MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Which Will Win Out, Sony Reader or Kindle?

cstross · 08-02-2008, 04:28 PM

On ePub versus Mobi:

We forget that we aren't the folks who determine which format will win. That's up to the publishers.

Early signs are that ePub is going to win. Adobe is providing free ePub export filters for all their tools, including InDesign. InDesign has cleaned Quark's clock over the past couple of years in enterprise publishing -- I've been watching the galleys I get from my publishers switch from Quark to InDesign filenames (outside the crop marks) -- and at least one of the five major mutlinational publishing groups, Hachette, has already made a strategic decision at board level to go with ePub (because it integrates with the ebook provisioning workflow they've just spent eight-digit-dollars building over the past three years).

Also: MobiPocket is a subsidiary of Amazon. The publishers hate, fear, and loathe Amazon -- Amazon is pretty ruthless and will eat their lunch in a split instant if they give AMZN the opportunity. So that's another strike against.

08-02-2008, 04:28 PM	#49
cstross Cynic Posts: 86 Karma: 514 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Lots, started with a Psion 3 circa 1998	On ePub versus Mobi: We forget that we aren't the folks who determine which format will win. That's up to the publishers. Early signs are that ePub is going to win. Adobe is providing free ePub export filters for all their tools, including InDesign. InDesign has cleaned Quark's clock over the past couple of years in enterprise publishing -- I've been watching the galleys I get from my publishers switch from Quark to InDesign filenames (outside the crop marks) -- and at least one of the five major mutlinational publishing groups, Hachette, has already made a strategic decision at board level to go with ePub (because it integrates with the ebook provisioning workflow they've just spent eight-digit-dollars building over the past three years). Also: MobiPocket is a subsidiary of Amazon. The publishers hate, fear, and loathe Amazon -- Amazon is pretty ruthless and will eat their lunch in a split instant if they give AMZN the opportunity. So that's another strike against.