Amazon-sized ego? Kindle to shun .epub? And, yes, the ugly box is the FINAL design
MobileMag and Gizmodo have run a picture of what Gizmodo and others describe as "the final design" of the Kindle. Yikes! We’ve beheld this same photo. It’s the ugly prototype borrowed from a 1960s horror sci-fi movie or whatever. But I do like the idea of a keyboard for word search, e-mail and Web-browsing, so I’ll cut the Kindle lots and lots of slack, especially if it can read HTML books via the browser. Maybe, as with the old VW Beetle, we’ll all learn to love the ugliness.
On e-book standards, no, I won’t be so accommodating. Will Amazon-sized egos get in the way of allowing the Kindle, via a firmware update in time, to read .epub, the IDPF’s new industry standard? Or will the Kindle rely on Amazon-owned Mobi with some kind of gotcha? How about the suitability of Kindle e-books for use with the Mobi Reader that runs on other machines? An Internet News article suggests the existence of some nasty ifs—which should have been clarified by now:
"Amazon has not worked with the industry association for standardization in digital publishing to incorporate the .epub standard into the reported Kindle e-book reader, according to Michael Smith, executive director of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), formerly known as the Open eBook Forum.
"Smith told InternetNews.com that the IDPF would reach out to Amazon to encourage it to adopt the .epub standard, as other companies have with their own products.
"’Adobe’s completely adopted our .epub standard,’" Smith said, adding that ‘Sony’s announced plans to implement .epub.’"
Hachette, in fact, the big publishing format, will use .epub to distribute books in the U.S. Hey, Amazon please let Kindle owners .epub away at the consumer level.
Internet News notes: "Mobipocket, a unit of Amazon, has worked with the IDPF in developing its e-book reader. The standardization process began through a collaborative industry effort funded by companies like Microsoft and Palm. Using the .epub XML format, publishers can make their digital publications available on a variety of devices using different software applications." Exactly—if it happens at the consumer level, not just the distribution one.
Of course, the core format is just part of the fun. Current .epub standards do not provide for DRM interoperability among vendors. And what about the same concept in regard to Mobipocket itself? Is it possible that Amazon will use Mobi on the Kindle but with one-of-a-kind DRM? I’d hope not. But with Amazon-sized egos, you never know.
November 18th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Wow,
I’m surprised they couldn’t do a more attractive design. There’s a LOT of non-screen space and one of the key requirements for an eBook reader is portability.
Yes, it will be interesting to see what formats are supported. If it does support HTML, I’d think adding epub at some later date could be possible.
I am optimistic that Amazon will put some real energy behind this and help eBooks accelerate their trajectory.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
November 18th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I don’t understand that design at all. Where is the free space to hold it in the hand like a BOOK? From what I can see, there are buttons EVERYWHERE to get in the way of comfortably holding it.
What’s the availability of this thing? Well, I guess Monday will reveal any retail distribution…
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 am
[...] Will Amazon-sized egos get in the way of allowing the Kindle, via a firmware update in time, to read .epub, the IDPF’s new industry standard? Or will the Kindle rely on Amazon-owned Mobi with some kind of gotcha?3 [...]