Thread: Sony 700 (built-in light) vs Cybook (Mobi)
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Old 12-29-2008, 03:49 PM   #37
wallcraft
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starrigger View Post
It would improve the market-desirability of the Sony Reader, and would increase the size of the market for mobi-format books.
The most likely reason for MobiPocket to change its strategy is that it is loosing the UK ebook market to Adobe. For example, W.H.Smith sells the Cybook (a MOBI reader), although not via their ebook store, but only 3 of its 20 best selling fiction and none of its 20 best selling non-fiction ebooks are available as MOBI and all of them are Adobe ePub.

However, the UK publishers may be rational in avoiding MOBI since (a) it is less capable than ePub and (b) its DRM is broken. I prefer DRM schemes that don't work, but if publishers believe in DRM they should use those that actually prevent copying.

The shoe that has not dropped yet is the Kindle in Europe. If this is going to be AZW dominated, then the UK publishers have to support MOBI (at least in AZW form). If this instead supports ePub with Amazon DRM, then MOBI is dead long term. There is no technical reason why the Kindle 2 could not exclusively use ePub (in the US as well as Europe), although it would require Amazon to format shift its entire catalogue from MOBI to ePub. More likely is ePub and MOBI (AZW) co-existence, and most likely of all is the status-quo (no Kindle ePub).
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