| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Paris |
| Key people | Thierry Brethes, Founder; Nathalie Ting, Founder; Martin Görner, CEO |
| Products | Mobipocket Reader |
| Website | http://www.mobipocket.com/ |
Mobipocket SA is a French company incorporated in March 2000 which produces Mobipocket Reader software, an E-Book reader for some PDAs, phones and desktop operating systems.
The Mobipocket software package is free and consists of various publishing and reading tools for PDA, Smartphones, cellular phones and e-book devices (Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, webOS, Java ME, BlackBerry, Psion, Kindle and iLiad).
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Mobipocket.com was bought by Amazon.com in 2005.[1] Amazon's acquisition was believed to be a result of Adobe Systems's announcement that it would no longer sell its eBook packaging and serving software.[2]
An alpha release of the java-based version of the mobipocket reader was made available for cellphones on June 30, 2008.[3] There is also a reader for desktop computers running Microsoft Windows, which also works with computers running Mac OS X and Linux using WINE.[4]
The software provides:
Depending on the device, different functions are available. Those are usually managing of books and their metadata, assigning books to arbitrary categories, auto-scroll, rotate by 90°/180°, bookmarks, custom hyperlinks within one or between different documents, highlighting, comments and by sketches. When transferring documents to other device types, functions that are not supported on the device will be ignored but the information one is reading will not be altered or deleted.
There is a reader for personal computers that works with either encrypted or unencrypted Mobipocket books.
Unencrypted Mobipocket books can be read on the Amazon Kindle natively as well as in Amazon Kindle apps on Mac OS X, the iPhone, Android devices, Windows, and Windows Phone devices. By using third-party programs such as Lexcycle Stanza, calibre or Okular, unencrypted Mobipocket books can also be read on Mac OS X, the iPhone, Android devices and Linux.
A user can thus create documents in the Mobipocket-format (.PRC)[5] and use personal comments, bookmarks and so on on all devices supporting those features. Additionally, Amazon offers a free program called KindleGen which can convert or create documents in the Mobipocket format[6]
There is no way to print or export the text itself nor the personalized additions without manually selecting, copying and pasting them piece by piece. According to Mobipocket support a print function will be released soon; an export feature is planned but not yet in an advanced stage as consultation with publishers continues.
Despite desperate pleas[7] from owners of Android based mobile phones, Mobipocket has not released a version for the Android platform. This is despite the web site claiming "you can read it on your desktop or to send it to any mobile device".[8] Some users suggest that this is due to the new owners, Amazon, wishing to maximise sales of their Kindle e-book reader and suggest that the Mobipocket format and software are dying from intentional neglect.[9] Owners of Android devices can download the Kindle app from the App store,[10] which can read .mobi files.
Long term plans for the Mobipocket platform are in question in the wake of Amazon's announcement of the Kindle Format 8,[11] which moves in the direction of HTML5 and CSS3.
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