--- title: "eBooks on Mobile Phones" date: 2004-12-12 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2004" url: "/tag/2004.md" --- # eBooks on Mobile Phones Russell Beattie’s just released a service [called Mobdex](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008199.html), which serves up eBooks onto mobile phones. I had the pleasure of getting a sneak preview of Mobdex near the end of September, after Russ spotted [a post about the Mobile Web](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002267.php) on my blog and emailed me. So I’ve been waiting for him to release it to the public, so I can talk about it 😉 Mobdex is a service that takes “600+ Public Domain eBooks from Project Gutenberg” and re-formats them to be viewed in a WAP browser on a mobile phone. One of the reasons Russ’ project interested me is because I’ve been reading [predictions ](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2692) that Smartphone usage for eBooks will increase, while PDAs will decline. So the Mobdex service has a lot of potential, if you believe those predictions. Personally I’m not so bullish on smartphones as the future for eBooks, but I don’t deny that they will become increasingly important for the industry. I just wonder if I really want my eBook reading appliance to be integrated with my mobile phone (I wonder the same thing about my music listening appliance). ## Per Paragraph Hyperlinks One thing that wasn’t in the demo Russ showed me a couple of months ago, that he’s just now added, is paragraph-level hyperlinks for books. Excellent! This is something [I discussed with Tim O’Reilly](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002454.php) a few weeks ago. Here’s how [Russ describes it](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008199.html): “One of the ideas I liked was per paragraph permalinks so that people can discuss books and sections in their weblogs. So I added that in tonight by ripping off some JavaScript from Simon Willison and there you have it. Books online with permalinks.” Very cool. In my interview with Tim, I talked about this sort of functionality enabling a “social networking experience”. For example – I’m currently in the middle of reading Tom Wolfe’s new novel, [I am Charlotte Simmons](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374281580/readwriteweb-20?dev-t=mason-wrapper%26camp=2025%26link_code=xm2). Imagine if I blogged my thoughts on it while I was reading it, with the ability to quote extracts and link directly to those extracts. With the likes of Google and Feedster indexing my posts as I go, it’s possible that a discussion about the book would ensue and I can swap notes and opinions with other people – all while in the middle of reading the book. That’s the sort of thing I mean by a “social networking experience” for eBooks. ## Postscript: Networking above my station On the subject of emails from bloggers more famous than I… yesterday I was thrilled to receive an email from [Jonathan Schwartz](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan), in response to [a recent post](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045256/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002486.php) I wrote that quoted him. How cool is that! I mean how else would a geeky wannabe writer from New Zealand get a chance to network with the COO of Sun or the CEO of O’Reilly Media, other than via blogging? I love the Web. *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002552.php))*