In a filing with the United States district court for southern New York, Apple claims the Department of Justice has its story all wrong. The Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Apple and multiple book publishers earlier this week alleging that the group colluded to fix the prices of electronic books. In a recently released document filed with the court on Wednesday, Apple’s counsel addressed the charges by claiming the DOJ has its story backwards — Apple wasn’t working with publishers to fix eBook prices, it was breaking Amazon’s “monopolistic grip” on the eBook market and the publishing industry. Read on for more.

“The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true,” Apple stated in its filing, according to Fortune. The document continued, “The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry.”

The company goes on to state that the iBookstore and Apple’s iBooks product have done a huge service for the electronic book industry rather than harm it. Amazon had a 90% share of the eBook market when Apple entered the space, but the retail giant’s share has reportedly dropped to as low as 60% since Apple launched the iBookstore in 2010.

“Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging,” Apple said, proceeding to place the blame for any possible wrongdoing squarely on the shoulders of book publishers. ”Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.”

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Three separate lawsuits have been filed in China on behalf of 12 writers who claim Apple is selling unlicensed versions of their works in its iBookstore. Apple is accused of selling 59 unlicensed works in total, and the three suits seek a combined $3.5 million in damages. Apple has not denied the allegations, though the company did say that it responds to intellectual property complaints quickly. “As an IP holder ourselves, we understand the importance of protecting intellectual property and when we receive complaints we respond promptly and appropriately,” Beijing-based Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu told the Associated Press. Wang Guohua, a lawyer representing the group of writers, said Apple violated copyright laws by making the books available for purchase without securing the necessary licenses. Wang also said that while some titles were removed after lawsuits were filed in January, many have been uploaded to Apple’s digital store again and Apple has not taken the appropriate measures to prevent the pirated books from being sold. ”Some developers, with whom Apple has contracts, put them back online again,” he said. “It is encouragement in disguise, because they did not punish the developers. The developers could have been kicked out. But nothing happened to them.”

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In a special January event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Apple’s VP of marketing Phil Schiller announced that the Cupertino-based company was looking to change the textbook industry with iBooks 2 and iBooks Author. McGraw Hill Education believes that the new iPad, which was announced on March 7th, will truly revolutionize education. According to Vineet Madan, McGraw Hill’s vice president of new ventures, the discounted iPad 2 will now allow more schools to deploy iPads to their students for education. “I’ve long thought that the tipping-point price for a tablet is between $200 and $300,” Madan said in an interview with TPM. “Now that the entry-level iPad 2 has dropped by $100, and it’s now $399 for a 16 gigabyte version, we’ll see much more uptake. The iPad 2 still a phenomenally powerful device [and] our content performs incredibly well on that device. At the same time, we can build better things for new iPad.” Read on for more.

Madan believes the new iPad changed the game completely, thanks to its high-resolution Retina Display and 4G LTE support. “Think about LTE,” Madan said, “You could be anywhere and can immediately pull up all sorts of high-res, data-rich content. You can stream it instantaneously and you don’t have pulling down gigs and gigs of content and storing it on the app locally.”

The VP also took some swings at Android tablets while praising the iPads battery life. “Battery life is another huge factor that many people don’t think about, including those behind some of the Android tablets,” he said. “When you’re thinking about learning, you don’t have to worry about charging device in between every class.”

All in all, Madan believes it’s a good time to be in school. “There’s never been a better time to be a student, whether that’s K through 12 or in higher education,” he said, “The access to learning materials, the access to content through the web, the access to resources is not something many of us could have even considered five years ago, and I say this as a father of three young children.”

Kobo, purveyor of eReaders and eBook software across a variety of platforms, announced on Tuesday that it will be acquired by Japan-based Rakuten. Rakuten will purchase 100% of outstanding shares of of Kobo for $315 million in cash. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Kobo was spun off of Canadian retailer Indigo in late 2009, and the company has struggled to compete against the likes of Amazon and Barnes & Noble in the eBook space. ”We are very excited about this next step,” said Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani in a statement. ”Kobo provides one of the world’s most communal eBook reading experiences with its innovative integration of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter; while Rakuten offers Kobo unparalleled opportunities to extend its reach through some of the world’s largest regional e-commerce companies, including Buy.com in the US, Tradoria in Germany, Rakuten Brazil, Rakuten Taiwan, Lekutian in China, TARAD in Thailand, and Rakuten Belanja Online in Indonesia, and of course, Rakuten Ichiba in Japan.” Kobo’s full press release follows below.

