Resurrecting format wars in ebooks

Format wars have been with us as long as mass distribution of content has been possible.  With all content in digital format, the time for open standards arrived, but old business models die hard. After the recent HD disk format war, you’d think ebook publishers would have been schooled in the folly of proprietary formats. Many of us thought that Amazon would surely open the Kindle format, but that has not happened. The result is several competing formats, all ties to proprietary readers. The newest entrant is a collective of traditional newsstand publishers who are pushing yet another closed format

Five of the nation’s largest publishers of newspapers and magazines are teaming up to challenge Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle electronic-book reader with their own technology that would display in color and work on a variety of devices.

Time Inc., News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp., whose magazines include Time, Cosmopolitan and Better Homes and Gardens, announced a joint venture on Tuesday to develop new ways of presenting publications digitally to rival Kindle’s gray “electronic ink” technique. (ABC)

No one will carry a collection of devices to access content. Distributors, publishers and even Amazon are shooting themselves in the foot by distributing in proprietary formats. Digital content needs to be easily accessible on ANY device to be a viable business for ANY player.