I came across this post yesterday on www.ComputerWorld.com and almost forgot to blog about it-
Amazon’s Kindle winning the battle, but Adobe is poised to win the war. by Eric Lai
Adobe announced that more than 100 publishers, book retailers and libraries are using Adobe’s Content Server 4 software to deliver encryptable e-books via the two formats favored by Adobe: PDF and ePub.
STOP THE PRESSES!!!! Adobe??? What’s next, a Google e-reader (don’t get any ideas G-men)?
Adobe may balk at the comparison, but its role in the e-book market is similar to the one Microsoft Corp. plays in the PC market: It’s a builder of a semi-open ecosystem of partners to whom it sells publishing tools.
In this analogy, Amazon.com is like Apple: successful, but secretive, with a reliance on proprietary formats like the Kindle’s native AZW that creates customer hassle and lock-in.
I really like the idea of being an ‘open-source’ of sorts in that they’ll give the software away to users, and hopefully Google will stick to search engines and not get involved in the e-reader race. I cannot fathom the thought of a cross-platform/device e-reader, but I certainly welcome a better product than the hardware chioces we have at this point. To recap earlier posts, the nook is much better designed, but the Kindle has an international version. Now Software giant Adobe is in the mix, and while they may not release until sometime next year, the hunt for top spot in e-readers is afoot.
Until we read again,
Geoff Hasler
