Microsoft, Donnelley sign e-books deal
Published: 05 Nov 1999 11:26 GMT
Microsoft has formed a partnership with large commercial printer R.R. Donnelley that could expand the list of e-books into the tens of thousands.
The companies said Thursday that Donnelley would license Microsoft's reader software, and use it to begin converting titles into the electronic book format.
Donnelley said it would work with both its publisher and bookstore partners to convert titles and sell them, but no agreements were announced. Donnelley's clients include publishers of school texts, catalogues and telephone directories.
Donnelley Vice President Mark Bayer said in a release that the deal would solve the "chicken-and-egg problem," by dramatically increasing the number of titles available to e-book users.
"Publishers have been reluctant to put their content into electronic format, because there haven't been many e-book readers out there," he said. "On the other hand, e-book readers, who have been few in numbers to date, have not been able to turn to a great store of content."
Microsoft and Donnelley were both backers of the Open eBook standard, which would allow electronic books to be read by multiple readers.
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