Sharp Corp. to 'Contribute to Expand the E-book Market'

Sharp Corp. announced that it has developed XMDF, a next-generation e-book format with advanced features such as video and audio content. With this new technology, Sharp said that within this year it will provide a digital platform to promote e-book distribution services and launch compatible e-book reader devices. Various publishing houses, and printing and agent companies in Japan and other countries will support Sharp in launching its e-book business, according to the company.

A press release issued by Sharp last week stated that its next-generation XMDF is an advanced version of the current XMDF format, which is currently used in e-books distributed in Japan. "The next-generation XMDF enables easy viewing of digital contents including video and audio, and allows automatic adjustment of the layout to match and meet publishers’ needs," the press release stated. "With this digital platform, Sharp plans to enhance users’ e-book lifestyle with more sophisticated user-interface technology, and at the same time will contribute to expand the e-book market. XMDF allows users to browse the same content on multiple terminals including smart phones, PCs and TVs and also streamlines publisher’s e-book contents production."