Epub is Not Universal So Stop the BS

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Well, not anytime soon, in france at least.
First there is the "no book in french" problem. Secondly, early adopters are using mostly ePub, and will not want to lose their books. So, kindle no go ! Even those who use mobi, bad luck, not the right pid.
That's true even of the UK. They might be coming too late.

Sorry, you're right that this is not universally true. I should have said that I think that they will dominate in the UK. I don't think that anyone is too late yet (including Sony if they can provide enough content), because the existing market in the UK is so tiny.

My prediction is that Amazon will dominate in any market where they can be the first to release a reader that gives access from the device to significantly more (locally readable!) content than their competitors.

[AGB]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Well, not anytime soon, in france at least.
First there is the "no book in french" problem. Secondly, early adopters are using mostly ePub, and will not want to lose their books. So, kindle no go ! Even those who use mobi, bad luck, not the right pid.
That's true even of the UK. They might be coming too late.

'Tis true here in Denmark as well.

[Teddman]

Originally Posted by Anarel

Found this, liked it. Kinda tired of hearing people go, yeah, the Kindle's nice, but because there's no EPUB, it's destined to failure.

Read the first two sentences of this thread.

LOVED IT.

Mobi >>> ePub.

[rty]

Universal or not, I just know that my public library provides ebooks in Epub format.

[EowynCarter]

because the existing market in the UK is so tiny.

It is in france too.
But then, by the time they make contract with the publishers, have the publishers convert their books from ePub to "mobi" and so on.
Plus, ePub rendering to just so much nicer than mobi. I don't want to go back to mobi.

[Teddman]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's perhaps easy to get a rather distorted view of the world-wide ebook market, living in the USA. Outside the US, Amazon really are a very minor player in the game, and the ePub format completely dominates.

I'd bet Amazon is still the #1 ebook retailer in the world, even with their diminished stature outside the U.S. America's just that big a market and they have that big a slice of it. So not really a minor player.

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by Teddman

Mobi >>> ePub.

Does this mean Mobi is moving to ePub, or Mobi is very very much greater than ePub?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Teddman

I'd bet Amazon is still the #1 ebook retailer in the world, even with their diminished stature outside the U.S. America's just that big a market and they have that big a slice of it. So not really a minor player.

I think you misunderstood me. I said that Amazon were a minor player in the eBook game outside the US. Given that the US market is so large, they are of course the #1 eBook retailer in the world, but that's of no relevance if one is looking at eBooks from, say, a European perspective.

[Fbone]

After the UK market where will be Amazon's next focus?

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Fbone

After the UK market where will be Amazon's next focus?

They already have french and german domains so those will probably be their next targets in europe, but besides that you might also expect them to work on their presence in the other english speaking countries too.

[J. Strnad]

If the ePub sellers continue their in-fighting with incompatible DRM, Amazon will come in and walk all over them, and they'll end up standing there, looking around like tornado victims wondering what in the heck happened. Country by country, Amazon will march through with convenience and customer service and walk out with 80% of the market, and they'll be going "What just happened here?"

IMHO, of course.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

If the ePub sellers continue their in-fighting with incompatible DRM, Amazon will come in and walk all over them, and they'll end up standing there, looking around like tornado victims wondering what in the heck happened. Country by country, Amazon will march through with convenience and customer service and walk out with 80% of the market, and they'll be going "What just happened here?"

Absolutely; concisely said; and love the dogs in your new avatar.

[EowynCarter]

f the ePub sellers continue their in-fighting with incompatible DRM

Here in euroe, it's only adobe ePub.
Multiple drm en ePub is a US only thing, so what you're saying apply only in the US.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Here in euroe, it's only adobe ePub.
Multiple drm en ePub is a US only thing, so what you're saying apply only in the US.

Problem is, if people buy an American device (for example the Ipad), they will come across problems. Such as the fact that books bought at your local shop are unable to be read on the Ipad unless you add another reader software on it...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Here in euroe, it's only adobe ePub.
Multiple drm en ePub is a US only thing, so what you're saying apply only in the US.

That's mostly, but not entirely, true. The Apple iBook store is now available in multiple countries. It sells ePub books which use Apple's "Fairplay" DRM rather than Adobe's DRM.