Moka mBooks Enters Cell Phone Market
by Bridget Kinsella -- Publishers Weekly, 4/9/2007
The latest startup to tackle the task of bringing book content to consumer cell phones is Moka, an acronym for Mobile Knowledge Assistant. Based in West Palm Beach, Fla., Moka launched its Web site last week, allowing consumers to subscribe to a service that delivers text messages culled from a library of books to cell phones.
Moka's library consists of about 80 titles, most public domain, but some licensed from publishers or authors who retained their electronic rights, explained Michael Donahue, cofounder and CEO of the company. Moka is still tweaking its price structure and is currently experimenting with a "Netflix model" that offers customers access to its library for a monthly fee between $5.95 and $7.95. Among the books available are The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. Moka has been beta testing its mBooks system, which is available to most wirelesss carriers, since October.
Unlike Mobifusion, which started offering content and graphics from entire books through cell phones in January (Foreword, Jan. 29), Moka provides simple text messages containing the key points from the books. By focusing on inspirational books, Donahue hopes the service will attract customers who are interested in remembering important themes from books long after they've read them.
New World Library is working with both Moka and Mobifusion to provide access to its books via cell phone. NWL associate publisher Munro Magruder said he looks for three things when considering a partner in new technology: "I have to like what they are attempting to do; I have to like the parties I do business with; and I want a short-term license."
Hay House is also working with Moka and Mobifusion. "You never know what the people want and you have to let the people decide," said Hay House CEO Reid Tracy. He likened the experiment with selling content through cell phones to the early days of audiobook downloads, which has developed into a profitable area for publishers. Tracy added that Hay House was talking with other parties about audio downloads to cell phones. Tracy said he expected HH would work with multiple players in terms of delivering content. "Like anything with new technology, people come and go," said Tracy. Still, he thought Moka had a good idea and presented a new way "to get more exposure for our books in more formats."