Rakuten to Acquire Kobo

Kobo, a Global Leader in eReading Expands Rakuten Offering to Include eBooks and eReaders Worldwide

TOKYO and TORONTO, November 8/9, 2011 — Rakuten, Inc. (JASDAQ: 4755) and Kobo Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Rakuten intends to acquire 100% of total issued and outstanding shares of Kobo for US$315 million in cash.

Kobo was founded by and spun out of Indigo, the largest book, gift and specialty toy retailer in Canada, in December, 2009. Since that time, Kobo has become a fierce competitor in the eBook marketplace, with a family of innovative eReaders, a wide range of eReading apps, one of the largest eBook catalogues, an innovative social platform and retail partners around the globe.

The acquisition marks a major step forward for Rakuten, one of the world’s top 3 e-commerce companies by revenue, as it continues to expand its unique B2B2C borderless e-commerce business globally, by adding an ecosystem to provide downloadable media products to consumers, starting with eBooks.

Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, commented on the acquisition, “We are very excited about this next step. Kobo provides one of the world’s most communal eBook reading experiences with its innovative integration of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter; while Rakuten offers Kobo unparalleled opportunities to extend its reach through some of the world’s largest regional e-commerce companies, including Buy.com in the US, Tradoria in Germany, Rakuten Brazil, Rakuten Taiwan, Lekutian in China, TARAD in Thailand, and Rakuten Belanja Online in Indonesia, and of course, Rakuten Ichiba in Japan.”

“From a business and cultural perspective this is a perfect match,” commented Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis. “We share a common vision of creating a content experience that is both global and social. Rakuten is already one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, while Kobo is the most social eBook service on the market and one of the world’s largest eBook stores with over 2.5 million titles. This transaction will greatly strengthen our position in our current markets and allow us to diversify quickly into other countries and e-commerce categories.”

Upon closing the acquisition, Kobo will continue to maintain its headquarters, management team and employees based in Toronto, Ontario.

The global eBook market is one of the fastest growing segments of the consumer technology industry, with a compound annual growth rate of 36% through 2015*. The global content market size is also expected to grow dramatically to reach approximately US$10.6 billion per year by 2015 (estimates exclude China).

*Sources: Based on forecasts by IDC, Yankee, BCG analysis & NRI for Japan 1USD= 80JPY

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Canadian regulatory authorities in accordance with the Investment Canada Act and is expected to close in Q1 2012.

We’re live from Barnes & Noble’s press conference here in New York City where the bookseller is expected to take the wraps off its sequel to the Nook Color tablet. Though the firm used a heavily customized, unrecognizable version of Google’s Android platform to power the original Nook Color, it is still one of the most popular Android tablets in the short history of the media tablet category. Barnes & Noble has reportedly shipped more than 3 million Nook Color slates to date, and with Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire ready to heat things up beginning next week, we’re hoping B&N has a few surprises up its sleeve this morning to keep the space competitive. Hit the break for our live coverage and don’t forget to refresh the page often, or enable auto-refresh, for all the latest news as it breaks.

9:55AM:Ok guys, we're seated and people are still filing in. No 5-minute warning yet so we'll probably get started a few minutes late.

9:59AM:Ok! They just announced that the show is about to start.

10:00AM:B&N CEO William Lynch is now taking the stage.

10:01AM:No company in digital content has grown faster in the past 12 months has grown faster that B&N. They now sell 27% of eBooks.

10:02AM:The Nook Color was the first color eReader with tablet functionality. "We sold millions."

10:03AM:The Nook Color has access to the largest catalog of magazines and children's content. It's the number 2 tablet in the world behind the iPad.

10:04AM:Well that was fast! Lynch just announced the Nook tablet and we're watching a video.

