You get a lot for a free app, especially one in its first iteration. Early leaks described the rumored tool as “GarageBand for eBooks” but in fact we found it even easy to dig into: load the app, pick one of the basic templates, and then begin dropping in content. Pages are easily managed in a column down the side, similar to Keynote.

Text can be typed in directly, with the usual choice of fonts and styles, or imported wholesale by dropping a Word document into the editor. Similarly videos and images can be dragged in, and Keynote presentations automatically covert into interactive clipboards. What stands out the most is the speed at which content renders and is ready; Apple was demonstrating iBooks Author on some high-spec iMacs, which will give it an edge of course, but there’s little in the way of sitting round waiting for video to import or graphics to be crunched.

Those readers using VoiceOver on their iPad are catered for as well, with optional accessibility descriptions, and pagination, captions and footnotes are handled automatically. Apple’s event today was focused on textbooks, but any type of ebook can be created, with the complexity entirely up to the user: you can go for basic text and a few photos, or the whole way with multimedia, animations and more.

The downside will be exactly how you can export ebooks created with the tool: PDF and TXT are options, along with Apple’s own IBOOKS format, but interactive books exported as .ibooks – which they’ll need to be for all the multimedia support – will only open on the iPad. Even iPhone users are currently left out in the cold.

Our guess is that Apple is looking to change that – after all, iTunes U supports cross-device sync using iCloud, and textbooks are going to be a big part of that – but for the moment the iPad is where it’s at. We can’t particularly fault them on an eye-candy level, as the output iBooks Author is capable of looks its best on the iPad’s bigger screen.

iBooks Author is obviously a far deeper app than our brief hands-on post-keynote gave us time to get to grips with, but the good news is that not only is it available to download now, but it’s free. You’ll need OS X 10.7.2 Lion and, obviously, a Mac in order to use iBooks Author.

A free update for the iPad, iBook 2 adds a new section for Textbooks in among the existing categories. The download process is the usual couple of taps, and then navigating interactive textbooks uses all the gestures and multitouch we’re familiar with from other apps on iOS devices.

Something you notice from the start is how smooth the iBooks textbooks experience is. The opening video plays instantly, galleries slide and swoop with no lag, and the transitions between text and full-screen animation is pause-free. Apple is, unsurprisingly, demonstrating them on the iPad 2, so we’ll have to wait and see how the first-generation – and single core – iPad handles multimedia-heavy texts.

Individual books are anything from a CD’s worth to as much as 3GB, though that does mean that you don’t need a data connection while reading. Everything is stored locally, which increases speed and usability; after all, there’s no point having a digital textbook if you can’t access it from a non-wirelessly-enabled classroom.

In short, iBooks 2 is amazing, and I wish I was back in school. You can download it yourself from the App Store now.

Instead, Apple expects various industries to be interested in creating their own interactive titles. That could include technology, children’s books, design books and more; until now, creating a truly interactive ebook for the iPad has required some serious investment of time, not to mention money, but Apple’s new app significantly streamlines both.

Rather than complex coding and messing with page layouts, you can simply drag content into a template and have it automatically format to suit. Videos, audio and images are supported, along with Word documents – that are instantly split into chapters with headings and formatting – and you can drop Keynote presentations in and have them change into interactive slideshows.

Those with HTML and JavaScript skills can add their own content through homegrown widgets, though you needn’t be a code genius in order to get something halfway decent ready. Once it’s done, you can instantly push it to the iBookstore. More details from today’s launch here.

iBooks Author is a free download [iTunes link], though you’ll need a Mac running OS X 10.7.2 Lion in order to use it.

Leading the project is believed to be Apple’s iWork chief, Roger Rosner, taking inspiration from Al Gore’s “Our Choice” interactive ebook released last year. Codenamed “Bliss”, or so the leaks go, the Apple scheme will not replace traditional publishers but instead give them a way to easily create and convert digital learning materials.

Of course, it will also give Apple a potentially hefty footprint in the hugely lucrative textbook market. SlashGear will be liveblogging the whole Apple event at live.slashgear.com so join us a 10AM Eastern (7am Pacific; 3pm UK) for all the details as they’re announced!

The tip was received earlier this week, but had not been reported until AppleInsider found that its details matched up with many of the claims reported by the Wall Street Journal. It supports claims that the project will involve Apple VP of iWork development Roger Rosner overseeing the project. Rosner will take charge in developing the editor used in the digital textbook creation tool as well as the reading software that will allow the files to be viewed.

The project is internally code-named “Bliss” and is said to take inspiration from Al Gore’s “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” interactive e-book project published last year through startup Push Pop Press. The startup was founded by former Apple engineers Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris to shakeup the e-books market with an interactive e-book publishing platform, but the startup was later acquired by Facebook.

We’ll be covering the January 19 Apple education-focused event live in NYC, so be sure to check out our Live Blog for the details.

Although digital textbooks can be as simple a matter as static ePub versions of print books, Apple’s plans are apparently far more ambitious. Just as GarageBand makes constructing multi-part audio tracks easy, the new textbook tool will supposedly support video, 3D graphics, interaction with charts and timelines, audio, and other content. Given the rise in digital magazines on the iPad, it’s likely that educational material will borrow many of the finger-friendly concepts found in Newsstand.

