Latest Ebook Reader Developments from Amazon

Posted by Jennifer Wang On May - 21 - 2009 1 COMMENT

It seems that Amazon has really been stepping up their portable ebook reader game in the last few weeks. They’ve gone from two Kindle releases over a 1.5 year period to announcing something major every week or so. That’s quite a turnaround!
amazon_kindle_deals

Here’s some of the recent developments from Amazon:

  • Kindle DX – This was an expected but still huge announcement on May 6, 2009. It’s the largest ebook reader yet and the first ever to incorporate an accelerometer device, so pages are automatically rotated between portrait and landscape, simply by turning the device.
  • Kindle for iPhone v1.1Amazon recently released a new version of this popular app which is available from the iPhone App Store. Some of the notable new features include:
    • Pinch screen to zoom images within books
    • Read in landscape or portrait mode
    • Select alternate text colors and backgrounds to improve reading comfort in low light
    • Tap on either side of the screen or flick the screen to turn page
  • Amazon EncoreAmazon has joined the “publishing” industry. They’ll reportedly be publishing authors who are currently doing it themselves and are showing promise. Amazon has obviously realized that there’s tons of money to be made in publishing, especially with a lot of their future competitors going under.
  • Kindle Publishing for BlogsAmazon is now allowing bloggers to sell their blogs to Kindle owners through the Kindle Store. This is huge news for web marketers and content publishers as it provides a simple method for generating income from their labors of love.

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News Corp has Plans for Ebook Reader

Posted by Jim Swanson On May - 7 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS
Last night Rupert Murdoch (media mogul and director of News Corporation) announced that News Corp has plans to distribute their newspapers in ebook format, by the end of the year.

“I can assure you, we will not be sending our content rights to the fine people who created the Kindle,” he said. “We will control the prices for our content, and we will control the relationship with our customers.”  This means that it’s unlikely that News Corp will be partnering with Amazon’s Kindle, much like the Boston Globe, New York Times, and Washington Post are doing.  Users are offered a discount on the $489 Kindle DX if they take out subscriptions for the newspapers.

Does that mean that News Corp will be designing their own electronic reading device?  Or will they simply partner with an Amazon competitor, like Sony, iRex, or Fujitsu?  Well according to Murdoch, they will likely be considering a subscription-based service on an existing portable ebook reader. The possibility still exists for them to create or rebrand their own wireless reading device, but it’s unlikely.

Finally, Murdoch touched on a possible coordinated effort with the media industry to convince Google to pay a license fee for linking to professional news content.  Ha, good luck with that!

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what News Corp unveils in the following months…

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