Digital Devices Star at IDPF’s Digital Book 2007

by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 5/9/2007 12:28:00 PM

While talks about cutting-edge smartphones dominated last year’s Digital Book Conference, the International Digital Publishing Forum’s annual e-publishing conference in New York, the focus of the morning session this year was market feedback on the progress of devices like the Sony Reader and the introduction of new ones, like Telecom Italia’s pocket-sized Librofonio, which is expect to be introduced in the U.S. late this year. Panelists and attendees also debated when a breakthrough device or technology will make digital publishing a profitable business.

"The future is here," said Adobe System’s Bill McCoy, borrowing a phrase of computer book publisher Tim O’Reilly, "but it’s unevenly distributed." McCoy’s point was that all publishers acknowledge the promise of digital distribution—they’re just waiting for the "digital tipping point," a device, new software, or a new standard to push digital distribution to the next level.

As part of the panel on new mobile devices and e-reading software, McCoy presented evidence that the elusive tipping point is near. McCoy was showing off Adobe’s new "reflowable" PDF authoring software, now compliant with the IDPF’s new e-book standard format. The new IDPF standard will eventually allow publishers, converters, distributors and retailers to work with one file format, rather than five or six. "E-publishing is happening right now," said McCoy, who cautioned publishers against waiting for "the iPod or iTunes store for e-books." McCoy said that digital content is flowing through multiple retail channels and devices, and he expected that the IDPF’s new open standard will increase consumers’ ability to use content, "on big screens and small screens"

Sony’s Ron Hawkins discussed the Sony Reader’s seven months in the marketplace. Although he didn’t share any numbers, Hawkins said customer satisfaction with the device has been good. He also acknowledged that consumer awareness of the device was still low. Willem Endhoven of the Dutch firm of iRex presented iLiad, a thin electronic paper device, a bit larger than the Sony Reader, designed specifically for digital newspaper distribution and for e-books (3,500 titles available protected by Mobipocket DRM) and other content. Telecom Italia’s Librofonino, described as "a cellular book" by Guiliano Muratore, is a pocket-sized device with a large, flexible, rollup screen that is larger than the device when it is unfurled. The device offers world connectivity (in a new country it alerts the user to local content), DRM protection, massive flashcard storage and all kinds of wirelessly delivered content from text to audio.