Will The ePub Format Become Standard For E-Books?
Posted by Andrew King | Filed under Product Reviews
Amazon have had a very good year in 2009 - and a lot of the credit for that must go to their Kindle e-book reader. The original Kindle was released in November of 2007. It sold out in less than six hours and no new stock was available until April of 2008.
In February this year, Amazon released the Kindle 2 which featured several enhancements over the original. The large format Kindle DX followed shortly after in June. Amazon now had a Kindle “family” and, aided by a lot of free publicity from bestselling authors like Stephen King, partnerships with colleges and universities plus a lot of discussion in political circles, the Kindle became virtually synonymous with e-book readers.
Unsurprisingly, a number of other manufacturers were casting their eyes over the developing e-book reader market and considering how best to get their share. Right now, the list of manufacturers who have their own e-book readers under development is impressive and includes such names as Microsoft, Apple, Asus, Barnes and Noble, Sony and Plastic Logic.
Any e-book reader which displays potential is instantly dubbed the “Kindle Killer”. The technical features of each new reader are scrutinised and reported upon, especially when it incorporates a feature lacking from the current Kindle - the touch screen control of the Sony Daily Edition reader for example.
However, whilst the technical aspects of e-book readers are certainly important, they are not the be all and end all. Some of the key factors in the Kindle’s success to date were the large choice of books on Amazon’s website, the freedom to download books in under a minute wirelessly - without the need for an internet connection and without monthly fees - and Amazon’s highly trusted brand name.
A number of the new readers will feature wireless connectivity. The Barnes and Noble Nook reader will allow users to choose from a selection of over 1,000,000 books on the company’s website. However, the one common theme that seems to be emerging among the e-book readers in development is the format of the e-books.
The majority of the new readers in development seem to be going for a format known as ePub. However, the Kindle format is proprietary, which means that Kindle books can only be used on the Kindle reader.
Currently the Kindle is so dominant that it isn’t much of a problem. Nevertheless, it’s possible to imagine that, in the not too distant future, users may want the ability to lend books to friends and family or to port them from one type of reader to another.
In a very short space of time, the Kindle has become Amazon’s bestselling product - bar none. So Amazon won’t surrender their market leadership role without a struggle. Maybe next year will see the launch of the Kindle 4. It will almost certainly include a number of technical improvements - but could it be that Amazon might also adopt the ePub format, or perhaps provide some type of translation service?
Find out more about the Amazon Kindle reader and learn how you can save money by getting free Kindle ebooks direct from Amazon’s website.
Tags: books, computing, ebooks, Electronics, gadgets, Gifts, Personal Tech, Product Reviews, reading
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