10:05AM:As you can see, it looks just like the original Nook Color, and it's being billed as B&N's lightest, fastest tablet yet.

10:06AM:It's hands-down the best media tablet in the 7-inch class. 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM.

10:07AM:It weight under 1 pound and it can be held comfortably during extended periods of time. If features a "Vivid View" display built by LG that B&N is billing as a huge breakthrough in the tablet space.

10:07AM:The Nook Tablet gets free access to AT&T and B&N WiFi hotspots.

10:08AM:Battery life = up to 9 hours of video! It also supports up to 11.5 hours of reading time.

10:09AM:It supports video playback up to 1080p, and it comes pre-loaded with apps for Netflix and Hulu Plus. "It has the deepest Netflix integration of any tablet."

10:09AM:

10:10AM:The Nook bookstore is now home to over 2.5 million books.

10:11AM:The Nook Tablet supports a feature called "read and record," while allows parents to record themselves reading a book. The child can then play the recordings back at a later time.

10:12AM:B&N already has the largest library of top magazines, and they're expanding their library even further alongside the launch of the Nook Tablet.

10:13AM:B&N has been working with thousands of developers to build a huge catalog of apps for the Nook Tablet. Yup, Angry Birds will be there at launch...

10:14AM:It ships with 16GB of internal storage and it supports up 32GB of external storage as well

10:14AM:On top of all that storage, you also get Nook Cloud access for cloud-based storage.

10:16AM:Lynch says the Nook Tablet is clearly the better choice this holiday season versus the Kindle Fire.

10:17AM:The Nook Tablet features a better display with no air gap, double the storage plus expandable memory, and the Nook Tablet is also lighter.

10:17AM:"Nook tablet is lighter than Kindle Fire at under a pound."

10:17AM:The Nook Tablet was hand-designed while the Kindle Fire used the BlackBerry PlayBook design, and it sports twice the RAM.

10:18AM:"Content will look and render better on the Nook Tablet than on the Kindle Fire."

10:19AM:The Nook Tablet is also supported by people at Barnes & Noble stores. Kindle Fire? Good luck getting support...

10:19AM:The Nook tablet will cost 249. Pre-orders start now and it becomes available next week.

10:22AM:Jamie Iannone is now on stage to discuss B&N's digital portfolio. "The Nook Color is the best selling Android tablet in the world," and now the price is being cut to 199.

10:22AM:B&N is pushing out an update to the original Nook Color that features 100 new improvements.

10:23AM:"The Nook Color will have access to all of the content we announced with the Nook Tablet."

10:24AM:B&N is adding fast access to the web and email, along with tons of new content sources.

10:24AM:

10:24AM:The black and white Nook touch is being updated with a new E Ink display as well.

10:25AM:It will also feature a new Best-Text technology that renders text more clearly than any other E Ink display. Beyond that, it sports up to 2 months of battery life.

10:26AM:Starting today, the Nook SimpleTouch is just 99, down from its launch price of 149.

10:27AM:The Nook SimpleTouch (new name for the black and white reader) features a better display and twice the battery life of Amazon's competitive offerings.

10:28AM:"No annoying ads, whether the device is on or off." The crowd chuckled. Amazon charges an extra $40 to turn off ads.

10:29AM:The previous-gen black and white eReader is getting an update that will add the new page-turning tech from the updated SimpleTouch.

10:29AM:The Nook SimpleTouch is available today.

10:30AM:New Nook Digital Shops will be set up in B&N stores to show off and promote Nook products.

10:32AM:That's it! We're going to go try to get some hands-on time with the new Nook Tablet. Thanks for tuning in!

Barnes & Noble is holding a press conference on Monday morning where the company is expected to unveil a new color eBook reader that will go head-to-head with Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Fire tablet. According to a recent report, the slate in question will be Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color 2 and it will feature a 7-inch 1024 x 600-pixel display, 16GB of storage, 1GB of RAM and a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4 processor. Rumors also suggest the tablet will be priced at $249, $50 more than the hotly anticipated Amazon Kindle Fire, but nothing is confirmed until Barnes & Noble executives take the stage on Monday morning.

Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins tomorrow morning, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Barnes & Noble’s press conference! Coverage will begin just before 10:00 a.m. EST / 7:00 a.m. PST.

As Amazon prepares to launch its first tablet offering this fall, the tech press seems to be in agreement that the device will give owners deeply integrated access to the company’s suite of digital services. It will download books from Amazon’s Kindle book store, stream music from the company’s Cloud Player service, pull down movies from Amazon Instant Video, and provide a window into Amazon’s numerous additional services. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is also working on a new service its tablet offering might take advantage of down the road: Netflix for books. Read on for more.

The subscription eBook service is currently in early development stages according to the report, so it may be some time before anything launches. If launched, Amazon’s service will allow users to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to a collection of Kindle books, though the company is still trying to get publishers on board so it is unclear what kind of titles might be available.

Amazon is reportedly trying to position the service in such a way that a catalog of older titles would be made available to Amazon Prime subscribers, but the hope is that Amazon isn’t stopping there. Access to new titles and best-sellers will likely be paramount to the success of the service, so the case will have to be made that such a service would create new revenue opportunities for popular titles as opposed to stripping sales of individual titles, as logic might dictate.

The report also notes that publishers are worried about Amazon’s proposed subscription eBook service as it may strain their relationships with other book vendors.

Kobo on Monday took the wraps off its latest eBook reader, which touts one feature in particular that should be of interest to future eReader buyers: touch. The unveiling comes just one day ahead of Barnes & Nobles’s press event in New York City — which we’ll be covering live — where the company is expected to introduce its new black and white NOOK. The Kobo eReader Touch Edition, also a black and white reader, features a 6-inch “Real Touch” E Ink touchscreen display with 16 shades of grey, Wi-Fi connectivity and a library of over 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazines, including over a million free titles. Kobo’s new eReader can store up to 1,000 books locally and another 30,000 on a removable SD card, and it weighs in at a feather-light 200 grams. The Kobo eReader Touch Edition is available for pre-order immediately from Best Buy, Walmart, Borders and Indigo for $129.99, and it will begin shipping in July. Kobo’s previous-generation reader has dropped to $99.99 as of Monday. Hit the break for Kobo’s full press release and a video.

KOBO LAUNCHES THE ALL-NEW KOBO eREADER™ TOUCH EDITION,

MAKES eREADING EASIER THAN EVER
Introduces an Amazing New Real Touch™ Experience
Beautiful New Design That Travels Easily Anywhere
The Ultimate in Reading Comfort
Access to Millions of Titles with Wi Fi
Plus, Reading Life Social Experience
First International eReader – Available in 6 Languages
Available for Pre-Order Today, In Stores for Father’s Day, Summer Vacation Reading

BOOK EXPO AMERICA, NEW YORK – May 23, 2011 – Kobo, a global leader in eReading with more than 3.6 million users in over 100 countries worldwide, today announced the launch of the all-new Kobo eReader Touch Edition.  With a revolutionary new touch screen experience, Kobo makes eReading easier than ever and makes it even more accessible to people around the world.  Created for readers by readers, the beautiful new design provides the ultimate in reading comfort and is the most portable eReader – thin and light, it travels easily anywhere.  The new device also includes Reading Life, Kobo’s social experience, that lets users earn awards just for reading.

Starting today, the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition will be available for pre-order at leading retailers across North America including Indigo (www.indigo.ca), Best Buy (www.bestbuy.ca), Walmart (www.walmart.ca) and Borders (www.borders.com) for an MSRP of $129.99 USD and $139 CAD.  The new eReader will ship in early June, in time for Father’s Day and graduation gifting, and includes a $10 Gift Card*.  The new Kobo eReader Touch comes in an array of new colors and debuts with a line of stylish new accessories, making it the perfect gift.

As of today, the first generation Kobo Wi Fi goes to a new everyday low price of $99.99 USD and $109 CAD. Kobo pioneered the affordable eReader in May 2010, and now after record sales, the company is introducing its newest edition to deliver an experience that is easy and enjoyable for everyone, everywhere, now more portable and comfortable, and available in 6 languages – it’s truly the first International eReader.

