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‘eBook’ Stories

McGraw-Hill CEO “mistakenly interpreted” on iPad; never part of launch keynote

Chris Davies, Jan 29th 2010 Discuss [0]

Despite speculation that McGraw-Hill were unceremoniously yanked from Apple's iPad launch this week, the publisher maintains that not only that they were never intended to be included, but that they were "never in a position to confirm details about the device ahead of time." While it was widely reported that the publisher's CEO, Terry McGraw, prematurely announced details about the touchscreen slate while being interviewed on CNBC, McGraw-Hill have a different recollection of that, too; according to Steven Weiss, VP of corporate communications, McGraw only made "speculative comments about Apple's pending launch" that were "mistakenly interpreted ... as being more specific to [the iPad's] announcement." Read The Full Story

Sony color Reader on hold as e-paper quality not high enough

Chris Davies, Jan 29th 2010 Discuss [0]

Sony have snubbed the current state of color e-paper technology, with Fujio Noguchi - the company's deputy president of the Digital Reading Business Division - confirming that Sony "are considering making color e-book readers, but there is no electronic paper whose quality is high enough for us." In an interview with Tech-On!, the executive downplayed the potential market impact of convergence devices - such as smartbooks or Apple's iPad - on standalone ereaders such as Sony's Reader line. Read The Full Story

Brother SV-70: another pricey ereader for Japan

Chris Davies, Jan 28th 2010 Discuss [0]

Brother's hefty SV-100B "Document Reader" didn't make it over to the US or Europe, despite its Japanese launch early last year, but the company already have a second model to show. The Brother SV-70 has the same 9.7-inch 1,200 x 825 display as the SV-100B, and in fact the same dimensions (including a decent 15.5mm thickness). Read The Full Story

McGraw-Hill dumped from iPad keynote over loose-lipped CEO?

Chris Davies, Jan 28th 2010 Discuss [0]

Steve Jobs proudly announced five publisher partners for the iPad's new iBooks app yesterday -Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, MacMillan and Hachett Book Group - but according to Apple insiders one print heavyweight was conspicuously missing. McGraw-Hill was unceremoniously dropped from the keynote, after CES Harold McGraw III prematurely spilt the iPad beans earlier in the week. Read The Full Story

$12.99/$14.99 = the price of Apple tablet ebooks

Paul Fang, Jan 26th 2010 Discuss [1]

Publishers usually have the last word, but eleventh-hour negotiations with Apple disclosed by the WSJ say that Apple is urging for bestselling books to be sold for $12.99 or $14.99 (some maybe even at $9.99), and like the developer agreement on iPhone apps, Apple will take a estimated 30 percent cut. Read The Full Story

Acer ebook reader, Chrome OS netbooks, App Store and tablet in works for 2010

Chris Davies, Jan 25th 2010 Discuss [0]

Acer's plans for 2010 include ebook readers, Google Chrome OS netbooks, an app store and - potentially - a tablet running either a Microsoft or a Google platform, according to Jim Wong, the company's president of IT Products. The executive has revealed that by the end of June, Acer will have announced its first 6-inch E Ink based ereader, around the same time that the company expects to launch an app store with titles for Android, Windows and Windows Mobile; Chrome OS support will follow on later. Read The Full Story

BeBook Neo ereader: WiFi and Wacom touchscreen

Chris Davies, Jan 22nd 2010 Discuss [1]

It's obviously the day for wireless ebook readers, with BeBook announcing that they're taking preorders for their new BeBook Neo ereader. Packing a 6-inch E Ink panel with a Wacom touchscreen, the Neo may not have integrated 3G like some rivals we've seen, but it does get WiFi for accessing a range of third-party ebook stores. Read The Full Story

iRex DR800S ereaders now shipping

Chris Davies, Jan 22nd 2010 Discuss [0]

It's taken a while but the first iRex DR800S ereaders are finally shipping out to preorder customers. Over in the MobileRead forums owner mgmueller has been sharing some first-impressions and comparison shots between the 8.1-inch iRex and the Kindle DX, as well as answering questions about the roughly €500 ($706) device. Read The Full Story

Amazon ups Kindle royalties to 70%, with catches

Paul Fang, Jan 20th 2010 Discuss [0]

Amazon dropped a bomb this morning by announcing details of a new royalty program that will allow authors to earn royalties of 70 percent from each e-book sold. However, there some are catches, including:

Read The Full Story

ASUS Eee Pad Tegra 2 tablet tipped for Computex 2010; eReaders delayed?

Chris Davies, Jan 20th 2010 Discuss [0]

ASUS made little fanfare about their EeePC Touch Series Tablet at CES 2010, leaving it tucked away in a cabinet at NVIDIA's booth, but the latest rumors suggest that they'll be doing all that at Computex 2010 in June. According to DigiTimes' industry sources, the tablet will be known as the Eee Pad and it will indeed use NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chipset. Read The Full Story

HarperCollins negotiations to provide ebooks for Apple’s Tablet

Paul Fang, Jan 18th 2010 Discuss [0]

According to the Wall Street Journal, book publisher HarperCollins is in serious talks with Apple about a ebook deal for Apple’s heavily rumored yet still unconfirmed tablet that’s anticipated to be announced at the January 27th Apple press event. Read The Full Story

Columns

Kindle, DRM & the case for an ebook Marketplace

Chris Davies, Jan 15th 2010 Discuss [1]

Shortly before Christmas, Freescale sent me an Amazon Kindle to take a look at. On the surface, I should be the perfect audience for ebooks. I’ve never really invested in all that much digital music – I don’t own an iPod or another manufacturers’ PMP and I’ve only ever bought a few tracks online (and never with DRM) – instead using Spotify, the streaming music service, initially free and subsequently as a premium subscriber (which kills the ads and gives better quality audio), but I do love reading. I’d much rather read a book when travelling than listen to music, and it’s books that distract me from tech before I go to sleep each night. I’m also pretty obsessive about keeping my books in pristine condition: I’m one of those bizarre people who don’t like to crack the spine, and as such end up peering into a carefully spread gap.

So, voracious reader and obsessive-compulsive about book damage: ebooks, with instant Kindle download and no pesky spine to worry about, should be the ideal solution, right? As you probably guessed was coming, things haven’t quite worked out that way.