Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
I'm on the fence. Its coming from Microsoft, but it looks like it has a lot of potential and Smashwords is on the bandwagon. I'm ok with how the Xbox 360 is working in the game console market, so maybe Blio will turn out as one of several competitors in a healthy market.
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I don't think it's coming from MS per-se. MS *is* offering support but while Blio is built off xps it *isn't* just xps. It's really a Kurzweil/B&T effort to provide an alternative to the existing camps for ebook sales and library checkouts.
Note that Adobe has been using ePub to funnel publishers into *their* products (inDesign, etc) and Quark jumped on Blio early and firmly: this is a fight for the *Publisher's* hearts and wallets. It might work. I can easily see the publishers saying that they'll do two different ebook editions for some books; a "hardcover-equivalent" rich content ebook at premium price and a "paperback" low-cost edition. Blio easily enables the former straight out of the existing workflow. It's one way to get premium prices: offering premium features and presentation.
Blio may come to nothing.
But with the transition to epub3 and KF8 rich-format ebooks looming, there is an opening coming up for new players to slip in. And Blio isn't the only one; 3M and Rakuten wouldn't be angling to play if they didn't see an opening to get in the game.