Kobo’s Real Touch™ experience uses Neonode’s new zForce™ infrared touch technology to make reading on Kobo just like that of reading a real book.  With the latest Pearl E Ink™ technology, reading on the new Kobo eReader is just like reading print on paper – it’s easy on the eyes, even in bright sunlight.  The new eReader is powered by the new Freescale™ i.MX508 processor, a high-performance engine designed to enable fast page turning for electronic paper displays.   A reading lover’s dream, the new device boasts storage of up to 30,000 books with expandable memory.

“The new Kobo eReader is a major advance for readers.  We started with a simple, yet powerful idea – to bring eReading to more people in more places, and inspire people around the world to spend more time reading.  At a time when technology is disrupting all media, Kobo’s focus on the importance of reading has resulted in a revolutionary new experience for readers,” said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo Inc.  “This is the first eReader you can put in your pocket, take with you anywhere and read for hours just like a real book, with ultimate comfort and no distraction.  The new Kobo eReader is designed for people who love to read.”

Named one of the powerhouses in eReading by Time.com¹ in 2011, Kobo has experienced explosive growth since its founding in December 2009, with a catalog of more than 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazines.  Purely focused on eReading, Kobo has driven many industry firsts such as support for Android, eBook gifting and its social experience – Reading Life. Kobo has customers in over 100 countries, local stores in English speaking countries and recently announced local stores in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands which will launch beginning this month.  Kobo has become the partner of choice for leading tablet OEM’s such as Samsung and RIM, and powers book retailers in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the UK.

Visit the Kobo booth (#2102) at BookExpo America (May 24–26) in the Digital Zone, to learn about the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition.  Plus, visit Borders-Manhattan (Columbus Circle) on Tuesday, May 24 from 12 noon – 2pm to see a demonstration of the Kobo eReader Touch Edition. Customers who pre-order the Kobo eReader Touch will receive free priority shipping on their order. Readers can also purchase the Kobo Wireless eReader for the low price of $79.99 and receive a $10 Borders gift card with their purchase.  In addition, one customer will win a Kobo Wireless eReader during the demonstration event.

* While quantities last.

¹  Harry McCracken, ‘Your Best eReader May Be No eReader,’ Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, Technologizer -Time.com

——————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Kobo eReader Touch Edition: Features Overview

AMAZING NEW REAL TOUCH™ EXPERIENCE – Now with new Infrared Touch Technology, eReading just got easier!  You can swipe to turn pages, just like a real book!  With our intuitive new Real Touch™ interface, you can highlight a phrase, lookup a word, zoom into an image, increase the font size, or quickly navigate through a book as well as your entire library.  Finding your next read is also quick and easy with a virtual keyboard.  We’ve taken the buttons out, so you can focus on reading.

·         New zForce™ Infrared touch technology – Uses Neonode’s patented touch-screen technology, zForce™, to deliver market-leading finger navigation including gestures, multi-touch, sweeps and much more

·         New Pearl 6”  E Ink Screen – Equipped with the newest E Ink Screen featuring 16 level grey scale, the Kobo eReader Touch is a highly responsive and intuitive experience designed to help you forget about the device and focus on reading

·         High Performance Engine – Powered by Freescale™ i.MX508 for ultra fast page turning and low power consumption

·         Tap or Swipe to Turn Pages – Easily read and turn pages by swiping or tapping the screen – it’s just like reading a real book

·         Beautiful Home Screen – A beautiful, geometric mosaic of your most recently opened and newly added reads lets you easily find and open what you’re looking for with just one touch

·         Long Press for Highlights and Look Up – Long press on a word to bring up the highlighting tool – save favorite passages or look up a word using the built-in Merriam-Webster Dictionary

·         New Search and Virtual Keyboard – The Kobo eReader Touch Edition virtual keyboard makes it easy to find the book you’re looking for. Plus, the new predictive search feature automatically offers suggestions that match your query – before you’re even done typing

·         New Browse Experience – Navigating the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition is an intuitive experience – use the book browser to easily navigate through an entire chapter in a book; use simple page controls to move quickly through your library of books

