Update from DB2009

[wallcraft]

The real question is whether new devices will also have two firmwares. It seems likely that they will, because the US market is dominated by MOBI and Europe dominated by ePub. It is possible that Adobe and eReader together will have a fighting chance against MOBI in the US.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The real question is whether new devices will also have two firmwares. It seems likely that they will, because the US market is dominated by MOBI and Europe dominated by ePub. It is possible that Adobe and eReader together will have a fighting chance against MOBI in the US.

Right now, we don't have any eink devices with eReader and that's just fine as eReader is the weakest of the reflowable formats. It's also the hardest one to convert to.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Right now, we don't have any eink devices with eReader and that's just fine as eReader is the weakest of the reflowable formats. It's also the hardest one to convert to.

I agree, but you can put eReader and Adobe on the same EInk Reader and let your customers decide. There are no licensing costs for eReader, but there are obviously still development costs.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

They have a special firmware with both DE and Mobipocket support. Amazon won't let them release it.

Could someone leak it?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

And we believe this guy over professional analysts and news reporters because ... ?

1 million devices is sort of a "magic number" whereupon you start to see the device in use in the wild on a regular basis. Ask anyone who has been on a plane or train in the past 3 months if they've seen a Kindle; a good chance the answer is yes.

Because he is inside the digital publishing industry, and the reporters and professional analysts are not. (If those people were in the industry, they would be under a NDA.) My source is very high up in company that does business with everyone in this industry. If there is accurate info available, he's probably seen it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I suppose Bookeen could just offer both firmware and let the user decide which they want. But due to Mobipocket's exclusivity and that a lot of readers want ADE, then I do see Mobipocket not going on a lot of new devices and that's not going to do well for Mobipocket. I know I'd rather have ePub then MP. And now with the local library supporting ePub, I can get some eBooks there without having to convert.

Given the extreme ease of reflashing the CyBook, all the user has to do is to have two SD cards, one with the ADE firmware on it, the other with the Mobi firmware, and reflash if and when necessary, in order to be able to enjoy both formats.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Given the extreme ease of reflashing the CyBook, all the user has to do is to have two SD cards, one with the ADE firmware on it, the other with the Mobi firmware, and reflash if and when necessary, in order to be able to enjoy both formats.

Or Bookeen could provided Live-SD versions, that switch firmware without reflashing. Open InkPot has this capability now (Installation Guide). I don't know if this would be possible without Bookeen's help though. The advantage of the Hanlin V3 is that it already has a way to run user-written applications by naming them with extension .exe.fb2.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Or Bookeen could provided Live-SD versions, that switch firmware without reflashing. Open InkPot has this capability now (Installation Guide). I don't know if this would be possible without Bookeen's help though. The advantage of the Hanlin V3 is that it already has a way to run user-written applications by naming them with extension .exe.fb2.

Even better would be just to be able to install applications, no need for a full OS. Once you have the ability to run an application you can use it to provide whatever capability you need. Open InkPot is in the OS business but Bookeen is not.

Dale