Comic-book publisher Culturecom Holdings plans to invest $200 million to develop a Chinese-character electronic-publishing system.
The system would include a central-processing semiconductor and electronic book downloading technology that will be used in a hand-held device to be called eC-book, according to chairman Frank Cheung Wai-tung.
The company has also developed software using technology that allows Internet users to download books 1,000 times faster than the existing technology, vice-chairman Chu Bongfung said.
'This technology can allow you to download a book in four seconds,' said Mr Chu.
He said Culturecom hopes to sell about 200 million eC-books to students in the mainland during the next two to three years.
He said the company plans to retail the eC-books for less than $1,000.