·         Customizable Fonts – 2 font styles and 12 font sizes allows you to enjoy a read that is suited to your preferences and easy on your eyes

·         Bookmark Where You Last Left Off – or book mark several places. Plus, read across devices and pick up from the last page read with Kobo’s synched bookmark technology

·         PDF Zoom and Landscape – Zoom in 200% on image-intensive PDFs with a simple double tap. Drag to pan around images or touch Rotate to change from portrait to landscape and back

BEAUTIFUL NEW DESIGN – With design partner IDEO, Kobo spent months listening to users to build a truly advanced reader that delivers a ‘true to life’ experience.  With the Kobo-signature soft quilted back and travel friendly size, the new Kobo eReader Touch offers the ultimate reading experience.

·         Iconic, Striking New Design – Now with latest 6” Pearl E Ink screen, Kobo’s latest edition introduces a contemporary design that puts the focus on reading

·         Single Home Button -With our new touch experience, we’ve eliminated the clutter so you can focus on reading.  The Kobo eReader Touch Edition has just one button, making navigation easy.  Books don’t have keyboards – neither should your eReader

·         The Ultimate in Reading Comfort – With our signature quilted soft-touch back, you can read for hours, plus the Kobo eReader Touch Edition is lightweight and thinner than most paperbacks

·         The Perfect Size for Readers – Fits in your pocket easily, so you can take it with you everywhere

·         Read in Style – Comes in an assortment of stylish new colors for any occasion. Choose from Lilac, Blue, Silver and Black

ACCESS MILLIONS of TITLES: Easily connect via Wi Fi or USB to access more than 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazines from the Kobo Store.  Also borrow and read books from your local library.

·         Get Free Book Previews – Comes pre-loaded with 15 hand-picked FREE previews of the hottest new books – browse and preview millions of other titles in the Kobo store

·         One of the Largest Stores Worldwide – More than 2.3 million eBooks, with titles ranging from the New York Times’ bestseller list, the hottest new releases, thrillers, romance, Oprah’s Picks and more – there is an eBook for everyone

·         Popular Newspapers and Magazines – Enjoy free 2-week trials of the most popular newspapers and magazines

·         Over 1 Million FREE Titles – Kobo offers over 1 million free and engaging classics from Anna Karenina, to Pride and Prejudice, to Dracula!

·         Visit Your Local Library – With the new Kobo eReader Touch you can easily borrow and read eBooks from your local public library

·         Supports the Most Content – In addition to reading eBooks from the Kobo bookstore, you can also read eBooks from other eBook stores that use the ePub format – plus read PDF documents, and books

·         Buy and Download in Minutes – With just a few quick taps, you can browse, buy and download eBooks to your Kobo eReader Touch over Wi Fi

·         Shop and Read on Any Device With Kobo: Visit kobo.com, use the Kobo Desktop or use an AndroidÔ phone, iPhoneÒ, iPadÒ, Blackberry® Smartphone or Blackberry® PlayBook to browse and shop the Kobo store.  Your library will always be kept up to date with Kobo Sync

EARN AWARDS JUST FOR READING:  Kobo extends Reading Life to the new Kobo eReader Touch Edition – Reading Life is the most comprehensive social eReading experience and an industry-first social platform.

·         Discover Your Reading Style – Gain insight into your unique eReading fingerprint with Reading Life Stats – you can track the minutes per reading session of your current read, the number of pages you’ve turned, plus see an overview of books completed in your library

·         Celebrate Reading with Awards – Earn fun and exciting awards!  Connect and share your Reading Life with friends on Facebook.  The Twain: read daily for 2 weeks; The Juggernaut: read over 10,000 pages; Kill the Commute:  read during your morning commute.  Coming soon – users can earn awards and rewards just for spending time reading!

·         Available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android in addition to the Kobo eReader Touch

Love Reading Life? You can sync with your Android-enabled phone, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and experience your Reading Life across devices

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL EREADER: To bring eReading to people around the world in their own language, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition will be available in multiple languages:  English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.  Readers will enjoy a localized user experience, local content, recommendations and a local store.

