A few thoughts from a tumor surgeon

Blio Reader promises a digital book revolution for every medical publisher (Part 2)

June 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm Leave a comment

Future

Of course, the big question will be whether the experience of digital reading on Blio will be compelling for users and a successful model for readers. It is clear that the creators of Blio Reader have emphasized its ability to work on as many multiple platforms and devices as could possibly requested. While this is certainly appealing to readers and publishers alike, it also means that the experience will not be maximally optimized for any one platform.

This is a good strategy as long as no single reader has a dominant market share. However, if the iPad or perhaps future Android tablets start to dominate, it could be a disadvantage. Certainly, Apple has been welcoming of other digital distributors on the iPad thus far, such as Netflix for movies or Kindle for e-books. The Apple iBooks app uses the basic ePub format but there is no technological reason Apple (or Android) cannot specify its own proprietary format for enhanced texts, as Blio Reader has done.

This would allow it and attempt to differentiate the experience of reading on their platform from others. As an example of what this might look like, check out what Apple has demonstrated for its new HTML 5-based iAd advertising platform, which promises a visually stimulating, interactive experience that is only distantly related to traditional banner ads.

However, cool technology alone will not translate beyond demonstration pieces unless publishers can be enticed to convert and distribute their back catalog. This will require a viable business model as well as low-friction workflow for an industry which already functions on narrow margins. Here, it would seem Blio Reader has read the tea leaves right.

Pages: 1 2

Entry filed under: news. Tags: Amazon, blio reader, e-reader.