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Mobipocket Reader faces unlikely future - and will leave a vacuum

24 replies · 8,080 views · Started 28 April 2009

There's a nice piece by Chris Meadows here talking about the future for Mobipocket and its previously ubiquitous ebook reader software, now that Amazon have not only bought Mobipocket but are competing against it vigorously with its own Kindle hardware and software. In fact, it's looking increasingly as if Amazon bought Mobipocket simply to put paid to a competitor. Yet there's nothing else decent to fill the vacuum on S60 and Symbian. Read on for some thoughts and links.

Read on in the full article.

How many people actually use ebooks though? Lots talk about it but how many people have read a novel on their pocket devices? How many have read more than five novels?

I've never seen anyone in public staring at their phones for long periods of time, so I can't have seen anyone reading an ebook.

The much hyped eInk-equipped Kindle apparently has sold less than one million units since it launched. That's pretty much the same rate of sales as the original gen N-Gage.

Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) seems not to read that many physical books, or at least doesn't remember them if he does:

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/43/bezos.html

What are your three favorite books?

My favorite novel is The Remains of the Day. My favorite business book is Built to Last. Let's see ... three books.

Well, my favorite movie is Dr. Strangelove. I'm a huge Peter Sellers fan. And I think Mike Myers is the new Peter Sellers. I think he's fantastic.

There is Bookworm (bookworm.oreilly.com). It's a web service and it renders nicely the books and articles I have there on my N96. I do hope some aspiring developer come out with a standalone (epub) reader for S60 & S40.

I have read many novels (>100) on my pocket devices, (Psions, Palms and lately SE UIQ3 phones). Mobipocket is currently my most used ebook software but the 'prc' file format is not a standard format for all readers.

Same here. Have read many novels, magazines etc over the years on various Symbian devices (currently N95). Find it perfect for commuting on the London Underground.

I have read many ebooks on a variety of devices including Psion, Palm, Pocket PC, N95, and now iPhone using the fabulous Stanza software.

I have hope that the developers of Stanza might release an S60 5th version if the N97 really takes off sells in big numbers. Unfortunately its more likely that this will be one of an increasing number of categories of software where Apple's more "computing platform" focussed approach will attract the lion's share of the development community.

It might be true that many users don't read ebooks on their mobile phones.

I'm one of them who does but I never read while on the go as the screen is a bit too small for my taste (and humpy roads when sitting on the bus).
That said most of my ebooks are in the pdf or chm format and I therefore often use the pdf reader more than mobipocket.

However I've found many great books in the prc format which Mobipocket takes and many of them are of great enjoyment value.

My favourite ebook reader was Cerience's Repligo for Palm, which rendered HTML and PDF splendidly. Unfortunately Cerience has gone Blackberry-only and ditched the Symbian version they told me they were working on. Is there some global conspiracy to shut down ebook readers? Surely we don't have to buy those ghastly Apple things?

Surely that's an app that's crying out to be implemented in Java. It doesn't need access to a smartphone's cleverer functionality, and doing it in Java would open it up to the two billion midp-capable phones around the world.

I read on my E90 all the time. I normally carry about 5 to 10 ebooks on my memory card. Same thing with .pdf files. It's a pleasure to read on the E90 because of its' large screen. It would be sad to see Mobipocket diasappear.

The beauty of ebooks on my phone is that I can quickly read a few pages and paragraphs whenever I have a few minutes to spare without having to carry a physical book. I can read, stop and then pick up where I left off without much hassle.

I do four things on my E90 most: voice, sms/email, browsing and ebook reading.

Looked at another way, surely an ebook reader isn't difficult to program? All it does is display a text file, bookmark where you were, search for particular strings, show how many pages are left etc.

I'm amazed Nokia's done an official audiobook app and podcast app but no ebook app... wouldn't ebooks be the easiest starting point?

I first used mobipocket on a Series 5, and it has been with me on EPOC, Windows Mobile and Symbian for years. I've read dozens of novels, mostly from Project Gutenberg, since then. I'd be very sorry to see mobipocket disappear.

Being the eternal optimist, though, perhaps amazon are going to use it as the basis for a Symbian version of Kindle?

I did receive this email recently from ereader (Fictionwise, B&N, etc.)...

Hi,

Sorry, right now we do not support this phone.

We are working on a version of our eReader reading software for this platform (Symbian OS 9.4 + S60 platform 5th Edition), however, we do not have an exact release date at this time.

Best Regards,

Ted
eReader.com Support Team

However, I probably should point out that I received this on April 1st. 🙄

Tzer2, you're right, I think the reader is simple and I'm sure I could knock up one in Python easily enough, already done a text editor so I would just have to add something to remember the last position and the un-packing algoritm. I think the hard part is the PC-side converter - Mobipocket's was ok but mashed up PDFs. Repligo was great, and it worked a treat on Palm and S60 2nd. I might have a go at something - perhaps use a zipped plain text format for a start.

Let's not forget that iSilo is still around and in active development. Out of all the readers out there, iSilo seems to have the greatest platform coverage.

