Software publisher Adobe Systems made a surprise move Wednesday to revive the faltering e-book market, opening its own online store.
The Adobe Digital Media Store offers books from major publishers such as HarperCollins Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Random House, plus links to electronic versions of publications such as Popular Science and The New York Times. All are published in Adobe"s Portable Document Format (PDF), the company"s widespread standard for the electronic presentation and exchange of documents.
James Heeger, Adobe senior vice president, said in a statement that since PDF is the dominant format for e-books, it makes sense for Adobe to consolidate available content. "The Adobe Digital Media Store showcases the huge amount of compelling content now available in Adobe PDF format and provides publishers and producers of digital content with a vital, innovative new distribution channel, through Adobe Reader," he said.