A common e-book format will likely be available in Japan as early as April, making content viewable on any reader device.
Sharp Corp. and e-book software developer Voyager Japan Inc. will submit the specifications of their formats free of charge to the Electronic Book Publishers Association of Japan.
The trade organization, consisting of 41 major publishers, will then create a common format by the end of March. The government will provide 150 million yen (US$1.8 million) as a subsidy.
Currently, publishers must pay fees when they convert their e-book content to fit various formats created by reader device manufacturers. This has limited the number of available e-books for each reader device.
Via Resource Shelf
One can only hope that EPUB 3 and this effort will coordinate and collaborate.