All that would be for naught if Apple hadn’t inked deals with the major textbook publishers, though the extent of their involvement on the project is still unclear. McGraw-Hill has been working with Apple since June, the WSJ‘s sources tell them, while Cengage Learning is expected to attend the January 19 event. The publisher would not detail its exact role, however. Participation of Pearson and Houghton Mifflin, the other big names in scholastic texts, is unknown.

Jobs apparently described the textbook business as an “$8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction” in his conversations with biographer Walter Issacson, though new sources claim rather than just eyeing the market the canny CEO had in fact been working on Apple’s offering for several years. The original plan, they claim, had been to unveil the textbook toolkit in October 2011, alongside the iPhone 4S, though that was shelved at the last minute.

[via Electronista]

That fits in with talk at the top end of the month that there would be no hardware announcements at the event, with Apple instead unveiling a mixture of software, content or services – or indeed all three. The company already has an ebooks store in the shape of iBooks, as well as PDF support, but so far has not waded into the digital textbook arena.

That’s all set to change, it seems, and with students spending big money every semester on education-related titles it’s potentially going to be quite the money-spinner for Apple. We’ll know more on January 19 when the event kicks off in NYC.

According to the writers, attempts to have Apple abide by Chinese laws for copyright certification have been rebuked, and some of the copied texts have been downloaded several million times. 37 works in particular are named in the case, with authors including Han Han, Li Chengpeng and Murong Xuecun, all well-known in China.

It’s not the first time Apple has faced controversy over its ebooks strategy. Late last year, the European Commission announced it was undertaking an investigation into allegations of potential antitrust behavior around ebooks, with Apple and publishers accused of price fixing and/or anti-competitive deals.

Although Apple will likely protest that it has procedures for copyright holders to complain about illegal uploads, the company may have to take a more proactive stance in future. Back in March 2011, the Chinese Baidu search engine was forced to carry out a search-and-destroy of illegal ebooks, amounting to around 2.8m entries in total. Apple is yet to comment publicly on the Chinese suit.

[via TNW]

Cameras front and back are an interesting touch – that should certainly make nighttime video calls clearer, should you be the sort of person who reaches for their tablet at midnight – and there’s a sizable speaker above the display. Portrait orientation looks to be the default angle, going by the logo on the back, while the OS is a somewhat reskinned Android.

Ereading also gets center-stage; this particular unit is loaded up with the Kobo app, among others, and some of the promo material puts an ebook front and center. Whether Polaroid will have its own store or rely on third-party content remains to be seen.

Our guess is a relatively low-cost model, in the 7- to 8-inch size range, and targeted more at NOOK Tablet and Kobo Vox buyers than, say, would-be iPad owners. Full details will be forthcoming at CES next week, no doubt.

They would supposedly accompany electronic user guides for downloadable console classics, in addition to back issues of Nintendo Power, the formerly official magazine. Also under consideration is content from Prima Games, the publisher responsible for current official strategy guides, though that would be paid content rather than free to download.

Nintendo’s ambitions don’t rest at just game-related content, however; the company is also said to be “actively seeking” partners among publishers to bring digital magazines and ebooks in general to the Wii U. In addition to the tablet-style console, Nintendo’s 3DS handheld would also apparently gain access to the ereader store, with iBooks- and Kindle-style synchronization between devices logged into the same account. Nintendo’s active sleep system, used to preserve wireless support for StreetPass gaming on the 3DS, would be implemented to download newly released issues while the consoles were idle.

In fact, it seems Nintendo’s target is not just competing with Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox platforms, but taking on Android and iOS as well. Both Google and Apple’s platforms have eaten into traditional gaming territory, and now Nintendo looks to be pushing back with a broader range of services than simply gameplay. This latest source – a software developer of iOS titles – was apparently approached to gage interest in porting their existing apps over to the Wii U tablet, with the prospect of Nintendo coding assistance if they’d be willing to help plump out the upcoming app store.

None of this has been confirmed by Nintendo, naturally, and details on the source are scant due to confidentiality concerns. Nonetheless, the company hasn’t been blind to the need to keep pace with its casual gaming rivals, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata releasing an apologetic open letter in the aftermath of the 3DS price cut in which he explained how third-party adoption of the platform was essential.

[via NintendoLife]

The European Commission began looking into claims of ebook antitrust behaviors back in March 2011, at the time working alongside the UK Office of Fair Trading which was running a parallel investigation. Since then, the UK organization has ceased its inquiry “on grounds of administrative priority” but will continue to work with the EC.

What, exactly, the “illegal agreements or practices” Apple and the publishers may have conspired over are, the EC isn’t saying. However, they “may breach EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices” along with “the character and terms of the agency agreements” involved.

The investigation is being treated as “a matter of priority” though the EC says it can’t estimate exactly how long the whole thing may take.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

The eBooks were pulled from OverDrive a few days ago and apparently, the eBooks are back, for now. Penguin has agreed to allow the eBooks to continue to be lended via libraries for a limited time. Penguin has allows the books to remain in the lending library through at least the end of the year. At this late date that is only a bit more than a month that the books might remain.

