Chamber Four

Click on the "Find Out More" button at PlasticLogic.com

Amidst all the kerfuffle over the Kindle 2.0, Plastic Logic’s announcements today have been relatively overlooked by most blogs (TeleRead being the notable exception).

The biggest news was the variety of formats the Plastic Logic ereader will support, including ePub, PDF, and “Adobe DRM/eBook support,” which I think, and hope, means that Plastic Logic ereaders will be able to borrow library books. The device will also support the usual suspects like .rtf and .txt, and eReader format, which might take the wind of the eSlick’s sails.

In addition, Plastic Logic announced a “Publishers’ Program,” which will allow third parties to distribute ebooks directly through Plastic Logic, instead of dealing with either paper publishing houses who botch ebook distribution, or sites like Smashwords, which are just digitized self-publishers.

This platform opens the door for small presses to circumvent the models of Luddite publishers like Random House, and release cheap ebooks without paper press overhead. Hopefully, it will also spark some drive in those Luddite publishers to get on the ebook wagon and agressively push the development of ebooks and ereaders, which will get us closer to the Great eReader Adoption.

Plastic Logic seems to be aiming for a primarily business-oriented market, with its emphasis on business content, and paper-sheet, 8.5″ by 11″ form factor. Hopefully they’ll branch out to incorporate more casual users also, as, from the looks of this video, they seem to have balanced a good contrast ratio and a touchscreen interface, a combination which has so far eluded Amazon and Sony.

TeleRead is also reporting that Plastic Logic will have wireless, which, if it’s open wireless, will be a huge step in the right direction for the epublishing industry.

I said yesterday that I was more excited about this than the new Kindle. Plastic Logic has indeed delivered the more ground-breaking news, and the better news for the future of the epublishing industry. Upstage successful.