MediaBook- Creative Intros eBook+ For Singapore Market
Creative’s always done a “side project”. Over the company’s history, they’ve done some projects that never fanned out very well: digital video cams, video cards, wireless cards, PC components, and internet telephony devices. This seems like it could be a more successful venture, and it’s the ‘in’ thing for 2009. It appears to be an e-book reader.
But according to epiZENter, it’s far more. According to the depiction kingone put up, it seems to resemble a Nokia Internet Tablet powered by the company’s oracle: the Zii. Yup, that’s right. The first official consumer device with the Zii will be a handheld, internet-enabled, touchscreen device with support for pictures, text and video. Certainly Amazon, Sony, and Barnes and Noble have their devices that can do the first two, but the latter will be an interesting step forward for the market.
Perhaps more exciting as a Creative fan is the publishing support- epiZENter reports that the MediaBook and Creative are in talks with a major Singaporean content provider, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to supply the new tablet with text, video, audio, and photos.
It is notable, however, that the MediaBook appears to be aimed at the Singapore educational market first. Creative is teaming up with SPH and ST Electronics to create the “FutureBook”, a Singaporean government initiative to create the interactive book of the future. Inside the press release is the statistics, which notably includes the educational market, which is where I think it will be launched first. By teaming up with the Singapore government, it allows the company to fund much of the production. It’s similar to how the US defense industry works- the government gives money to Lockheed Martin (or similar) to build new fighter jets. The government will still end up paying for the jet, but the company can also sell to other partners- Canada, UK, Germany, etc. I think the MediaBook could be similar. First for research and the SG government, but then it will open up to the general public. What do you guys think?
FutureBooks partner network
The convergence of media has resulted in many opportunities in the digital market.
Today, people want to get information on the go, be it through their mobile phone,
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or in more recent years, e-book readers like
Amazon’s Kindle. There is opportunity in this emerging sub-sector for Singapore
companies to be part of the value chain. To spur the development, delivery and managing of innovative applications and content on the e-book platform, a FutureBooks partner network championed by major
industry players such as Creative Technology and SPH together with other key
industry members such as Personal e-Motion (PEM), Singapore Centre for Chinese
Language (SCCL), Popular e-Learning Holdings, Times Publishing Group and
Pearson Education has been established. Together with MDA, the partner network
invites companies with innovative ideas for applications, services and business
models, to leverage on the technology, global distribution network as well as
educational content offered by the partner network members.Successful proposals will be able to leverage on the wide reach offered by the
combined partner network. This includes more than 12.7 million news readers globally,
500 language teachers from 475 schools in Singapore and across the Southeast Asia
region, more than 350,000 Popular members with retail presence in 117 stores in
Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and markets in more than seven countries in
Asia, including China.Mr Willie Png, Vice President, Creative Technology said: “With the advent of the
Internet, the global scenario for learning is fast changing. New innovative technologies
play key roles in defining the future of learning which calls for new ways to create,
deliver and consume content. Always at the forefront of innovation, Ceative offers an
open platform that enable industry players to provide services and develop
applications and devices for the world of future learning.MDA also hopes that the FutureBooks initiative will draw synergy from the Media in
Learning initiative announced recently by generating innovative applications with
Learning-related content to reach a wider global audience.
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DoctorPsi
