MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Industry adopts new e-book standards

Bob Russell · 06-20-2006, 02:02 PM

The e-book industry has come to agreement on e-book standard standards. Yes! Agreement by the e-book industry on standards. It's not completely finalized yet, but we appear to be on the verge of a monumental achievement that will propel the industry forward. "The combined standards efforts will result in a non-proprietary way for publishers to deliver digital books through the distribution chain to consumers, similar to the MP3 format for digital music. No patent encumbrances are expected of either new specification."

This is not just another theoretical wishlist. We are talking about a set of specifications that will actually be implemented. What an exciting new development for the industry, and for e-book lovers everywhere. Industry standards are an elusive thing, and it was looking like e-books would forever remain a tower of Babel, without any common formats. But major players in the e-book industry, including names like Adobe, MobiPocket, Motricity, iRex and eBook Technologies have all come together and it is quite possible that one of the largest obstacles for e-book adoption has been conquered as a result.

So, why is this different than any other other standard? Quite simply, due to two reasons: First of all, there is widespread support by the industry from content creation to final content resellers. Secondly, supporters are acting in line with their positions. Specifically, they are really going to implement the standards in places like the iRex Iliad e-ink book reader.

Here are some examples, from the press release, of how the industry has backed the IDPF work (emphasis mine):

"Mobipocket has been a great supporter of open standards in the eBook world since the OEBPS creation. We are excited about this new initiative, which is the right way to go to make this market mainstream. We plan to fully support this new standard in our product line," said Thierry Brethes, CEO & co-founder of Mobipocket.com, an Amazon.com company.

“OSoft intends to support the new OEBPS standards with the upcoming release of dotReader,” said Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft.com, an open source document company. “The enhancements to the standards will improve accessibility and be more publisher and consumer friendly. Of particular interest to publishers is the standardization of a master e-book format which will greatly improve document workflow and reduce e-book publishing costs.”

“Motricity's vision is to increase the adoption and consumption of premium mobile data such as ebooks," said Elizabeth Mackey (Vice President and General Manager of eReader/Motricity). "We fully support open standards and access as the cornerstones of IDPF’s efforts as we believe it's exemplary of the type of collaborative process that will build mainstream awareness and further the independence and productivity of the mobile lifestyle.”

iRex Technologies’ VP Marketing and Business Development Willem Endhoven stated, “iRex Technologies will support the development of these standards as it will accelerate the momentum in electronic reading. We believe that consumers will benefit from a more harmonized, open system approach and simplicity of use. We expect to support the IDPF standards for use in the iLiad e-reader in the future."

If you read carefully, you see that there is great support, but not quite final commitment yet. It's still early. But we're seeing great progress, and it brings great expectations.

Adobe's Bill McCoy reminds us that we are seeing rapid progress, but that there is a lot of work to be done. The highlight of the work so far is the improved cooperation among industry members and standards organizations. He "encourages cooperation across standards groups and industry consortia" and warns of the danger of splinter specifications. (Note that the IDPF is also working with other standards organizations such as OASIS and DAISY.)

The first <pdf warning> specification is for a container format, called the OEBPS Container Format (OCF). It is expected to be finalized in the next several weeks. This container format is based on zip archive technology, and supports publishers while working on document production, distribution to the sales channels, and for delivery of the final result to the end user. In each case, one document is sufficient for all the content, and potentially even multiple versions of a document. OCF is "the recommended single-file container technology for OEBPS publications." It is also "an extension of the packaging format defined by the OpenDocument OASIS Standard (ISO/IEC 26300)."

The second specification is the next generation of OEBPS (Open eBook Publication Structure). It is an XML based e-book format from the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum). It is being developed to "focus on detailed control of content rendering, navigation and accessibility, and alignment with other standards efforts."

From IDPF press release.

06-20-2006, 02:02 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Industry adopts new e-book standards The e-book industry has come to agreement on e-book standard standards. Yes! Agreement by the e-book industry on standards. It's not completely finalized yet, but we appear to be on the verge of a monumental achievement that will propel the industry forward. "The combined standards efforts will result in a non-proprietary way for publishers to deliver digital books through the distribution chain to consumers, similar to the MP3 format for digital music. No patent encumbrances are expected of either new specification." This is not just another theoretical wishlist. We are talking about a set of specifications that will actually be implemented. What an exciting new development for the industry, and for e-book lovers everywhere. Industry standards are an elusive thing, and it was looking like e-books would forever remain a tower of Babel, without any common formats. But major players in the e-book industry, including names like Adobe, MobiPocket, Motricity, iRex and eBook Technologies have all come together and it is quite possible that one of the largest obstacles for e-book adoption has been conquered as a result. So, why is this different than any other other standard? Quite simply, due to two reasons: First of all, there is widespread support by the industry from content creation to final content resellers. Secondly, supporters are acting in line with their positions. Specifically, they are really going to implement the standards in places like the iRex Iliad e-ink book reader. Here are some examples, from the press release, of how the industry has backed the IDPF work (*emphasis* mine): "Mobipocket has been a great supporter of open standards in the eBook world since the OEBPS creation. We are excited about this new initiative, which is the right way to go to make this market mainstream. *We plan to fully support this new standard in our product line," said Thierry Brethes, CEO & co-founder of Mobipocket.com, an Amazon.com company. “OSoft intends to support the new OEBPS standards with the upcoming release of dotReader,” said Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft.com, an open source document company. “The enhancements to the standards will improve accessibility and be more publisher and consumer friendly. Of particular interest to publishers is the standardization of a master e-book format which will greatly improve document workflow and reduce e-book publishing costs.” “Motricity's vision is to increase the adoption and consumption of premium mobile data such as ebooks," said Elizabeth Mackey (Vice President and General Manager of eReader/Motricity). "We fully support open standards and access as the cornerstones of IDPF’s efforts as we believe it's exemplary of the type of collaborative process that will build mainstream awareness and further the independence and productivity of the mobile lifestyle.” iRex Technologies’ VP Marketing and Business Development Willem Endhoven stated, “iRex Technologies will support the development of these standards as it will accelerate the momentum in electronic reading. We believe that consumers will benefit from a more harmonized, open system approach and simplicity of use. We expect to support the IDPF standards for use in the iLiad e-reader in the future.*" If you read carefully, you see that there is great support, but not quite final commitment yet. It's still early. But we're seeing great progress, and it brings great expectations. Adobe's Bill McCoy reminds us that we are seeing rapid progress, but that there is a lot of work to be done. The highlight of the work so far is the improved cooperation among industry members and standards organizations. He "encourages cooperation across standards groups and industry consortia" and warns of the danger of splinter specifications. (Note that the IDPF is also working with other standards organizations such as OASIS and DAISY.) The first <pdf warning> specification is for a container format, called the OEBPS Container Format (OCF). It is expected to be finalized in the next several weeks. This container format is based on zip archive technology, and supports publishers while working on document production, distribution to the sales channels, and for delivery of the final result to the end user. In each case, one document is sufficient for all the content, and potentially even multiple versions of a document. OCF is "the recommended single-file container technology for OEBPS publications." It is also "an extension of the packaging format defined by the OpenDocument OASIS Standard (ISO/IEC 26300)." The second specification is the next generation of OEBPS (Open eBook Publication Structure). It is an XML based e-book format from the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum). It is being developed to "focus on detailed control of content rendering, navigation and accessibility, and alignment with other standards efforts." From IDPF press release.