Industry Leaders Create Electronic Book Newsstand Association (EBNA)
GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers read more newspapers,
magazines and catalogs each year than they do books. For that reason,
publishers of newspapers, magazines, trade journals, catalogs, newsletters and
other information providers today founded the Electronic Book Newsstand
Association (http://www.ebna.org). And, in an unusual collaboration between
content providers and hardware/software suppliers, they are being joined in
EBNA by universities as well as manufacturers of Electronic Books, Personal
Digital Assistants and E-Papers.
EBNA was created to raise publishers' and consumer awareness of e-reader
devices as platforms for distributing news and information. The organization
also plans to facilitate the flow of such content, provide technical research,
advice and insights, and represent periodical publishers in the E-Book, PDA
and E-Paper industries.
As documented by a recent communications industry survey, the average
American consumer spent 154 hours during 2000 reading newspapers and 80 hours
reading magazines. He or she also spent 96 hours reading books.
"Consumers will use e-readers even more if those devices contain the
content that people most frequently read," said Vin Crosbie, president of
Digital Deliverance, LLC, and acting Chairman of EBNA. "Moreover, e-reader
devices are unique in that they provide many of the combined advantages of Web
sites and traditional print."
Other founding Board members of EBNA spoke out about the need for
periodicals to play a lead role in the development of E-book technology and
marketing.
"We expect these devices to become the dominant platform for periodical
publishing throughout the 21st Century," said Matthew Benner, Digital Book
Group Director of Technology for Barnes & Noble.com.
"The fact that newspapers and periodicals can be carried anywhere is key
to their success. Their future is inescapably linked to mobile digital
reading devices," said Norbert Specker, president of Catchup Communications AG
of Zurich, Switzerland, and Victoria, B.C., and founder of the Interactive
Publishing Europe Conferences.
"EBNA will help ease the way for publications' entry into E-books," he
added.
The first EBNA members' meeting will be on February 22nd in Dallas, during
a major conference on interactive publishing.
Other founding members of EBNA and their organizations include: William
Adler, The Reader's Digest Association; David E. Carlson, Interactive Media
Lab at the University of Florida and American Journalism Review; Roger Fidler,
Institute for Cyber Information at Kent State University and Future of Print
Media Journal; Danny Meadows-Klue, former Publisher, The Electronic Telegraph,
London; Steve Outing, Content Exchange and Interactive Publishing Columnist,
Editor & Publisher; Tom Regan, The Christian Science Monitor Electronic
Edition; Jay Small, Thomson Multimedia, and Steve Yelvington, Morris Digital
Works.
For information, contact Vin Crosbie, chairman@ebna.org , 203-863-9405,
and please visit http://www.ebna.org .
SOURCE Electronic Book Newsstand Association
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Related links:
http://www.ebna.org
CONTACT:
Vin Crosbie, acting Chairman of Electronic
Book Newsstand Association, 203-863-9405, or chairman@ebna.org
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