INDEX // mb » Indigo Books Mirco E-Content Project http://indexmb.com Ideas on Publishing Books in Canada (and other attempts to write good) Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:35:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Indigo’s eReading Initiative — Shortcovers — is Out in The Open http://indexmb.com/indigos-ereading-initiative-shortcovers-is-out-in-the-open/ http://indexmb.com/indigos-ereading-initiative-shortcovers-is-out-in-the-open/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:24:17 +0000 mb http://indexmb.com/?p=1362 Indigo Books’ digital ebook/ereading initiative — Shortcovers — is being launched at CES2009. It is yet another app-based reading environment for the iPhone/smartphone, with a browser environment thrown in for fun.

From the Shortcovers blog…

Shortcovers is a new digital destination for people to discover and
experience their next great read. Both an online and mobile service, it
gives readers instant access to the newest books, hottest authors, and
most popular magazines and blogs – as well as new content formats and
user-inspired writings such as subway novels and fan fiction. It’s not
just for avid readers, it’s for anyone who wants the convenience of
accessing and reading their favorite content, anytime, anywhere, on the
mobile devices they already own.

I have written extensively about this initiative (1,2,3) already. A couple first reactions.

  • Indigo looks to have built Shortcovers with a special mobile interface. I am very curious to see what the purchase path is like on the mobile (if there is one at all).
  • Indigo looks to have included support for ePub. Hooray. Fingers crossed for all DRM-free. I hope all formats are supported concurrently for every book.
  • Indigo should be able to integrate Shortcovers into their site relatively easily — I may get my ebook store after all.
  • Indigo is launching in the US first with no associated Indigo branding (good for them and good luck to them rising above the CES noise).
  • Indigo has 10 times the resources of Lexcycle — the leader in the iphone space with their Stanza app. They will need it.
  • Indigo has the relationships with the publishers that Scrollmotion doesn’t have. It is a race for the best content now.
  • This is the second side project that Indigo has launched on the web that they haven’t SEO’d (no meta-tags or meta description in the shortcovers page source). Still early yet though.

In the embedded video, Michael Serbinis (the CTO at Indigo Books & Music) explains the concept first hand. Watch for the questions about his reading habits…

follow @shortcovers on twitter
(other mentions)

]]> http://indexmb.com/indigos-ereading-initiative-shortcovers-is-out-in-the-open/feed/ 6 Mobile Culture: Interface is Everything http://indexmb.com/mobile-culture-interface-is-everything/ http://indexmb.com/mobile-culture-interface-is-everything/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:57:02 +0000 mb http://indexmb.com/?p=1081 The iTunes “Pick of The Week” program has finally appeared in Canadian Starbucks stores. I first saw the download cards at the counter of a US Starbucks this past summer. The pick that week was Carly Simon. I didn’t rush home to download it. Today I saw that Meaghan Smith was being featured in the Canadian store. Before today I hadn’t heard of her but I didn’t have to wait long to check her stuff out. I downloaded I Know using my iPhone before the barista pulled the espresso. The mobile iTunes interface made this idiot proof.

That got me wondering if Indigo is going to include a custom interface for their mobile content project. If they use the same design for the mobile and the desktop interface then the project will be dead to me. If I had to use the standard iTunes page today I wouldn’t have bothered.

I want to point to two posts on interface design that I have read recently — both concern digital editions on the desktop. Kat Tannock at Magazines Online is less than thrilled with digital editions. Adam Hodgkin at Exact Editions is happy with them. Hopefully the coming innovation in mobile web interfaces (see embed) will improve desktop and mobile ereading, browsing, and buying alike.


Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

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