A convergence of new technologies and corporate alliances is rapidly coming together to change the face of book publishing -- and the experience of reading.
A conference Thursday at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland is the setting for Dick Brass, vice president of technology development for Microsoft, to announce an initiative called the Open eBook standard, a major step toward shaping the publishing industry of the future.
Microsoft declined any comment before Thursday's press briefing at 1 p.m. EDT.
At least two handheld devices for reading popular books and magazines in electronic form -- the SoftBook and the Rocket eBook -- are slated to hit the market before the end of the year. Both offer high-resolution screens, book-like page-by-page display of text, and the ability to store the equivalent of a briefcase full of books and magazines in a device no heavier than a single hardback.
They also offer things that dead-tree lit can't, such as illuminated screens for late-night reading and full-text searching. Texts will be encrypted, so that the latest Stephen King opus doesn't suddenly show up on a dozen bootleg sites.
By standardizing practices for the publication and distribution of electronic texts, ebook producers are hoping to head off the kind of standards clashes that vexed the makers of 56K modems -- or even a Beta vs. VHS-type format war -- just as the new industry is poised to take off.
The Open eBook standard will be developed by Microsoft and over a dozen companies involved in the publication and distribution of electronic texts.
Demonstrating the intense industry interest in the new format, both NuvoMedia and SoftBook Press have announced a flurry of deals in recent days.
NuvoMedia is partnering with Sharp to develop a variety of digital reading devices, and with publishing giant Bertelsmann and R. R. Donnelley -- the largest book and magazine printer in North America -- to make sure there's plenty of content for the devices as they become available. At a major book fair in Frankfurt on Thursday, SoftBook Press will announce deals with Simon and Schuster and Time Books.
In the highly competitive world of a nascent -- and potentially enormous -- industry, everyone is jockeying for major-player status. Even the announcement of a cooperative industry-wide standard brings out a competitive streak, as press releases today from both SoftBook Press and NuvoMedia trumpeted their own contributions to the Open eBook standard.
"The proliferation of the electronic book will benefit from an Open eBook standard that utilizes the best-of-breed technology developed by SoftBook Press," CEO Jim Sachs said in a press release.
The ebook producers -- and publishers like Random House who have formed alliances with them -- are hoping that the new format is a shot in the arm for publishing in general, not replacing books on paper, but augmenting them.
Books that would have gone "out of print" could be sold copy by copy electronically, and other content sources -- such as Internet news services, catalogs, and periodicals -- could also be made available for the devices.
"Over time, what it will do is expand the market for books. They'll still be available on paper," said SoftBook Press director of marketing Kim Woodward, adding, "a Blockbuster Video popping up on every corner didn't make people stop going to movies."
Not everyone is rushing into the breach waving the ebooks flag, however.
David Risher, senior vice president of product development at Amazon.com, said his company is taking a wait-and-see attitude to judge whether the book-buying public will embrace the new products.
"I consider myself a gadget guy, but anyone who has played with these things has realized that they have to go through a couple of more generations before they're useful to folks," he said.
Risher acknowledged that Amazon.com is "keeping a close eye" on the development of electronic publishing, but refused to say whether the online bookstore was planning to offer Open eBook-formatted texts on its site in time for the Christmas rush.
"Our real strategy is to build a great place for folks to come and buy books in any format," he said.
