Ian Small, general manager at Audiobooks in Toronto, talks exclusively to Telematics News about working with JLR and OnStar on providing audio books in the car.
Telematics News (TN): On a personal level, what is your current role at Audiobooks and how has your career evolved? Can you give us an understanding of your “typical day”? How does the business culture at Audiobooks differ from other organisations you have worked with?
I’m the GM at Audiobooks.com. I oversee the day to day operations and steer the organizations various strategic growth efforts. I think our business culture differs from the norm because of who we are as a business. We’re a technology based book company with a goal of making listening to more books as convenient and simple as possible. Combining technology and books might seem foreign to the average book lover but for us, it’s a passion.
TN: Audiobooks has recently announced the delivery of its audio book service through the Jaguar Land Rover InControl Apps platform. Can you talk us through how this works technically, and also the business model for this collaboration with JLR? Are there any special offers for Jaguar drivers? What made you choose JLR as your first carmaker? Are you working with any other carmakers or their Tier 1 suppliers?
We’re quite thrilled to be working with Jaguar Land Rover and their InControl platform. We’ve integrated our Audiobooks.com application in a very “driver friendly” manner giving audiobook listeners a safe and convenient way to listen to audiobooks. The driver simply plugs their Android or iOS device with the Audiobooks.com app installed into the vehicle and the in dash screen will display a tailored Audiobooks.com in vehicle experience. The driver can browse, sample, and listen to their favorite books by using the vehicles controls and not their phone.
We’re currently working with Jaguar Land Rover for a specific promotional offer for JLR drivers and will hopefully have something to announce soon.
We’re also working General Motors and their OnStar At Your Service platform. We’re happy to be included in their “At Your Service” platform. In collaboration with AT&T they are able to offer a native client in the vehicle. We feel that will expose consumers to the benefits of audiobooks who otherwise, would have never thought to try audiobooks.
Telematics News (TN):. How does Audiobooks’ in-car audio book offering differ from those provided by others such as Aha, Audible and Napster? Do you generate original content by hiring actors and establishing contracts with publishers? Or are you repackaging content?
There are similarities among all audiobook retailers but Audiobooks.com works with over 250 different publishing partners to bring our customers a wide selection of premium audiobooks ranging from NY Times bestsellers to the hidden gems you never knew you loved.
We’re also the only audiobook company to offer our customers the convenience of both downloading and streaming. Utilizing the cloud we’re able to offer our customers the ability to listen to their books on whichever device is most convenient for them at that moment. They can switch seamlessly between their car, workplace pc, tablet at home, and phone on the run without losing their place in their book. We’ll pick it up for them right where they left off.
TN: What are the challenges of providing both streaming and download of your audio books? Can your Cloud Bookmarking technology include the car as one of the devices that hold the listener’s place?
The technical challenges we’ve faced in the past have all been worth it to deliver the final product that we have. Supporting both a native and a HTML 5 application can be challenging from a technical standpoint but the benefits and convenience the consumer enjoys offset those challenges.
Yes, our Cloud Bookmarking technology does include the car as a “device” to hold the listeners place.
TN: What is the data requirement for your service? Is 2G or 3G communications sufficient for Audiobooks?
3G is sufficient for Audiobooks. 2G is possible but we don’t recommend you download at that speed. An average audiobook is around 200MB in size and we wouldn’t want our customers having to wait an extensive amount of time to download their book. That’s not our desired customer experience.
TN: What is next for Audiobooks in the connected car space? Where is most interest in in-car audio books? Is it North America and Europe, or are other regions showing growth?
We want to be in every car. We feel every automotive manufacturer should offer a connected service to their customers. I think it’s slowly happening and we’re excited about the opportunity to connect with our customers where they use our product and service the most, in the car.
In recent years North America has shown the most growth but Europe is still a big opportunity for us. Our recent Jaguar Land Rover partnership will be helping us reach European listeners in ways we’ve haven’t been able to in the past.