[Fugubot]

"Locking in" worries are premature. It assumes that other platforms cannot compete, which has not been true. iBooks is the proof. Kindle app has been much more popular because of superior ebook content. Apple sees an oppurtunity to host content that is not controlled by traditional publishing business by giving away the tools to authors and teachers who might produce worthy content and skip the publishers. Amazon has a similar marketplace but has not provided free and elegant authoring tools. Provide the tools and support an alternate platform and you break the locks. Books will be harder to lock down than apps, simply because they do not have to be dependent on the operating system.

Whoever makes the system easy to use and accessible has a shot at winning here. Granted, Apple has been very good at this lately but its not a contest that's won by a mere product announcement. Apple is giving away the tools. We need comparable Epub tools to compete.

(Sigil's design and workflow makes it a non-starter. Tools have to be easy to use so teachers can put an ebook together quickly.)