networked, mobile, and landlocked: current ereaders

Networked, Mobile &

LandlockedCurrent Ereaders

Liza DalyThreepress

liza@threepress.org

Keith FahlgrenThreepress

keith@threepress.org

2010 versus 2009:Fragmentation vs.

consolidation

2008 - Q3 2009: Format consolidation

Everyone else

Mobipocket

Consolidated on ePub

Adobe

Widespread adoption of ePub DRMand mobile SDK

Q4 2009 - Q1 2010

• B&N merged eReader DRM with Adobe DRM

• No other support for eReader/Adobe hybrid outside of

• Landlocked readers may never be upgraded

Q1 2010

• Apple embraces ePub...

• ...but will use its own DRM...

• ...compatible with anybody?

• ePub + PDF bundle?

• Compatible with anybody...?

Q1 2010

Blio

Only 3 formats!

Page-based ReflowableePub

MobipocketPDF

Some ebook know-it-all, Fall 2009

Requiem for an ebook shopper

What has fragmentation wrought on the purchase process?

Barnes & Noble

FictionwiseStanza

Kobo

?

“You shall not pass”

Barnes & Noble

FictionwiseStanza

Kobo

?

“You shall not pass”

Even though most of these devices and stores use ePub, there’s almost no way for consumers to understand which

devices will support which individual books, and when books can be exported from cloud-based ecosystems.

Don’t expect people to put up with this.

They have many easier choices for entertainment.

Can you think of a singleconsumer product that is

so difficult to buy?

(It’s hard to look at the previous chart and not

conclude that DRM is the primary culprit.)

Three ways to segment e-readers:

e-ink

Last year at our talk, “A Survey of Current E-Readers”

we looked at the market through this lens

This year, we’re focusing on ecosystems and usability:

Cloud

Interoperability

Consumers can choose to read on one or many of these devices.

Approaching Clouds

In a Cloudy World, Networking Wins

Devices without web connections are not “landlocked”, they are “landfill”

Menacing Clouds?Privacy concerns and vendor lock-in

are critical to consider.

Happy Clouds?But cloud-based systems offer users flexibility

and ebook capabilities beyond just text on screens.

Browser Required?

Google Editions and others may offer browser-based clouds that allow greater access to the web and

greater interoperability... maybe.

Discovering NewContent

OPDS

BookServer and OPDS are part of the web ecosystem and suggest that books and other

publications will be most easily discovered via the internet rather than single-point retailers.

Liza DalyTwitter: @liza

liza@threepress.org

Keith FahlgrenTwitter: @abdelazer

keith@threepress.org

Thanks!