Penguin had pointed the finger at security concerns. The rub was that the company had continued to sell the same books in digital format, presumably with the same security measures in place. The more likely reason was that Penguin wanted the reader to buy the eBook rather than check it out.

[via NYT]

What you’ve got before you is a decision between the two really, and when it comes down to it it’s all about form and coverage. Your humble narrator of course prefers the feel of the newest generation Nook as its all round and the size of an adult palm, essentially, while the Kobo is slightly more square around the edges, but I can’t speak on the libraries either one offer up. Of course there’s always an ad-supported Kindle in the mix, but the price on the Nook just cannot be beat (not as of yet, that is.) But wait a minute – what’s the reason for purchasing one of these readers over their full color alternates?

The loveliness of e-ink, of course, pages that wont bust up your eyes and still can be read in the dark or right in the direct sunlight. With devices like the Nook Tablet you get a much more versatile system, but the color display is IPS and does stand the chance of giving you a headache, as most color displays do, if you’re reading it through a full novel. Head over to your local Best Buy or Target to see all of these readers as both stores have them all on display for you to tap around on now – best way to choose!

Word has surfaced that Penguin Books has forced the removal of its eBook titles from the Overdrive lending library. According to OverDrive last week it received word from Penguin that it was reviewing the terms for lending on its eBook titles. While the terms were under review, OverDrive notes that it was asked to suspend lending of Penguin eBooks. It’s not looking good for the ability to lend books using eReaders like the Kindle.

I don’t understand the issue here. Penguin is claiming that security concerns with its digital versions are delaying availability in new titles on digital formats until the concerns are resolved. The thing is that the eBooks Amazon sells in digital formats are using the same security as the lending versions and the sale versions are still on Amazon. It sounds like Penguin is scrambling to find a way to squeeze more money out of readers by limiting loans.

[via The Digital Reader]

Titles that support borrowing under the scheme will have a new option in their listings – either on the Amazon site, its mobile apps, or on dedicated Kindle hardware – to “Borrow for Free”. Tapping that will download the ebook, with no limit on how long you can keep hold of it. However, readers can only have a single borrowed book on the go at any one time.

Highlights, annotations and bookmarking is all supported, with that data left behind when you return the book; if you subsequently borrow it again – or indeed purchase it – they should all show up in the correct place. Prime membership is $79 per year.

As for publishers, not all seem to be fully onboard with the concept at this stage. Amazon has agreed set fees for most of the 5,000 titles, the company says, but for others it’s swallowing a fee each time the ebook is borrowed:

“Titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library come from a range of publishers under a variety of terms. For the vast majority of titles, Amazon has reached agreement with publishers to include titles for a fixed fee. In some cases, Amazon is purchasing a title each time it is borrowed by a reader under standard wholesale terms as a no-risk trial to demonstrate to publishers the incremental growth and revenue opportunity that this new service presents” Amazon

These aren’t self-publishing hobbyists or first-time authors, either – Timothy Ferriss, best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek is among them. A memoir by Penny Marshall is rumored to have cost $800,000 in rights alone, a sum that Amazon paid happily. Reports from the industry indicate that the company is aggressively headhunting authors from established publishers, leading an agent to comment that “Everyone’s afraid of Amazon.”

And why shouldn’t they be? With the number one e-book reader on the planet and apps servicing hundreds of millions of smartphones, tablets and PCs, there’s hardly anywhere that isn’t a target for Amazon’s expansion, to say nothing of their new Kindle Fire. The cheap tablet has already racked up at least a quarter million pre-orders, and after the holiday season many expect it to become the first viable competitor to Apple’s iPad. The Fire is a vector for Amazon’s music, video, book and periodical ventures – the loss-leading device will essentially be a new mobile customer interface exclusively for Amazon.

Amazon sees itself as a catalyst for some much-needed change. Executive Russell Grandinetti notes that the demise of the traditional publishing industry is always being foretold, but that now, “The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader.” Anyone who’s paid $29.99 for a new hardcover can certainly appreciate the sentiment.

The Pearl E-ink screen here should be a real winner as its already tried and true, and with this new form factor (seen above), Bookeen may well have a winner on their hands. In addition to having these things in its favor, there’s a video out there showing off how Bookeen has been optimizing this tablet in regards to refresh rate on the “ink”, and wow, it does look pretty darn neat if I do say so myself:

The video isn’t the newest in the world, but it does show the possibilities in this new Bookeen ereader tablet. This video was filmed all the way back in May – can you imagine where they’re at today?! We can’t wait to hear more from Bookeen on the device. E-ink progression forever!

[via The Digital Reader]

French readers will find a choice of more than 35,000 French-language ebooks – including all 28 L’Express best sellers, Amazon is keen to point out – along with “hundreds” of graphic novels and ore than 4,000 free classics in French. They’ll also have access to a catalog of English-language ebooks, while French authors will be able to use the Kindle Direct Publishing tool to put their titles up for sale as well.

