Mike Cane suggested that I put together a checklist of problems that need to be fixed in ebook format handling so those at fault could be made accountable.
So here goes the first entry:
Hey Apple! Fix iBook’s image handling! Because it is totally broken.
When building an ebook with images you have two options today for how to prepare images for iBooks:
None of them will display properly
I’ve never understood why people position Apple and Amazon as rivals in the ebook game. While it’s true that the two have clashed that conflict is a result of incompatible platform goals, not rivalry.
Conflict is not rivalry and two organisations that conflict occasionally may well be allies in the bigger picture where rivals may not.
Let me elucidate…
The Apple/Amazon conflict has presented itself in a variety of ways:
This is not a comment on the recent court ruling on Apple, agency contracts, and price fixing.
But a cursory glance at the history of ebook retail makes one conclusion crystal clear:
Ebook retail is a horrible horrible business to be in.
On one side you have self-destructive madmen like the big publishers who have done the following lovely things to their ebook retail partners:
Abruptly changing all ebook distribution contracts to agency.
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