Japan's Sharp to start e-books business in December

Tokyo, JAPAN : A model displays an 5.5-inch size electronic tablet from Japanese electronics maker Sharp called the "Galapagos" during a preview in Tokyo on September 27, 2010. The new e-book player, based on Google's Android OS and can display XMDF formatted rich content, such as video images. Sharp will start the e-book service from December. AFP PHOTO / Yoshikazu TSUNO

Japan's Sharp Corp. said Monday it will launch an e-bookstore service in December with two new "Galapagos" tablet readers, with the service set to expand to movies, games and music early next year.
  
       Sharp's new brand represents a shift for the company from conventional one-off sales of stand-alone products to devices that will continue to "evolve" through periodic software updates, it said.
  
       It will offer a mobile device with a 5.5-inch LCD screen and a trackball for one-handed operation, as well as a device aimed at the home user with a 10.8-inch screen on which magazines can be read across a two-page spread.
  
       In doing so, Sharp will enter an increasingly crowded market looking to exploit the popularity of gadgets such as Apple's iPad and the iBooks store and Amazon's Kindle range of e-readers.
  
       Rival Sony has announced a similar e-book plan jointly with telecoms operator KDDI, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper company and the Toppan printing company. Top mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo has teamed up with Dai Nippon Printing.
  

Digital-content industry on the boil

Local information-technology companies have gathered together to set up the Digital Content Association of Thailand, with the aim of generating income from international markets for locally produced digital content.

The new organisation's president, Wiwat Wongwarawipat, said the association aimed to attract membership from local digital-content producers who were interested in creating material of international standard and serving global markets.

He said digital content could be divided into four areas: games, movies, music and e-books. The digital-content market is in the throes of dynamic change and crucial growth, following widespread access to new technology and changing customer-behaviour patterns, in which they are now actively accessing and using information from digital networks.

"I think there is a big opportunity for Thai digital-content producers to promote their products and provide digital content to global markets, because local producers have various strong points, such as quality and imagination, that will allow then to meet market demand," Wiwat said.