The Kindle hardware itself misses out on the keyboard of its third-gen predecessor, making do with a potentially-fiddly D-pad control system to navigate an on-screen keyboard. However it’s also lighter and smaller than the model it replaces. Pre-orders for the French Kindle begin today, with the ereader expected to begin shipping on October 14.

You can also purchase both versions of the NOOK online at Target, though both versions still read OUT OF STOCK at the moment I’m typing this post up. You can take a closer look at these two newest versions of the nook by heading to, first, our hands-on with the NOOK Simple Touch Reader then head back to our ultimate look at the NOOK Color, what was then called the NOOKcolor:

A Week with NOOKcolor: Hardware
A Week with NOOKcolor: Reading (aka Core Apps)
NOOKcolor Unboxing and Hands-on
NOOKcolor Demo
A Bit of Extra Clarity for Would-be Developers of NOOKcolor Apps
and of course A Week with NOOKcolor: 3rd Party Apps and Final Wrap-Up

All the NOOK color you could possibly want! Now get out there and pick yourself up one of each at Target, and tell em I’ve got a thing or two to say to them about their mobile department, tablets included!

This past Sunday was also the final closing of the doors of Borders, one of Barnes & Noble’s biggest competitors. Whether or not this was due directly to the fact that they didn’t bring their A game to the eReader court or not is still up to debate. What Barnes & Noble has here is an expanding model that’s set to continue to grow through the future along with their physical book store chain which is suddenly, with the death of Borders, looking a lot more ubiquitous on the book buying circuit. RadioShack also has 4,675 stores in total in the USA and Mexico that it can add to the physical representation of the Nook.

Barnes & Noble’s OTHER competitors, Amazon.com, may well be bringing out another barrel of fire in the near future with an Android tablet that’s set to go up against the Nook Color directly. Word is that it’s possible this eReader / Android tablet hybrid will encompass the entirety of Amazon.com’s cloud computing efforts, this leaving Barnes & Noble perhaps looking to amp themselves up for the Nook Color 2 as well.

You can check our massive week-long review of the NOOKcolor back when it was one word here on SlashGear right this moment, have a look!
A Week with NOOKcolor: Hardware
A Week with NOOKcolor: Reading (aka Core Apps)
NOOKcolor Unboxing and Hands-on
NOOKcolor Demo
A Bit of Extra Clarity for Would-be Developers of NOOKcolor Apps
and of course A Week with NOOKcolor: 3rd Party Apps and Final Wrap-Up

Also you can have a look at our original Nook review from all the way back in 2009. Time to upgrade, all you readers of eBooks!

Each library participating in the scheme will be responsible for handling its own loans, with users requiring a valid library card if they want to borrow a title. Delivery can either be via Whispernet, Amazon’s wireless system (though only using WiFi, not 3G), or via a USB connection. If you subsequently purchase the ebook yourself, your notes and bookmarks will be pulled over automatically.

The system uses OverDrive for its DRM and lending, and loan periods will vary depending on what individual libraries have decided. Other OverDrive implementations range from 7-21 days, however, so we’re guessing that’s likely to be the case with Kindle books. A reminder will be flagged up automatically when there’s three days of the loan period left.

As with movie streaming, Prime subscribers would be able to choose from a selection of older titles as part of their $79 per year membership. Some have suggested that Amazon intends to limit the number of titles readers could access each month, though it sounds as though the exact policies, were the scheme to launch commercially, have not yet been decided upon.

Among the concerns held by publishers is that the blanket access to titles might devalue the perceived value of books to consumers. Although Amazon is reportedly offering “substantial” fees in return for participation, there are considerable fears over readers’ attitude to ebooks. “What it would do is downgrade the value of the book business” one publishing executive told the newspaper.

If true, Amazon’s continued Prime plans are likely to be tied closely to the company’s incoming Kindle tablet. The Android-based slate is expected to focus particularly on the value-add of Amazon’s content ecosystem, pushing the various elements of video, music and ebooks all purchased from the retailer’s store and saved in its cloud storage.

Sony Electronics will be using this device to continue their support of the Public Library System by having this device be the first eReader to provide wireless connectivity to the public library system in Canada and the USA with a dedicated icon on the device that will offer convenient and simple e-book borrowing (with a valid library card, of course!) There’s also Sony’s already established Reader Store with over 2.5 million titles, and you can read any book in EPUB, PDF or TXT format should you wish to do so.

The first magical promotion of this device will be coming in the form of a collaboration with J.K. Rowling’s soon to be released Pottermore website. Harry Potter fans will rejoice at the idea of getting a voucher with the Sony Reader Wi-Fi that will enable them to download the first HP book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone straight from Pottermore when it first becomes available. The Pottermore website, when it launches, will be the exclusive retailer of Harry Potter digital eBooks – just incase you were looking for them and couldn’t believe they were nowhere to be found.

A few more details on the hardware on the tablet include a glare-free Clear Dual Touch screen, again working with high contrast E-Ink Pearl electronic paper. Readers will be able to tap the screen to select a book, swipe through the pages, zoom with the pinching of their fingers, find dictionary meanings of words by tapping and holding them, and translate words into one of 5 supported languages.

