Taiwan’s a key book hub—so here are e-book standards questions for its IDPF equivalent

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By David Rothman

More than a few gizmos—some suited for e-reading, such as HTC cellphones or my Acer netbook—come out of Taiwan. PVI even makes E Ink displays there.

Taiwan is also a key player in the actual world of Chinese-language books for people in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, as well as for Chinese-Americans.

So I’m very curious whether the Hami e-bookstore, scheduled to go live in the next month or so, will use the ePub standard developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum.

CHT, Taiwan’s largest telecommunications provider, will be teaming up with HTC, the cellphone makrer, in addition to Microsoft. My hunch is that ePub will show up, just as a TeleRead commenter expects. But when? In the next few weeks, via Hami and the e-book software with which the store works?  With Microsoft involved, it can’t hurt to get the ePub issue pinned down for certain, given the company’s fondness in so many cases for proprietary approaches.

I also wonder about ePub possibilities for the e-book venture that Eslite Books, Taiwan’s largest bookstore operator  (photo), will launch by the second quarter of 2010 in partnership with Far EasTone Telecommunications.

Here, then, are a few questions that I’ll be passing on to the secretary of the TDPF:

(1) What is ePub implementation schedule in Taiwan—both for the industry in general and, if known, for specific companies. If the Hami bookstore starts out with ePub, that’ll be wonderful.

(2) What type of DRM will be used? Which proprietary technology or technologies? Which companies involved? I hear that the publications in the Hami bookstore are "restrictive digital products." Readers will be able to enjoy only the e-books they’ve downloaded to their phones. My understanding is that readers won’t be able to forward to other machines they own, or share those publications or transfer them to others. True?

(3) Just what is Microsoft’s exact role in the Taiwan Digital Publishing Forum? Which Microsoft people are involved and in what ways? Microsoft helped found the TDPF.

(4) In what ways, and to what extent, is the TDPF m an open group? Can any company join, for example? What are the requirements?

What do you think, gang? Got any questions of your own to add? Or should I modify the questions above? Thanks!

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