MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - From ePUBSecrets: The state of ePub standards support

fjtorres · 09-05-2012, 08:07 PM

Last I heard, iBooks outsold Kobo in the US, which puts them at number three. (And unlike B&N, Apple sells ebooks worldwide, like Amazon.)

With Amazon holding tight to their 60% (plus) market share and B&N holding on to their 25%, that only leaves a maximum of 15% to be divided between Apple, Kobo, and the Adobe generics (sony, Google, etc). Even if Apple only has 6-8% (I've heard 10%) that still leaves Kobo and the Adept axis with precious little revenue to deliver to Adobe. (Which might explain why they're Open Sourcing their epub3 plugin for Chrome.)

At this point, there is *effectively* no retailer-independent standard format for commercial DRM'ed ebooks. (Even Kobo is hedging their bets with Kepub.)

Pretty much all the money is in the walled gardens.
People simply aren't buying "standards"; they're buying ebooks.

09-05-2012, 08:07 PM	#38
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	Last I heard, iBooks outsold Kobo in the US, which puts them at number three. (And unlike B&N, Apple sells ebooks worldwide, like Amazon.) With Amazon holding tight to their 60% (plus) market share and B&N holding on to their 25%, that only leaves a maximum of 15% to be divided between Apple, Kobo, and the Adobe generics (sony, Google, etc). Even if Apple only has 6-8% (I've heard 10%) that still leaves Kobo and the Adept axis with precious little revenue to deliver to Adobe. (Which might explain why they're Open Sourcing their epub3 plugin for Chrome.) At this point, there is effectively no retailer-independent standard format for commercial DRM'ed ebooks. (Even Kobo is hedging their bets with Kepub.) Pretty much all the money is in the walled gardens. People simply aren't buying "standards"; they're buying ebooks.