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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Asia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Consortium to push Japan e-books
By Staff
Monday, September 22 2003 06:01 AM URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,39150881,00.htm A consortium will be formed in Japan to promote the use of electronic books (e-book) and related display devices, reported Nikkei Electronics News. The alliance--dubbed the Electric Book Business Consortium--will consist of nineteen electronics companies, publishing houses and other firms, including electronics giants Toshiba, Matsushita and Kenwood will be formed Oct. 1. The group aims to encourage widespread use of e-book devices to read, and will devise specific methods to sell e-book content at bookstores, said the report. Users can choose to download e-book content from the Internet or from download terminals to their secure digital memory cards, and later transfer the data to their e-book devices at home, a Matsushita official said in the report. Terminals are expected to be installed at bookstores across Japan. "People at inconveniently situated locations would be able to read the books they desire to read," cartoonist and adviser to the consortium Machiko Satonaka said in the report. In April this year, Matsushita released the Sigma Book, a low-cost e-book for that can last up to six months on two AA-size batteries. The A4-sized, 29 cm by 20 cm by 1.3 cm device opens to reveal two 7.2 inch, 1024 by 768 pixel-displays that are seen side-by-side. It weighs about half a kilogram. The unit retains the image on the display even when it is turned off, and the storage media is SD (Secure Digital) card. Developing countries such as China are expected to be the target market, and the e-book will cost US$250 when launched later this year. |