Abstract:

The continued presence of electronic books or e-books has significantly affected the publishing industry in recent years. The growing popularity of the Web and public acceptance of new e-book technologies is facilitating their spread. However, initial optimism about the growth of the medium has been tempered by a measured uptake of the medium and the withdrawal of some e-books products from the market. This paper attempts to update the position with e-books and provide an overview of e-book technologies by defining types of e-books, listing their implementations, their advantages and disadvantages, hardware, software, management software and their future. The paper concludes that the success or failure of e-books depends not only on acceptance by users but also on the publishing industry's ability to see beyond traditional business models. The e-book readers are still in early stages of development but the hope is that common industry standards will soon be adopted and the medium will reach its full potential.

Keywords: Electronic Books; Computer Hardware; Computer Software

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1108/00242530410552304