Future
Of course, the big question will be whether the experience of reading on Blio Reader will be compelling for users and a successful e-book distribution channel for publishers. It is clear that the creators of Blio Reader have emphasized its ability to work on as many multiple platforms and devices as possible. While this is certainly appealing to publishers, it also means that the experience will not be maximally optimized for any one platform or device.
This is a good strategy as long as no single reader has a dominant market share. However, if the iPad or perhaps future Android tablets start to dominate, it could turn out to be be a disadvantage. Thus far, Apple has been welcoming of other digital distributors on the iPad, such as Netflix for movies or Kindle for e-books. Whereas the Apple iBooks app uses the basic ePub format, there is no technological reason Apple (or Android) cannot specify its own proprietary format (as Blio has done) for even more sophisticated enhancement of texts.
This would allow Apple to differentiate the experience of reading on their platform from other platforms. As an example of what this might look like, check out what Apple has demonstrated for its new HTML 5-based iAd advertising platform, which promises a visually stimulating, interactive experience that is only distantly recalls traditional banner ads.
However, cool technology alone will not translate into widespread acceptance unless publishers can be enticed to convert and distribute their enormous back catalogs. This will require a viable business model as well as low-friction workflow for an industry which already functions on narrow margins. Here, it would seem Blio Reader has read the tea leaves right.
Link to Blio Reader
1 2
