The recent discussion of ebooks caused me to refresh my memory about GMST's activity in this area. I went back to the annual report
freeedgar.com
and here are some excerpts:
Page 1
In January 2000, Gemstar announced its plan to enter the electronic book
("eBook") publishing business through the acquisition of the two leading eBook
companies NuvoMedia(R), Inc., the maker of the Rocket eBook(R), and SoftBook
Press, Inc. maker of the SoftBook(R) Reader. The electronic book publishing
business, another application of Gemstar's strategy of developing, marketing
and licensing proprietary technologies, supports the Company's strategy to
enhance consumer interactivity with electronic products and provide electronic
enhancements for traditional consumer activities. This business opportunity
will permit Gemstar to create a pre-eminent platform for the distribution and
sale, in a secure and protected distribution environment, of electronically
based reading material, using consumer-friendly state-of-the-art reading
devices, offering a broad range of books, magazines, newspapers and other
materials.
Page 3
In March 2000, the Company entered into a long-term strategic agreement with
Thomson Multimedia to jointly pursue the eBook market worldwide. Under the
agreement, Thomson will license eBook technology from the Company, and commit
to a multi-year product shipment plan aimed at placing tens of millions of
eBook devices into consumers' hands. The Company will operate a secure
distribution system for the sale and delivery of eBook content to consumers,
and Thomson will receive a share of the revenues derived from the sale of this
content. Currently, the Company's two eBook devices receive retail
distribution through their respective web sites and through the web sites of
certain Internet booksellers. The new strategic alliance with Thomson will
greatly expand the distribution channels for the eBook readers so that
consumers will be able to additionally purchase eBook readers in the thousands
of familiar consumer electronics outlets that support the RCA, Proscan and GE
brands. In addition to traditional publishing, the Company's eBook strategy
also includes working with additional strategic partners to expand existing
eBook services and functions and to pursue such opportunities as publishing
electronic magazines, full-color catalogs, reference books, textbooks and
technical publications.
page 6
License Broadly to Create De Facto Standards. As noted, the Company's
strategy is to establish its technologies and systems as industry
standards. Accordingly, the Company strives to broadly license its
technologies non-exclusively within targeted industry groups. For example,
VCR Plus+, widely accepted as a de facto industry standard, is licensed to
virtually every major VCR manufacturer. Similarly, NuvoMedia and SoftBook
Press, acquired early this year by Gemstar, have developed an open standard
that establishes encryption and other standards to which members of the
industry can design.
(But no licensees are listed for ebook technology other than Thomson; compare to the long list of licensees of the IPG) |
