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By David Rothman

Korean Mobile Phone ShopDespite all the PR ballyhoo, U-Book is hardly the only mobile e-book service aimed at working on different platforms. Still, I like the philosophy of multi-device use.

The U stands for ubiquitous, the ability to read wherever you are. And a member of the public relations team at KTF, the South Korean phone company offering the service, says: “Now, once a KTF subscriber downloads a book file onto his computer hard-disk, mobile phone or PDA, he or she can use it for the rest of their life again and again…”

Reportedly 90 percent of the books from Booktopia, a U-Book partner, will be buyable. Neat: rental and a purchase option with efforts to keep the book viewable for life. I hope it works out that way, so people can own books for real. I wonder what the DRM situation is.

The sub fee model

It’ll also be interesting to watch how the subscription fee model plays out (at least it would appear that “subscriber” means more than just “phone subscriber”). Here in the States, Knowbetter.com has a subscription arrangement with purchase options—using content and software from Fictionwise. Hmm. Will Verizon get into e-books someday in a major way? Harlequin and Verizon actually have partnered up in the past (anyone from Harlequin care to give us an update?).

Educational market eyed

Meanwhile the Korean Herald reports: “KTF said it would promote the educational use of e-books, set up a separate e-book menu on its wireless internet platform and launch a relevant monthly subscription fee system by June.”

For more details, see Bridging the Cultural Divide.

Photo: Creative Commons image shows a Korean store that might be one of the largest phone shops in the world.

Detail: The U-Book service in Korea is presumably unrelated to uBook, Gower Point’s e-book reader.

Housekeeping: Nope, I haven’t forgotten about the item on schools backing away from laptops. It’s still on tap—maybe for tomorrow. Also stay tuned in the next week or so for an interesting exclusive in the display area. As usual, I’m out of time.

 
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