1) Let’s start, what is SBF and your role inside?
I founded SBF in June 2006, and today im the CEO. SBF is the “italian ebook company “, from beginning we bet into this new market, sure that – as the facts says – would be born. Our goal is to help editors, authors, readers to make money, everyone for own part, from advantages that digital editor transition make it available.
2) In these last years ebooks are widely spreading on mass market thanks to hardware and software technologies development.
This is because people “requires” it or is technology that “bring” people to it?
Uhm, egg or chicken? Let’s say the technology (mainly two technlogies: digitize contents and deliver them via Internet) brings many advantages that people claim, to enjoy them.
3) Adobe PDF is the most used format about software, what do you think is due this success? What makes it proper for ebook?
ebook market is going to an open standard format of a consortium, called IDPF.org, while the format is the ePUB. The ePUB format has the advantage to be “reflowable”, like HTML, the language for web pages: if zoom in or out the font will automatically resize and fit any kind of page size while the PDF has a blocked page size, and should be a version for every kind of screen, for this reason the ePUB is favourite.
4) Do you think actual hardware (ebook readers) very good or they missing features/can be better?
Both things: reached level is very good to give many advantages vs normal paper books, maintaining reading comfort, ePaper technology is at beginning, and it will improve more.
5) About hardware i cite 2 devices that actually are most common and full featured, Amazon Kindle and the new Apple iPad, how do you judge them?
Amazon Kindle is one of many ePaper readers available on the market, all very good. As like Apple iPad is one of many multi-functional tablet available on the market. The limit of Kindle and iPad consists that are “locked” devices: what i buy on iPad i can read only on iPad, and if i buyed an ebook in another place in many cases it can’t be readable on ipad. This is very bad for consumer people, the market must fix it.
6) A new frontier for ebooks can be considered non ebook readers devices like for example smartphones?
Yes for the purchase (is very easy to buy and download “on the fly” an ebook from mobile devices), less for reading: the small screen for a mobile device isnt the best for long time reading moreover if you are under the sun.
7) If you must talk to a traditional reader, what reasons you list in favor of this technology? What he will benefit?
Having every time own library without weight of paper books, you can make search on text to find what you are looking exactly, they are more cheap than paper ebook, the ePaper technology that allows to read also under full sun like the same comfort of paper books, tablet technology that allows to create (and read) ebooks with also multimedia objects… i must continue? 🙂
8 ) About copyright and piracy… there are good protection countermeasures against unauthorized copy / reproduction / redistribution?
9) The ebooks in a future will substitute traditional books or will continue to “coexist”?
Yes and not: as all combinations of a strongbox, there will be a thief able to open it, if highly motivate. The problem is that protections should not be so invasive for honest people, to discourage the purchase. It has happened to music, that now is selled without many heavily protections.
10) A question that i can’t miss, ebook critics say that they aren’t comparable to the “old good book”, what do you say about?
Everyone has their own fetish 🙂
11) Last question… what you wish for the future of the world of ebooks?
that they will allow a new economic sustainability: they should give credit to the value of new authors, indipendent editors should have more easy chances to find a market, readers should benefit of a more wide catalog and always updated where they can find every title available, finally to stop the waste of paper.
