Sony’s Open eBook Strategy Reminiscent of Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 Strategy

From the New York Times…

Sony Plans to Adopt Common Format for E-Books

I’m interested in ebooks but have not been following its nitty gritty details. So, I had to take a look at a couple of references to refresh what little I know and learn little too. Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:

- This is, of course, an attempt to draw away consumers from Amazon and its Kindle ebook reader ecosystem
- Sony will adopt the ePub ebook format by the end of this year
- ePub is promoted by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
- The IDPF has a large and wide ranging array of business members including book stores (Barnes & Noble and Amazon), news sources (AP News), software vendors (Adobe), and book publishers (McGraw-Hill) just to name a few corporate categories and members.
- ePub is an XML format for reflowable digital books and publications
- ePub is itself composed of three open standards (OPS, OPF, OCF)
- Sony will use Adobe’s copy restriction scheme
- ePub books sold through Sony’s ebook store will be readable in other ebook readers that also support ePub

Here’s the thing though. Amazon actually tried something very similar in the digital music market. It attempted to compete with Apple’s iTunes store by offering DRM-free (no copy restriction) MP3 song files that could be played on any digital music player including Apple’s iPod. Amazon’s MP3 music files are high quality products with prices often lower than iTunes. And, yet, iTunes still owns the digital music market.

Lesson learned? It is tough to compete with a popular successful incumbent. Sony has a long road ahead of itself in the ebook sales market.

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