Source: Bookmate. Pictured at the December 17 launch of Bookmate in Singapore are (from left): Simon Dunlop, Bookmate Founder, Andrew Baev, Bookmate Managing Director, and Michael Sim, StarHub Lead Futurist, i3 (Innovation, Investment, Incubation).
Bookmate, a social platform for reading e-books, has launched in Singapore, its initial entry point into the Southeast Asian market. The service offers subscribers unlimited reading for a fixed monthly price, drawing from a library of over half a million e-books provided by 600 publishers.
Bookmate Founder Simon Dunlop observed that individuals currently read one to one and a half books per month on average, typically engaging with around four books concurrently.
Dunlop emphasized Bookmate’s goal of combining mobile accessibility, social interaction, and a subscription-based model, recognizing the prevalence of reading on the go. “Our objective is to make reading effortless, readily available, and enjoyable for everyone using a smartphone,” he stated. “Expanding into Singapore marks a significant initial move in broadening Bookmate’s reach within Southeast Asia. Our collaboration with StarHub and their highly engaged customer base will allow us to connect with millions of potential new readers.”
Michael Sim, StarHub’s Lead Futurist for Entertainment within their i3 (Innovation, Investment, Incubation) division, conveyed the company’s desire to make book streaming as widespread as music streaming. StarHub i3 empowers businesses with market entry services including funding, incubation spaces, mentorship, and business networking opportunities, both within Singapore and internationally.
“Singaporean consumers are rapidly becoming accustomed to easy access to a vast library of premium online content, such as video and music streaming, across various devices for a fixed monthly fee," Sim explained. “This evolution is transforming content consumption patterns, and we believe the moment is opportune to extend this same level of convenience to book enthusiasts, giving a well-timed boost to Singapore’s e-book market.”
Bookmate will establish a Singapore office in January and has its sights set on expansion into Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. “We see Singapore as having a very forward-thinking culture and a high concentration of smartphone users,” Dunlop noted. “It presents an ideal location for our Southeast Asian operations.”
Bookmate’s entry into Singapore follows an agreement with HarperCollins earlier this year, which significantly expanded the platform’s author catalog. In addition to HarperCollins, the service features books from publishers like Head of Zeus, Profile Books, and Serpent’s Tail, and includes content from regional publishers like Marshall Cavendish and Monsoon.
Available to all, Bookmate offers three subscription tiers: Free, Standard, and Premium. The Standard tier, priced at S$9.98 per month, provides access to a vast collection of fiction and non-fiction titles, including influential works like “Why Nations Fail” by Robinson and Acemoglu. The Premium tier, at S$15.98 per month, includes thousands of business and professional titles such as Donald Trump’s “Think Big,” Benjamin Graham’s “The Intelligent Investor," and publications from The Economist.
The concept parallels a gym membership, where users pay for access to facilities and equipment without owning them. Similarly, Bookmate subscribers pay for the ability to read e-books without acquiring ownership of the books themselves. Access to downloaded e-books remains contingent on an active Bookmate subscription.
As a key element of its global expansion strategy, Bookmate is partnering exclusively with Singaporean info-communications company StarHub to introduce its book-streaming service to local readers and encourage local publishers to offer their content on the platform. “Today represents just the beginning of a long-term collaboration with them,” Sim affirmed at the launch. “We are committed to supporting the expansion of their services throughout the region.”
Through this partnership, StarHub Hub iD members can benefit from an introductory price of S$8 per month for the Standard tier and S$14 per month for the Premium tier. Hub iD registration is available to everyone at www.starhub.com/hubid. As an introductory offer, the first 500 customers who sign up online at www.bookmate.com between now and December 23 will receive 30 days of complimentary full access to all e-books within the Standard tier.
StarHub’s Booktique brand, which previously offered individual e-book purchases, will be replaced by the Bookmate offering. Sim clarified that Booktique will continue to be used for StarHub’s e-magazine selection.
The Bookmate app, free for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play, incorporates a social feed allowing users to follow friends, favorite authors, and celebrities on the platform, facilitating the sharing of recommended books and passages. The service can also be accessed through compatible web browsers.