There’s a stylus on-board for this wild journey, this lovely electronic pen able to “write” on pages, highlight text, or whatever you fancy – perhaps a mural on page 102? Go for it! Battery life supposedly sits comfortably at over a month or at 3 weeks with wireless on, and you’ve got 2 GB of storage on the device for a total of 1,200 eBooks. You can view photos, listen to stored music on the device via headphone jack, and change images of screensavers galore. Font choices are available, brightness adjustment, and screen contrast are all adjustments you may make.

Per Sony, Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) and Reader Wi-Fi with Pottermore promotion(PRS-T1HBC) are expected to be available October 2011 for about $149 at Sony Stores, online at http://store.sony.com, and other authorized retailers nationwide.

Amazon is trying to fix the issue and prevent confusion on the Kindle store and has started to remove PLR e-books that are on the store. Amazon’s official reason for removing the books sent to the people that publish them is that the copycat books “diminish the experience for customers.” Amazon states that it has been working hard to eliminate books that are no different from another on the store or that are barely different for a long time.

The idea behind publishing the PLR books is that the person publishing it is supposed to make the book their own. Often the publisher simply formats and posts the books. One of these publishers had 22 books on the market and saw them all removed. The publisher said it “was a kick in the pants,” but the publisher also said that he knew what he was “trying to pull a fast one” and would get caught.

[via NYTimes]

Things were chugging along for Amazon until Apple announced that it would be selling eBooks on the iPad at a price that was more than what Amazon was selling. The publishers used that Apple deal to force Amazon to up the price of the books it sold for the Kindle line of e-readers making Amazon and a bunch of consumers unhappy in the process. A law firm from Seattle has announced that they are suing Apple and a number of publishers for price fixing.

The law firm filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in Northern California. The suit alleges that Apple and HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group Inc. and Simon & Schuster colluded on book prices to force Amazon to abandon the discounted prices it was selling at that were better for consumers. What will come of this suit remains to be seen.

“As a result of the pricing conspiracy, prices of e-books have exploded, jumping as much as 50 percent. When an e-book version of a best-seller costs close to – or even more than – its hard-copy counterpart, it doesn’t take a forensic economist to see that this is evidence of market manipulation.”

[via GeekWire]

The reader will hit Target stores across the country and will be offered on Target.com for sale as well. The eReader will be able to buy books from Google eBooks over the are using WiFi connectivity. The Story HD will sell for $139.99 and has an e-ink screen with high resolution. There are about 3 million free books on Google eBooks that the user will be able to download right away.

The reader supports the Google Books APIs that makes it easy for publishers to offer users with devices supporting the Google service access to their entire catalog of digital cooks. The Story HD was unveiled for the first time at CES in January. It has a QWERTY keypad, 6-inch screen, WiFi and lots more. The screen has a resolution of 768 x 1024 making it the highest resolution reader in its class.

Rowling will sell the complete series of Potter books directly from her own website called Pottermore. The books will be sold on a proprietary platform and will be DRM-free. The books will be watermarked with the original purchaser’s information though much the way Apple does with DRM-free tunes that can be tracked to the original account that purchased them. I can only imagine that the digital version of the Potter books will prove to be hugely successful as well.

Along with the direct sales of the eBooks in the Potter series, which will be usable on just about any eReader, Potter more will also have exclusive content. Rowling has reportedly already written 18,000 words for the site. The exclusive content will include details on characters in the books and places that the series takes place. Fans don’t have to buy the digital books to access the extra content offered on the series. Fans can hit Pottermore on July 31 to find out how to gain early access.

[via Wired]

In fact, Amazon shifted more than three-times as many Kindle books in 2011 so far as it did in the same period last year. As for hardware, the discounted – and ad-supported – Kindle with Special Offers has shot to the top of the popularity charts, dominating sales in the US.

The numbers look to be headed the same way outside of the US, where Amazon’s ereader platform is less mature. In the year since the Amazon UK Kindle store opened, ebooks now outsell hardbacks; it’s a 2-to-1 ratio since April 1 the retailer claims.

AMAZON.COM NOW SELLING MORE KINDLE BOOKS THAN PRINT BOOKS

Kindle with Special Offers for only $114 is already the bestselling member of the Kindle family

SEATTLE—May 19, 2011—NASDAQ: AMZN—Amazon began selling hardcover and paperback books in July 1995. Twelve years later in November 2007, Amazon introduced the revolutionary Kindle and began selling Kindle books. By July 2010, Kindle book sales had surpassed hardcover book sales, and six months later, Kindle books overtook paperback books to become the most popular format on Amazon.com. Today, less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books – hardcover and paperback – combined.

“Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly — we’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com. “In addition, we’re excited by the response to Kindle with Special Offers for only $114, which has quickly become the bestselling member of the Kindle family. We continue to receive positive comments from customers on the low $114 price and the money-saving special offers. We’re grateful to our customers for continuing to make Kindle the bestselling e-reader in the world and the Kindle Store the most popular e-bookstore in the world.”

Recent milestones for Kindle include:

· Since April 1, for every 100 print books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle books. This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.

