electronic book

In computing, software with or without specialized hardware that provides the equivalent of a book's worth of information. The term is used generally to apply even to simple text files created by scanning printed books or manuals such as those created and archived by Project Gutenberg.

In 1998, US company NuvoMedia launched a handheld reader for electronic books, which could store about ten novels. This was followed by a similar device from SoftBook Press. To avoid a standards war, these companies, many leading publishers, Microsoft, Adobe, and others formed a working party to develop an Open eBook standard.

Three main standards for electronic books have established themselves: Microsoft's Reader, Adobe's Acrobat e-Book Reader (based on work done by the US company Glassbook, which was taken over by Adobe in 2000), and a reader for the Palm computer. Dedicated electronic book readers have been largely replaced by reader software in Palm and PocketPC personal digital assistants, as well as in the new tablet PCs.

Sales of electronic books have grown at about 20% each year since 2000. Sony launched the ‘Reader’ in 2006, an electronic device about the size of a paperback book and with a high-contrast screen, that is dedicated to displaying electronic books.