FRANKFURT - Ten years ago, Frankfurt Book Fair participants reportedly laughed when a representative from Philips Electronics showed up to sell computers equipped with CD-ROM drives. Five years ago, the fair let 175 electronic publishers have space of their own.
This year, multimedia publishing is so established that the electronic media hall itself hosts only about 400 of the fair's techie exhibits. The rest of the record 1,620 exhibitors have assimilated.
"For some people, multimedia used to be exotic," said Susanne Kilian, project manager for the fair's electronic media hall. "Now, multimedia is normal."
Foreign language programs were among the biggest markets represented in Frankfurt. Look to the left, look to the right, there's another one promising to teach you French/German/English, or practically any language one could want to learn. In no time, naturally.
One of Germany's established textbook publishers, Cornelsen, specializes in foreign language programs for children. But before it can get a big share of the educational software market, it has to work on creating the market itself.
German schools have a PC-student ratio of 1:63, said Thorsten Reimann, a marketing representative for Berlin-based Cornelsen. And PCs are just starting to become common household appliances.
"Three, four, five years ago there was no market for this type of software," said Reimann. "In Germany, most people didn't have PCs in the '80s. We are about five years behind America."
That means Cornelsen is still marketing software developed for use with lower-powered, DOS-based computers. Yes, Dorothy, that's DOS.
Cornelsen developed an English language CD-ROM called English Coach Multimedia. Kids participate in the adventures of the Miller family, learning vocabulary, grammar, and style - English English style - along the way.
At one point, one of the kids wants something to eat, and the user has to choose from a menu of possible replies to keep the conversation going. One exchange goes like this:
"Yes dear, can I help you?"
"A Big Mac please, with ketchup."
"That shop is in town, we do good English beefburgers here."
"Aren't they the same?"
"The same?! This is an English snack bar."
Then the German narrator explains that the child has offended the English woman's sensibilities by implying her beefburger might be in the same category as McDonald's. Horrors.
These cultural differences and language issues are in fact a big concern for European multimedia publishers seeking international sales.
"If you have a product, the magic word here is 'localization' " said Kilian.
"In Spain, the people are different from the people in Germany. Their way of learning is different. So you have to change this product."
The logistics involved in revising programs for different countries can be terribly complicated.
One of the hottest new European releases is a result of two years of work by an unusually diverse consortium that includes publishers in Norway and England, multimedia developers in England and Germany, and Norwegian author Jostein Gaardner.
The Sophie's World CD-ROM - a philosophical adventure based on Gaardner's best-selling novel - has been out in England, Norway, and Germany since the spring. It's being released in France now. And because of complicated rights negotiations in the United States, won't be available there until the end of the year.
"We developed it in English because this was the common language," said Nikola Krenzler, product manager for the German partner Navigo Multimedia. "Then we localized it in different languages at Cambridge."
At the book fair and in Europe generally, CD-ROM publishing appears to be flourishing. But Web-based publishing - because of Europe's relatively high telecommunications costs - is nearly non-existent, said Kilian.
And with just several notable exceptions, Web-based or Web-directed ventures were almost impossible to find in Frankfurt.
For the language-proficient, though, the Japan Electronic Publishing Association offered something of interest. Its World Font CD allows users to browse the Web in 27 languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Turkish, Thai, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.
"It's very complicated on the Net to be able to read Japanese, Chinese, and Korean characters, because of all the coding they use," said spokeswoman Bernadette Asami. "Up until now, it's been impossible to search the Web in these languages."
And then there was England's answer to Amazon. Book Data Ltd., long a supplier of bibliographic information to booksellers and publishers, launched The Book Pl@ce during the book fair. Its users can tap into powerful search engine, reviews, and other book-related news - and, of course, place their orders.
"We're very close to many publishers, and they were coming to us and saying, 'Amazon's taking over the world. What can you do?'" said director Matthew Pollock, who spent two years developing the site.
Notably absent was Amazon itself.
"Lots of Americans have been asking about them," said Kilian. "So I hope next year I can get them."
