Lightning Source to produce e-books for PocketPC
© Richard Loeffler
The company formerly known as Lightning Press Inc. has recently changed its name to Lightning Source and launched a new web site at . Lightning Press became a subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc. not too long ago. The old
company provide print on demand services for Ingram Book Distribution, the new company will give publishers and retailers a revolutionary new technology platform to meet the ever
increasing demand for e-books, specializing in books for the Microsoft Reader.
The new company will have the capabilities to merge the two technologies for publishers and retailers by being able to produce both P and E editions of books, including
file conversion, archiving and content delivery in mupliple formats. It will also provide a secure environment for digital rights management (DRM).
Lightning Source now has over 9000 titles available and is adding, on average, 250 a week. With the recently annouced alliance with Microsoft, thousands of titles will soon be available for the new PocketPC. Publishers who store their titles in Lightning's digital library will be able to reach a broader audience of readers by offering eBooks in addition to traditional printed books. Booksellers will be able to meet changing consumer demands by offering books in a variety of formats.
This alliance is a natural for both companies. Ingram Book Distribution is the largest book distributor in North America. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries which
also sells and distributes computers. Ingram Book Distribution was also a leader in electronic retail book inventory systems and electronic ordering. This alliance is strategic
for Ingram in order to get into the e-book business. It has the contacts, the experience, the systems to succeed but it has been locked out by Nuvomedia and its arrangement with Barnes and Noble. Nuvomedia is the exclusive distributor for Rocket eBooks, the leader in e-book publishing formats. With Nuvomedia acting as the formater and distributor to the largest book retailer, Ingram had no way in. But now with the alliance with Microsoft, the largest distributor of p-books has an openning in the e-book market. Besides that, Barnes and Noble has an agreement with Microsoft to sell books for the PocketPC, so it looks like Ingram has not only the producers but the retailers too. The battle of the giants may be in the making but is anyone noticing yet?
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The copyright of the article Lightning Source to produce e-books for PocketPC in E-Books is owned by Richard Loeffler. Permission to republish Lightning Source to produce e-books for PocketPC in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