· So far in 2011, the tremendous growth of Kindle book sales, combined with the continued growth in Amazon’s print book sales, have resulted in the fastest year-over-year growth rate for Amazon’s U.S. books business, in both units and dollars, in over 10 years. This includes books in all formats, print and digital. Free books are excluded in the calculation of growth rates.

· In the five weeks since its introduction, Kindle with Special Offers for only $114 is already the bestselling member of the Kindle family in the U.S.

· Amazon sold more than 3x as many Kindle books so far in 2011 as it did during the same period in 2010.

· Less than one year after introducing the UK Kindle Store, Amazon.co.uk is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books, even as hardcover sales continue to grow. Since April 1, Amazon.co.uk customers are purchasing Kindle books over hardcover books at a rate of more than 2 to 1.

Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 950,000 books, including New Releases and 109 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 790,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 69 New York Times Best Sellers. Millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle devices. More than 175,000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in just the last 5 months.

All Kindle Books let you “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” – on all generation Kindles, as well as on the largest number of devices and platforms, including iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android-based devices, and soon HP TouchPads and BlackBerry PlayBooks. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off. With Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon, where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.

Amazon originally said the subsidized version would ship from May 3, or next Tuesday. Obviously the retailer has decided that readers may want some early distraction from the royal wedding this weekend, however; saying that, there are probably already Wills & Kate ebooks just waiting to be downloaded.

We’ll have to wait until Amazon release sales figures – if they ever do – to know how many people are willing to view adds in return for a $25 discount. Frankly, we can’t help but think the company should’ve bitten the bullet and given it a $99 sticker instead.

The ebooks will be readable both on dedicated Kindle hardware – from all three generations – as well as in Amazon’s Kindle apps for iOS, Android, PC, Mac and other platforms. Any notes or annotations made will be preserved and visible again if you re-borrow or later purchase the ebook (though not visible to other borrowers).

Amazon is partnering with OverDrive for the Library Lending launch, so we’re presuming that there will be 7-21 day limitations on loan periods, and that each title will only be available to one person at a time, just as with a physical book. The service will launch at an unspecified point later in 2011.

Press Release:

AMAZON TO LAUNCH LIBRARY LENDING FOR KINDLE BOOKS

Customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 local libraries to read on Kindle and free Kindle reading apps

Whispersyncing of notes, highlights and last page read to work for Kindle library books

SEATTLE—April 20, 2011—(NASDAQ: AMZN)— Amazon today announced Kindle Library Lending, a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States. Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps.

“We’re excited that millions of Kindle customers will be able to borrow Kindle books from their local libraries,” said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle. “Customers tell us they love Kindle for its Pearl e-ink display that is easy to read even in bright sunlight, up to a month of battery life, and Whispersync technology that synchronizes notes, highlights and last page read between their Kindle and free Kindle apps.”

Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer’s annotations and bookmarks will be preserved.

“We’re doing a little something extra here,” Marine continued. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced.”

With Kindle Library Lending, customers can take advantage of all of the unique features of Kindle and Kindle books, including:
Paper-like Pearl electronic-ink display
No glare even in bright sunlight
Lighter than a paperback – weighs just 8.5 ounces and holds up to 3,500 books
Up to one month of battery life with wireless off
Read everywhere with free Kindle apps for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Windows Phone
Whispersync technology wirelessly sync your books, notes, highlights, and last page read across Kindle and free Kindle reading apps
Real Page Numbers – easily reference passages with page numbers that correspond to actual print editions

Amazon is working with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle customers. “We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps,” said Steve Potash, CEO, OverDrive. “We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle.”

Kindle Library Lending will be available later this year for Kindle and free Kindle app users. To learn more about Kindle go to www.amazon.com/kindle.

Users requested to borrow a book, and each request had to be approved by the lender. Amazon let Lendle know on Monday, via a no-reply email, that Lendle didn’t “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.”

Jeff Croft, Lendle’s cofounder disagrees. “As a published author, it was very important to me personally to build the system in a way that was good for authors and publishers,” Croft said. “Our site requires that you be willing to lend books before you can borrow them. We even went so far as to allow users to sync their Lendle accounts with their Kindle accounts, so that we could ensure anyone who borrows books on Lendle has previously purchased lendable books from Amazon. Our philosophy is: You can’t borrow if you don’t lend, and you can’t lend if you don’t buy.”

Another service, BookLending, has reported to ArsTechnica that its API access has not been interrupted. But that may not last long. Amazon has been very cautious with its lending policies, no doubt motivated by publishers who don’t really want e-book files being passed around for free. Amazon only started the lending program late in 2010, and even now doesn’t widely promote it.

We will keep you informed on any further developments. We’re sure that the various book lending services will be trying their best to change Amazon’s mind.

[via ArsTechnica]

Apparently HarperCollins has decided that allowing the library to loan out its eBooks in perpetuity is not a good business decision. The publisher has moved from allowing libraries to license an eBook for all the loaning out it wants to having that book loan agreement expire after a set number of loans.