I could see Amazon letting Mobipocket die unless they wanted to extend their reach into other mobile phone platforms. The fact that the iPhone Amazon app stays in sync with where you are in the Kindle almost makes me want to drop my S60 and Sony eReader combo in favor of that. If they offered the same service for other platforms, I might look at the Kindle more seriously.

Thanks for the heads-up on Shortcovers, they have an S60 app in the works.

xerxes wrote:I have read many ebooks on a variety of devices including Psion, Palm, Pocket PC, N95, and now iPhone using the fabulous Stanza software.

I have hope that the developers of Stanza might release an S60 5th version if the N97 really takes off sells in big numbers. Unfortunately its more likely that this will be one of an increasing number of categories of software where Apple's more "computing platform" focussed approach will attract the lion's share of the development community.

Lexcycle, publisher of Stanza, was acquired by Amazon on Monday, so there is a big risk that it will focus on being Amazon's gateway to selling Kindle content to iPhone users. 😞

See The Register coverage here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/28/amazon_buys_lexcycle/

readme wrote:Let's not forget that iSilo is still around and in active development. Out of all the readers out there, iSilo seems to have the greatest platform coverage.

Yes, I am relying on iSilo since early Palm days. Though a 5th Ed. version is still missing, while they brought iSilo for the iPhone and a beta for Android, I am still confident that there will be iSilo for 5th Ed. soon.

check this out: www.ebook.com
these guys have a great app, plenty of free eBooks and previews for DRM titles with multimedia and embedded video!
I can't believe that I missed this!
Bluey,

Ever since I stumbled upon this software, I've ditched physical books. Reading on mobile is convenient and portable. I've read dozens of books on mobile. Mobipocket reader along with the converter is a great package. I always have around 2 dozen books on my mobile. I cannot move to S60 5th edition unless it has a reader software.. And I prefer mobipocket reader because of the converter. Hopefully Mobipocket will come out of it's reverie and update the reader to 5th edition. Can't we do anything about it? Write a letter to the developers, sign a petition etc. I really like mobipocket reader and I'm a bookworm.

Well, here you go. A freeware ebook reader for S60 5th, with txt support, basic FB2 support (use Any2FB for conversion from the usual batch of formats). Developed by a lone hobby programmer somewhere in Russia. Mad props to the guy: http://zxstyles.allnokia.ru/index.php

The site is in Russian, but it should be relatively easy to understand. The software come with an english interface by default.

I frequently read fiction on my E90. As others have said the wide internal screen makes it a brilliant eBook reading device. And also as others have said, I much prefer reading on the E90 to reading a physical book.

Mobipocket do a pretty good job (although my aging eyes would like the option for a slightly larger font, just because the E90's internal screen insists on using a smaller font than the external one, which always struck me as odd).

Anyway, I have the background set to yellow with black text, which gives me the best setup for bedtime reading with the light off - clear display but without bright glare.

I like MobiPocket's slim progress bar at the bottom of the screen. I like the fact that I can choose my font and font size, text and background colour. I like the fact that I can use the space bar to "turn the page" (it's the most comformable key to use - much better than the D-pad). Lots of things about MobiPocket Reader just work well for reading a book. I also like the fact that I can make notes (albeit only by synching changes made on the PC end) about my books (give them ratings, write my own precis, make notes about what other books are in the same series, and in what order, etc.). For me, an eBook reader needs all these features, and others I probably haven't remembered.

Features I'd like to see on a S60-based app - whatever it's written in (i.e. not needing sync with a PC): the ability to add my own comments, rating, etc.; Library views showing both title and author (unlike a real book, you don't get a reminder of what you're reading every time you pick up the "book"😉 - Mobipocket gives you the option to open in library view (with the current book selected), but only shows the title, not the author). I read a lot, but often forget what / who I'm in the middle of reading. Maybe it's just me ...; the ability to categorise / tag / label books in whatever combination I choose, and view/filter the "library" by tag / label / category as well as by whatever built-in tag (such as genre) that the book is given by the publisher. It appears that if you change device, you also have to re-download secure (DRMed) MobiPocket format books, so it would be useful to keep a note of where you purchased too!

One particular book I read prompted me to look for more in the series, and I discovered that the next book was only available in eReader format (and later ones in no e-format at all), so I bought that, and installed eReader. It was awful. A lot of the formatting was poor on the internal screen (I don't even ever attempt to e-read on the external screen), with italics in particular not being rendered in the correct font size, and disappearing off the screen. It frequently seemed to "forget" part of my settings, so it would remember my font size, but forget how that related to page size, so turning the page would skip a couple of paragraphs. There was a poor (read uncomfortable) choice of keys for page turning so that I reverted to automatic scrolling which I don't much like, no option for scrolling part of a page, and numerous other annoying things I can't even remember. From now on, no matter how good the book, I won't buy it if the only option is eReader format ... unless I can find a better app that supports that format.

It may be "simple" to write a e-reading app, but there are still a lot of things that you can get right or wrong in the process that make a big difference to whether it's a pleasure or a battle to use it.

Then, I'd just like to see a much wider availability of up-to-date e-books! Bring on the latest Pratchett, etc.

Julie