Short for ‘electronic publication’, this is an open industry standard developed by an association of major publishers and other interested parties, the International Digital Publishers Forum (IDPF). Most of the rest of the ebook market uses a format called EPUB. But this will take time and mobi will be important for a while yet. In spite of its proprietary nature, the Kindle format traces its origins back to a decade-old industry standard, the same one that formed the basis of today’s other widely used standard, EPUB.Īmazon has begun the process of phasing out the mobi format in favor of its next-generation format, KF8. WhisperSync also synchronizes bookmarks you might have added and looks after a range of other things that make your reading experience simple and pleasant.Īnd when you buy an ebook from the Kindle store, WhisperSync delivers it wirelessly to your Kindle e-reader or app.
For instance, its WhisperSync technology remembers the last page you read and synchronizes all of your devices so you can pick up reading where you left off. This is less onerous than it might sound. Amazon provides free e-reading apps for most popular platforms. Using these apps, you can read the same Kindle book on several devices, not just the Amazon-manufactured Kindle Reader.Īmazon makes ebook reading simple for non-technical consumers. Most Kindle ebooks must be bought from Amazon’s Kindle store, and can only be read using an Amazon device or Amazon e-reader app. In most markets, it holds the largest market share. This is Amazon’s own format, often referred to as mobi or AZW. We’ll look at the new versions later in this section. But they’re slow to catch on and the older ebook formats still dominate. New versions - EPUB3 and Kindle KF8 - take advantage of more powerful e-readers and move ebooks beyond their mostly-text stronghold. And they enjoy large, global distribution channels. They work well in both dedicated e-readers and in devices such as tablets, or even smartphones. These formats adhere to the features we’ve seen that have made ebooks successful. We start with a look at the two ebook formats that matter most today: Kindle and EPUB. We’ll also examine the new versions of these formats which are likely to drive the direction of the ebook market over the next few years. We’ll take a closer look at the EPUB and Kindle ebook formats which are responsible for most of the ebook market’s growth over the past few years.
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