Clickshare's chief executive officer, James B. Shaffer, is forecasting a dim future for the current e-book publishing business. Speaking at the E-Book 2000 Conference in Washington, D.C., Shaffer said e-books stand a good chance of failing in the marketplace because "books" by definition are static. And, aside from a novel way of presenting their content, books adapted to the new media offer little advantage over the current way of delivering written material to the reader.

"Traditional books," which Shaffer described as "made up of flattened dead trees... still have a long life ahead of them."

E-books are a misnomer, he says. Instead, the devices should be given a new name, and should be viewed by publishers as part of an entirely new business, "dynamic reader services."

And it's these devices, according to Shaffer, that hold great promise for content providers who exploit the interactivity of the Internet and the many manifestations of computers, from desktops to portables to palm-top devices and the newer glass-plus-electronics.

"That's what's new: the ability to send information in two directions," said Shaffer, predicting that a new medium -- different from newspapers, books, radio and television  is on the horizon.

"What the medium should be called is beyond me, but what it provides is dynamic reader services. We have a great opportunity to make the next leap forward in the way we package and market information," Shaffer said. "However, if we let all the limitations of flattened-out dead trees carry over to the production and marketing of content, whether it's informational, educational, or entertainment-related, then I think we will be very disappointed. I think the e-book has a very limited future."

Shaffer added that as soon as publishers enable readers to "liberate themselves from tree-books," dynamic reader services will thrive.

"We're talking revolution here. A new industry. Not an old one adapted. We need to liberate our marketing vision beyond tree books to a dynamic business, a service business, a business focused on readers and what they do with information," Shaffer said.

LATEST NEWS

Microsoft's Dynamics ERP to Gain New Services
Barnes & Noble's e-Reader Nook Sold Out Already
Memory Market Due for Big Shift in 2010
Microsoft: No 'Back Door' in Windows 7
Tech's H-1B Hiring Faces 'Employ America Act'

For a cookbook or a typical novel, traditional media like printed books will continue to thrive.

"But today, we see authors in chatrooms and on call-in television shows. Why not hyperlink to their web sites right from their product? The e-book is a baby step in that direction, but we need giant leaps in order for this market to grow. And grow it will," Shaffer said.

Shaffer explained Clickshare's mission as facilitating one-click sharing of digital content and users among content owners and other "infomediaries."

"What we do, that no one else does, is enable 'behind-the-scenes' wholesale/retail and other value-added relationships in digital content marketing," said Shaffer.

The Clickshare service includes payment aggregation, audience measurement, site-access control, personalization and privacy-protected demographic management. It provides portals and other proprietors with built-in customer bases, such as Internet service providers, wireless carriers, banks, and affinity groups with a way to strengthen and monetize their bond with customers. Clickshare offers consumers a way to have an account at one web site, yet buy content from many other web sites -- without having to pass around a credit card number, fill out forms or give up personal information.

Clickshare has alliances with Advanced Publishing Technology, Red Hat Software Inc., Hagadone Newspapers, Comtex News Corp. and Tristar Technologies (Proprietary) Ltd. of South Africa. In the last year, Clickshare has tested the sale of information provided by The Associated Press, PR Newswire, Business Wire, Xinhua, Itar-Tass, M2 Communications, U.S. Newswire, and The Sports Network. Clickshare has also demonstrated the sale of digital content over cellular phones.