EPUB, an XML format for reflowable text composed of three open standards and developed by the Toronto-based International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), is quickly becoming an e-book industry standard as support from publishers and tech giants such as Adobe Systems Inc., Sony Corp. and Google Inc. continues to grow.
This is good news for both publishers and readers, according to Evan Leibovitch, open source architect at York University who recently presented a session at BootCamp Toronto titled, "Kindle Shmindle: The future of eBooks in Canada."
[ Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter and Killer Apps blog. ]
Currently involved in a York University project called The Homeless Hub that aims to provide information and resources to the public on homelessness using e-books in EPUB format, he anticipates the open standards format is about to play a huge role for eBooks in Canada.
Leibovitch attributes former e-book struggles to the lack of standards and about 20 different formats, but the standard is now here with EPUB, he said. "I see a lot of opportunities," he said.
The publishing industry is hurting, but this isn't the case with e-books, said Michael Smith, executive director of IDPF. E-book sales are the fastest growing segment of the industry, while U.S. book sales are declining across all markets, he pointed out.
eBooks got a big boost when Amazon.com Inc. entered the market with the Kindle in 2007, according to Smith, but recent investment in the e-book space by large companies have also helped the market take off. This includes Sony's Reader Digital Book, Google's release of a half million public domain e-book titles to Sony, and publishers such as Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. leading the space.
Penguin Group USA reported an increase in e-book sales of nearly 500 per cent from 2007, according to a March 2009 release on Penguin Group 2008 profits. The publishing company has 6,400 e-books currently available in the U.S. market.
Stanza, a free eBook reader app for the iPhone and iPod touch, was downloaded by two million users in its first year on the market. Developed by Seattle-based Lexycycle Inc., which was acquired by Amazon in April, the native EPUB reader has supported over 12 million book downloads since it launched in July 2008.
Five electronic book formats are utilized in North America, although publishers in the U.K., Germany and France have taken an EPUB-only approach, noted Smith. "The use of a standard always helps for a healthy ecosystem, so I can see EPUB continuing to grow," he said.
EPUB became in standard in September 2007, but the big step came in May 2008 when the Association of American Publishers (AAP) issued an open letter to IDPF announcing their support of the open standards format, said Smith. EPUB titles started hitting online bookshelves early this year.
What the EPUB standard has done is help get publishers more involved in the space, said Smith. It's an open and non-proprietary standard, which means it doesn't cost the publishers to use it, he noted. Another benefit is they don't have to rely on the benevolence of another company who might offer proprietary formats that could potentially close down and cause them to lose their files, he said.
Also, because EPUB is XML-based, it can be converted into other proprietary formats, which means publishers create one EPUB file and distributors convert it behind-the-scenes. This saves publishers conversion costs, which allows them to enter more titles into the supply chain and create that critical mass of content necessary, said Smith.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
Like any valuable resource, IT is a terrible thing to waste. But by applying the same lean techniques that have been used to streamline manufacturing processes, IT departments can reduce costs, improve performance and better manage resources.
Download now! »
Stephen Elliot, vice president of strategy for CA's Infrastructure Management and Data Center Automation business unit, explains why difficult economic times drive the need for simplified management capabilities and advanced automation tools.
Listen now! »
According to a recent study CA conducted with 300 CIOs and top IT executives, 64 percent of respondents say they've already invested in virtualization, and the other 36 percent reported that they plan to invest in virtualization.
Download now! »
In this video learn about process automation in a virtualized world. How CA and VMware are enabling enterprise datacenter automation.
View now! »
2 Recommendations
