Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
epub won't vanish soon.
But the problem is there is no single commercial epub. And not all epubs admit to being epub. (Kf8, ibook...) Both Amazon and Apple are updating their proprietary formats and implementing select epub features *their* way for very good business reasons. Others will likely follow their example, even if they choose to call their product epub.
epub may end up like openebook, a backend format used as feedstock for the consumer formats but not something consumers see or care about. (Few really knew or cared that MS Lit files with basically tweaked oeb.)
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And what are those sound business reasons and how sound are they?
The obvious one of making the kindle and iPod names synonymous with the product type (kindle is to ereaders what Kleenex is to tissues) has pretty well been accomplished.
I understand that locking in customers and building both loyalty and shopping habits is a sound business practice, but I wonder about the soundness of effectively locking out the epub users. Lots of us out there and a good portion would be happy to buy from Amazon.
And while epub may go down the tubes, so can mobi, azw, kepub etc. My feeling is that all of these formats, even mobi, are at an acceptable level for formatting and displaying books. Improvements can be made, but does the average person who just wants to read the book really interested in facebook connectivity or other features of that nature. And some can be annoying. I clicked on a link to a map once and got a 404 error, thinking my wireless was not working I clicked on the same link using my PC and got the same error. That was the first and last time I did that. I am sure most links work, but are they being rigidly maintained and guaranteed to last? I doubt it.
Sure bells and whistles are nice at times, although the novelty soon wears off for me. And if one format introduces a really great feature some of the others will soon follow. Selecting a format based on it’s superiority does not seem to be happening. If I say epub to a kindle user or mobi/azw to a Sony or Kobo user generally I get the same blank stare.
Seriously, what are the other sound business reasons, other than standing by the cannons till the ship goes down.
Helen