This is sort of like making the library pay again for that book on the shelf after it has been loaned out for a year. The new agreement with HarperCollins and libraries allows the eBook to be checked out 26 times before the book expires. That would allow for a year’s worth of loans at one every two weeks. Some librarians are calling for a boycott of HarperCollins eBooks.

[via NYT]

Regardless of where we are now in the adoption cycle of e-readers and tablets one thing is now clear: the shift from analog to digital in books is happening rapidly.

The publishing industry has struggled in this decade with relatively flat CAGR (Compound Annual Growth) and a projected CAGR of 2.1% according to the Book Industry Study Group. The question is will the move to digital change not only the publishing industry but also the overall habits of readers?

I began doing some research on US reading statistics and found some numbers that are very interesting. According to statistics published by ParaPub:

•         Generally 80% of US households did not buy or read a book last year.
•         70 % of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the past 5 years
•         42 % of college graduates never read another book after college
•         1/3 of high school graduates never read a book the rest of their lives
•         57 % of new books are not read to completion

I look at these statistics and what stands out to me is: why? Nearly 100% of all American adults can read. It may be debated about what school level of reading the majority is capable of but, regardless, nearly all American adults can read at some level. So the question is, why are they not reading?

Very good observations to this question could be, not enough time to sit down and read, or that TV and the Internet media is more interesting, entertaining and captivating than reading a book. These are all good observations and answers to an intriguing question about why so few American adults take the time to sit down and get engrossed in a book. The question I have however is: does the move from analog reading to digital reading have the potential to change this?

I believe the answer is yes, IF….
I have observed some things not only with my own Kindle, Nook color and tablet experience but of others I have informally surveyed as well. Things like how you find yourself reading more often than you did before, you find yourself buying more books more often because you get them instantly and wirelessly. Using a tablet or e-reader is actually easier to use to read due to the ability to find one comfortable position and press a button or use a gesture to flip the page. It is popular among an older demographic due to the ability to make the text bigger. People with arthritis find it more comfortable and easy to hold for long periods of time. I personally find myself actually reading newspapers like the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, something I would never get a physical paper for and have yet to subscribe online to.

Back to my question on does the shift to digital have the potential to change American reading habits. The reason I say IF, is because what fundamentally exists is the opportunity to create an entirely new type of book / reading experience. We believe the potential exists to create what we in concept are calling a “Multimedia book.”

The Multimedia Book
What if we could blend animation, video, still picture art, audio, music and text together to create an experience that leverages the compelling value of each or all of those media types?

Imagine a multimedia comic book where the images and text were static until you clicked on each frame to see some of the story play out. Each frame of the comic would tell a part of the story by blending different forms of media to take the reader through a more interactive and immersive experience then was ever possible in the print world. Both iOS and Android have a growing collection of comics but none that I have seen yet represent the more immersive experience I think is possible.

Imagine also a children’s book where a child could enjoy the art of the still pictures and read the text which was followed by a video / animation transition to the next part of the story.

Text books can become more interesting when you can blend video – both historic and current – to help the content become more alive or relevant than with static words and images.

What happens is what ultimately always happens when things move from analog to digital. An experience that was once static and could only be experienced one way now becomes dynamic and can be experienced in many ways (i.e TiVo, MP3s, digital cameras). We believe a whole new world of content creation and consumption becomes possible with the concept of a multimedia book. Apple with its iTunes LPs has taken a similar step with the one-time physical lure of a vinyl LP by adding a digital version that blends audio, video and text as lyrics, for example. Vook is also an example of a company trying to move content in new directions.

Although I feel this new type of book experience will be just one feature of a larger experience, with e-readers or tablet it may also extend even further to everyday PCs, smartphones and TVs. I fundamentally feel that what we see in the market today is just the beginning of classes of devices that enable consumers to engage and interact with their content and their world in new and exciting ways. To get there, however, publishers and content developers need to get past attempting to re-purpose their content and start thinking about re-inventing it.

*Creative Strategies market estimates.

Random House had previously declined to comment on talk that they’d be throwing in with Apple, but it seems that the publisher is indeed broadening availability of titles beyond Amazon’s Kindle. We’re expecting to hear more at the Apple event later today; check back at 10AM PST for the full SlashGear liveblog!

Press Release:

Random House, Inc. is adopting the agency model for e-book sales in the United States effective March 1, 2011. Going forward, Random House will set consumer prices for the e-books we publish, and we will provide retailers with a commission for each sale. There are no changes to our terms of sale for physical books.

The agency model guarantees a higher margin for retailers than did our previous sales terms. We are making this change both as an investment in the successful digital transition of our existing partners and in order to give us the opportunity to forge new retail relationships.

We are looking forward to continuing to work with all our retail partners – both digital and physical — on our joint mission to connect our authors with as many readers as possible, in whatever format they prefer.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

Updated with B&N statement on the server outages after the cut

The news follows Amazon’s announcement that the Kindle is now its best-selling product of all time. Neither retailer has publicly confirmed sales figures, however, with B&N only saying that “millions” of NOOK devices – including the original NOOK, its WiFi-only version and the newest NOOKcolor – have been sold.

For more on the NOOKcolor, check out our multi-part series on a week with the new color ereader tablet. We’re chasing B&N for an official comment on the outage.

