I've read a lot about this, and I am hoping Amazon goes ePUB. Not a slam dunk, but I think it the more likely course.
Here's a few things that I think are factual, from what I can garner.
Rowling said no DRM on the books.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/...rmore-details/
Books are via Google Books (obviously), making them ePub.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388789,00.asp
Books are sold exclusively through Pottermore, Google can't even sell them on their site.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/...rmore-details/
Pottermore sells the books, and purchases are through Google Checkout.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388789,00.asp
Google did not say that the arrangement was exclusive.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388789,00.asp
Amazon has said they are "working closely with Pottermore to make sure Kindle customers will be able to buy and read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books."
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-a...ble-on-kindle/
Again, I'm pretty sure those are all facts. The PC Mag article saying that Google did not claim exclusive rights was ambiguous. Is it non-exclusive rights to Google Books, or Google Checkout? If it's the former, then Amazon may be able to license .mobi versions. However, PCMag
implies the latter, meaning you could pay through Amazon Marketplace or something; that has no effect whatsoever on format, just payment option.
So it basically boils down to this: if Google Books has exclusive rights to the books, Amazon has to support ePUB. If not, Amazon can make a deal for a .mobi version.
I am sincerely hoping that Amazon is pushed in to ePUB. It's not like that'll be hard. They could either pay ADE licensing, or buy up an existing iPad/iPod 3rd Party ePUB reader. Or they could bite the bullet and develop their own.
-Pie