SingTel's e-book service comes to a full stop

SINGTEL'S e-book service skoob has become the second casualty in the telco's foray into the digital space.迷你倉skoob will stop selling books from next Tuesday and cease operations on Nov 5 - just 10 days shy of its second birthday.It told its customers via e-mail yesterday: "Despite a challenging market, we had a great run, and it wasn't an easy decision to make. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support."Last year, SingTel similarly bit the bullet for its magazine app store de!ite, also somewhere around its two-year mark. It was shuttered following a "review", after which SingTel said it would explore "alternative ways to offer digital magazines".When contacted by The Business Times, a SingTel spokesman said of skoob: "Although we have seen steady response since its launch, we have decided to focus our resources on other parts of our business where we see stronger growth potential."While SingTel has shown its preparedness to throw support behind its forays into the digital industry - it has allocated up to $2 billion for investments in the area over the next three years - 自存倉roup chief executive Chua Sock Koong has made it clear that these investments will eventually have to perform.In an interview with BT earlier this year, she said: "Even as we do these digital services, there are still milestones and targets that the business units have to deliver. Usually, it has to start with the number of monthly active users. Then, from the level of usage, you've got to start thinking about ability to monetise. It has got to be profitable or cashflow-positive at some point in time."skoob and de!ite were services under SingTel's digital division Group Digital Life, which was set up in April last year to navigate a space into which the telco has been exceedingly keen to diversify.In its first full financial year that ended on March 31, the division brought in $111 million in operating revenue - but lost $104 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.Even as skoob closes a chapter on itself, SingTel's rival StarHub has just entered the e-publishing arena; it launched its e-bookstore Booktique earlier this year, and will launch an e-magazine service next month.迷你倉