TextOneZero Digital Book Conference - Press Release

E Ink, Eastman Kodak, xerox PARC, Random House and The Association of American Publishers will debate their strategies at the TextOneZero Digital Book Conference

April 24 2001

New York, NY. Leading executives of new display technologies, book publishing and libraries will convene in Brooklyn on May 22-23 2001 for the most significant digital book strategic forum since the advent of the industry.

TextOneZero (http://www.textonezero.com/events/ny.asp) has brought together seventy principal figures of the digital book industry including Jim Iuliano (President and CEO, E Ink), Patricia Schroeder (President and CEO, The Association of American Publishers), Benoit Muller (Secretary General, The International Publishers Association), Leslie G. Polgar (President and General Manager, Kodak Display, Eastman Kodak Company), Mary Beth Roche (VP and Publishing Director, Random House Audible), Rich Gold (Manager, RED [Research in Experimental Documents], xerox PARC) and Carrie Kania (Associate Publisher, Harper Audio) to discuss their digital book strategies in a period of intense change.

"A key focus at this event will be the emerging flexible display technologies and the enormous impact they will have on the book industry. Innovations such as electronic paper and organic light-emitting diode displays are set to revolutionize almost every aspect of the book industry, from the way books are written to how they are monetized," states Christian Braun of TextOneZero.

The plight of the post-Napster music industry serves as a stark warning to the book industry, and on the "Music Industry Experience" panel this issue will be rigorously scrutinized. Alexander Bard (Co-Founder, Stockholm Records; CEO, Bullgod Entertainment and Member, ‘Army Of Lovers’) predicts, "As always, the music industry had to take the first shocks of a new technology, since a new technology is always first applicable on the production and distribution of music. The text industry, formerly known - but soon to be forgotten - as the publishing industry, should take careful and quick note."

Bard, who will be joined by Richard Gottehrer (Chairman and CEO, The Orchard) and senior executives from Takeoutmusic.com, sputnik7, Maximum Entertainment and RadioValve, continues, "The shocks and even worse aftershocks of Napster and its successors in the world of music are nothing compared to what the text industry will go through in the next decade due to the interactive media revolution."

Alongside the conference, a collection of companies and organizations at the forefront of the digital book industry will be exhibiting their products, services and concepts. These industry-leading exhibitors include The American Association of Publishers, The Electronic Literature Organization, The Electronic Publishers Coalition, Indra Web, Addie Books and Night Kitchen.

About TextOneZero

TextOneZero is a strategic business forum examining issues facing the emerging digital book industry. Incorporating an online information portal (www.textonezero.com) and a series of global conferences, TextOneZero explores New Display Technologies, Digital Publishing and Digital Libraries from the perspectives of leading executives within the industry. TextOneZero is wholly owned by First Conferences, which has researched and organized market-leading conferences since 1990.