Update: Barnes & Noble spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating gave us the following brief statement:

“Due to the high traffic and customer demand on Christmas Day, we experienced some sporadic issues with our servers that were quickly resolved.”

Press Release:

NOOK™ Line of eReading Devices Becomes Barnes & Noble’s Biggest Bestseller in Its History

NOOKcolor™ is Company’s Top Holiday Gift

Millions of NOOK™ Devices and Expansive Digital Catalog Combine to Result in Nearly One Million NOOKbooks Sold on Christmas Day

New York, New York – December 30, 2010 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that with millions of NOOK eReading devices sold, the line has become the company’s biggest bestseller ever in its nearly 40-year history. The new NOOKcolor Reader’s Tablet, introduced just eight weeks before Christmas, is the company’s number one selling gift of the holiday season. Barnes & Noble also announced that it now sells more digital books than its large and growing physical book business on BN.com, the world’s second largest online bookstore. With its growth across device and NOOKbook™ sales over the critical holiday selling season, Barnes & Noble has successfully established itself as a leader in digital reading.

Demand for the critically acclaimed NOOKcolor remained high following the product’s introduction in late October through the holidays. Sales have continued to exceed the company’s high expectations. In addition to a great customer response, NOOKcolor has received high praise and critical acclaim from leading technology and consumer media outlets including being named “Editors’ Choice” and the “Best Android Tablet of The Year.” The company also experienced robust sales for its award-winning line of NOOK 3G and Wi-Fi devices, which feature an E-Ink display and a color touchscreen for navigation.

The company also reported record holiday sales from its comprehensive two-million-title catalog, including nearly one million NOOKbooks purchased and downloaded on Christmas Day alone. Through Barnes & Noble’s eReading offerings, customers can buy and read their NOOKbooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOKcolor, NOOK 3G, Wi-Fi®, and using NOOK apps on popular devices including iPad™, iPhone®, Android™ smartphones and more. Among the best-selling titles of the holiday season were James Patterson’s Cross Fire, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Confession by John Grisham, and Decision Points by former U.S. President George W. Bush.

“NOOKcolor became the gift of choice over the holidays for people who love to read everything – books, magazines, newspapers, children’s books and more – in rich, beautiful color,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “The success of NOOKcolor, along with our unique ability to market NOOK devices to readers in our stores and through our strong channel partnerships with Best Buy, Walmart and Books-a-Million, resulted in the continued explosive growth of our Digital Content business and our NOOK line, our most successful products ever. We have a large online book business at BN.com, that’s been recently growing. And the fact that eBook unit sales now exceed physical book sales through BN.com, illustrates how quickly we’ve grown this exciting new business at Barnes & Noble.”

NOOKcolor is the first full-color touch Reader’s Tablet that integrates books, magazines, newspapers and children’s books – all in amazing, rich color in a device that weighs less than a pound. It features a stunning 7-inch VividView™ Color Touchscreen and is the most social reading device ever built. NOOKcolor is available at your local Barnes & Noble store and at www.NOOKcolor.com, as well as Best Buy, Walmart and Books-A-Million stores.

Loaned ebooks can be read on Amazon’s dedicated Kindle hardware, as well as through the company’s various mobile and desktop apps for iOS, Android, Mac, PC and other platforms. The recipient receives the loan invitation by email and is required to have an Amazon account in order to access the title.

However, only certain ebooks can be loaned out, with the limitations the decision of the rights-holder or publisher. Compatible titles are marked with “Lending: Enabled” in the product description.

[via The Digital Reader]

Although not detailed by reports coming out of Japan, it seems likely that the furor has been caused by self-published iBooks content. Apple opened up the iBookstore to self-publishing authors back in May 2010 via iTunes Connect, and – as Amazon has discovered with its Kindle ebook store – it makes a tempting target for unofficial copies of electronic texts.

In a statement, Apple said “We fully understand the importance of intellectual property including copyright” and promised to “promptly and appropriately respond to complaints about violation of copyright.”

Amazon found itself in hot water earlier this week, after the ebook was spotted up for sale for its Kindle ereading platform, while its web-hosting arm AWS had closed down the official WikiLeaks account. The retailer was accused by many of hypocrisy, but has argued that the ebook does not actually contain the full leaked cables (despite the product description).

[via Media Memo]

Ebook “author” Heinz Duthel is a prolific submitter of texts to Amazon’s Kindle store, with around three hundred titles currently coming up on an ebook search. It’s unclear how long Amazon will allow the text to remain on sale, though the retailer will likely face criticism whether it removes the WikiLeaks ebook or not.

[via Twitter]

As well as Google’s eBookstore, there’ll be content available from Powell’s, Alibris and participating members of the American Booksellers Association. Certain ebooks will support user-selectable fonts, font sizes, day/night reading modes and line spacing, with page sync across devices.

If you have a NOOK or a Sony Reader ereader, you’ll be able to transfer across your Google eBookstore purchases too, since they’re in Adobe’s eBook format. Currently the ebook service is available in the US only, though international readers can still access Google’s public-domain catalog.

[via Android Community]