TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘Frankfurt Book Fair’ Category

By a TeleRead Contributor

I received the following first class report from Rachel who has visited the Book Fair. She checked out the readers on display and this is what she found:

Hi Paul!

Just returned from Frankfurt. Didn’t have internet access while I was there (the Messe wanted me to pay 49€ per day for wifi, but I wasn’t that desperate), so I’m glad to be home.

I had an opportunity to check out three e-reader booths while I was there: IREX (with their two readers), Bookeen, and the new German txtr. I got some photos, too. I spoke with the folks at the different booths. My interactions were, I think, indicative of the differences between the companies themselves. At IREX, I spoke with Willem Endhoven, who is the VP of Marketing and Business Development of this Dutch company. It felt more like a formal interview than just a conversation, and he got a bit defensive when I asked him about the future of dedicated e-readers. He basically told me that if reading is what’s important to the consumer, than a dedicated e-reader will provide a high-quality reading experience. The US-only and consumer-aimed IREX is very sleek and appealing, though I’m not a stylus fan. Back in August, IREX and the Barnes & Noble eBookstore announced a partnership, but I wonder how that will be impacted by the introduction of the Nook. IREX says their new focus will be a color e-reader for 2011 (which they will need to pull forward if they want to remain competitive). Their professional reader is huge – rather like Bookeen’s old school reader that they use as an example of how far they’ve come. It’s very cool that users can hand-write notes with it (an “unending notepad”) and use it as a tool (for folks in the book trade, academics, etc.) plus has wifi and Bluetooth connectivity, but it costs 699€ and isn’t very attractive. Still, it had many of the capabilities I’d like to see contained within a sleeker, smaller, slimmer exterior. Wait, what am I talking about again? Hmm. Anyway, one of the first lines in the handout I was given: “The start of IREX Technologies in 2004 is so inextricably linked to the invention of the first commercially produced eReader that the stories must be told as one.” Something IREX should consider, in regards to their marketing materials, is that no one really cares who did what when. We just want to know who will do what next. In any case, the booth seemed quite busy when I stopped by, though I’m not sure who was working vs visiting. Still, Willem assured me that it was practically dead compared to earlier traffic.
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By a TeleRead Contributor

Editor’s Note: This is from Johannes Haupt. I really like the idea of AA batteries. I hate carrying chargers; and what good do they do you if you are in the Bolivia and you lose the unit, as happened to me?. After that I try to use only stuff that contains plain old batteries. You will have no trouble getting an AA battery in La Paz or Port au Prince!  If you play the video you’ll hear them mention that they have a deal done with Barnes & Noble.  Parts of the video are in English. – Paul Biba

Hey:

Ectaco announced a quite extra-ordinary eBook Reader at current Frankfurt Book Fair. Like the Ectaco jetBook ($179 at newegg.com), Ectaco jetBook Lite has a transflective monochrome TFT-Display (5″).

The Device has an unusual form factor caused by the power supply which comes of 4 regular AA-Batteries (good for 23 hr reading). Ectaco guys at the booth told me it’s 7.5 Oz though it felt a bit heavier.

jetBook Lite will be available “very soon” in the US. Sales price is $149 which makes it the cheapest dedicated eReader in the market.

You can find pictures and a HD hands-on Video (feel free to embed it) here.

By Paul Biba

Got this email that I thought I should share with you:

Hi,

I think TeleRead missed this announcement at the Frankfurt Book Fair:

The German text is about the planned improvements of the German eBook portal libreka!, which is the official eBook shop of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (federation of German publishers and book stores). The interesting part for non-Germans is the announcement of the release of a libreka! iPhone app in the beginning of November. With this app it will be possible to buy and read the eBooks sold at libreka!—which are EPUB with Adobe DRM. So this will be the first official iPhone eBook reader for EPUB with Adobe DRM.

Best regards,
Tobias Steinke

By Paul Biba

Publishing Perspectives has its usual PDF, this time covering two digital publishing companies present at the Fair, Open Road from the US and Shanda Literature from China, the October 16 issue covers STM e-book pricing, Estonia’s surprising publishing industry dynamics, and the IPA Copyright Symposium. You can also read about e-books in New Zealand, Japan and Canada; or take a look at photos from a selection of Fair-goers pictured with their favorite words.

It looks like an especially interesting issue.

By Paul Biba

Baker & Taylor announces a new ereader partnership at Frankfurt. They will be delivering ebook content for the new K-NFB Reading Technology reader, which, itself, is a joint venture between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind. The new reading technology will operate on a variety of devices including personal computers, smart phones and cell phones.

Unfortunately the release doesn’t say much about the reading technology and it doesn’t seem to be up on the K-NFB website yet.

By Paul Biba

Here is the press release:

Berlin, October 14th, 2009. This is what fans of digital reading pleasure have been waiting for: Today, txtr GmbH presents its online-compatible txtr Reader at the Frankfurt Book Fair. At the same time, the txtr Store is launched, allowing to easily and conveniently acquire eBooks from your home and soon also when you are away from home. In contrast to competitors, txtr Reader as well as the platform are open for developers in the form of an SDK with documented APIs. Thus it will be still this year that the Berlin based start-up company will offer the first open overall solution for acquiring, storing, publishing, and sharing digital documents – while allowing full mobility. And the reading matter will be provided, too: The txtr Reader will have the successful novel “Paradiso” by Thomas Klupp pre-installed which was published in 2009 by Berlin Verlag, as well as numerous excerpts from notable publishing companies such as Rowohlt, S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Droemer Knaur, Luchterhand, DVA, and Heyne, and also complete versions of Polyglott Cityguides and Langenscheidt language guides. (more…)

By Paul Biba

Publishing Perspectives is offering a free PDF version of its Frankfurt Edition for October 14. It includes photos from the opening ceremony with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. We also attended TOC Frankfurt, the International Rights Directors Meeting, the Supply Chain Meeting and the off-site STM conference.

You can find it here.