It seems that the e-book industry is getting a much-needed rejuvenation. The industry has sufferred from a slow and long take-off and when it finally did, it was marred by different consumer and reader issues, to getting content from one device to another, and its issue with digital rights management (DRM).

But a good news for those who are willing to deviate from the traditional way of reading books.  A new ebook standard has been adopted, and many major ebook and publishing players are backing it. The new standard, called IDPF (International Digital Puslihing Forum) is based on the OEBPS (Open ebook Publication Structure), an XML-based ebook format. Companies such as Mobipocket, Adobe, and OSoft have already expressed that they will be offering support for IDPF in the future.

As early as now, IDPF has begun working to formalize its cooperation and collaboration with other organizations. While the needs of the digital publishing industry may require specific technologies, IDPF policy is to build on broader information technology standards wherever possible. Such organization includes  the OASIS International standards consortium which hopes that the IDPF OEBPS container format may be further advanced within OASIS as a general file containment technology standard.