.
The Tolino there are now in the third generation and in different models, some of which are even waterproof. Users can share their books but also via an app on the
Cheaper than currently expected of latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2015 no longer be before Christmas. Who wants to give to yourself or other fixed him, he should order soon. 
