"Digital music is now mainstream, thanks in part to the MP3. Will the e-book market be next to produce a one-size-fits-all format—a format that is universally readable, freely sharable, and with a reasonably good reproduction quality?" That's the question from Bill Rosenblatt, who concludes: "Not bloody likely." (yes, he's posting on the U.K. version of Paid Content; U.S. writers might be more likely to say "Absofrickinglutely, no.")
Rosenblatt dissects what would happen if each of the players in the e-book market dominate, noting that the competition for market share probably won't lead to e-books with "all three attributes: ease of use, interoperability, and choice – the way we do with print books. Technology markets like this do not exist."
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