AVAILABILITY:

·         Available for pre-order starting today at leading retailers across North America including Indigo (www.indigo.ca), Best Buy (bestbuy.ca), Walmart (www.walmart.ca), and Borders (www.borders.com) for MSRP of $129.99 USD and $139 CAD

·         Available for in-store purchase beginning early June

·         As of today, the first generation Kobo Wi Fi goes to a new everyday low price of $99.99 USD and $109 CAD while quantities last

·         The Kobo eReader Touch Edition will ship to retailers worldwide in July

For more information, visit www.kobo.com/ereaders.

Titles from major book publisher Random House will now appear in Apple’s iBooks store. The news was one of many talking points covered earlier today at Apple’s media event. Random House had previously been the only major publisher not represented in Apple’s popular iOS book store, as it was not willing to grant Apple the 30% cut taken on titles sold through iBooks. The addition of Random House is a major coup for Apple as it looks to compete with the likes of Amazon’s Kindle bookstore and other popular offerings. Hit the break for Apple’s full press release.

Random House, Inc. Makes Entire US Catalog of 17,000 ebooks Available on Apple’s iBookstore

iBookstore Now Features More than 2,500 Publishers, Including All Six Major Trade Publishers

SAN FRANCISCO—March 2, 2011—Apple® today announced that Random House, Inc., the largest trade book publisher in the US, has made its full catalog of 17,000 ebooks available on Apple’s iBookstore℠, including bestsellers by Stieg Larsson, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, Laura Hillenbrand, Cormac McCarthy, Lee Child and many more of the world’s preeminent authors. Starting today, customers can pre-order upcoming releases from Random House including Lisa Gardner’s “Love You More,” Suze Orman’s “The Money Class” and Jean Auel’s “The Land of Painted Caves.” With the addition of Random House, the iBookstore now offers ebooks from all six major trade publishers and thousands of independent publishers.

“We are delighted that Apple’s iBookstore now will be carrying Random House’s US ebooks for the first time,” said Markus Dohle, Random House’s Chairman and CEO. “And we look forward to bringing our 17,000 ebooks to Apple customers.”

“We’re thrilled to offer Random House on the iBookstore,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “iBookstore customers have already downloaded more than 100 million books in less than one year, and we think they’ll love being able to choose from Random House’s incredible selection of titles to enjoy on their iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.”

iBookstore customers can choose from a wide selection of illustrated and video-enhanced books that look incredible on iPad™, including Jay-Z’s memoir “Decoded” and Bing West’s “The Wrong War”; bestselling children’s series such as Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones; and cookbooks by Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, and the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Random House, Inc. comprises more than 80 adult and children’s US publishing imprints including Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Crown, Pantheon Books, Vintage, Ballantine and Bantam.

The iBookstore, included in Apple’s free iBooks® app, is the best way to browse, buy and read books on your iPad, iPhone® and iPod touch®. iBookstore offers ebooks from more than 2,500 publishers in more than 20 categories, including Mysteries & Thrillers, Biographies & Memoirs, Cookbooks, Children’s & Teen, Humor, Romance, Business and Travel.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

It took quite a while, but Amazon’s Kindle application is finally available for the Windows Phone 7 platform as of Tuesday evening. The app offers exactly what you think it might — the ability to purchase and read over 750,000 eBooks in Amazon’s library, free access to preview the first chapter of each, Amazon’s Whispersync service to keep data in sync across devices, personalized recommendations and more. As is expected, the app is a smooth operator on Windows Phone 7 devices, and the design works very well with Microsoft’s Metro UI. The Kindle app for Windows Phone 7 is free, of course, and can be installed from the read link below.

Read [Zune link]

The Amazon Kindle’s position as one of the top electronics gifts of the 2010 holiday season is reaffirmed today as Amazon notes that the Wi-Fi-only version of its popular eBook reader is currently sold out. New orders will not be delivered until after Christmas, and Amazon suggests interested parties purchase the more expensive Kindle 3G instead, if delivery by Christmas is desired.

Due to overwhelming customer demand, Kindle (Wi-Fi) is temporarily out of stock. Orders placed today will arrive after December 24th. Order now to reserve your place in line. Our Kindle 3G for $189 is still available in time for Christmas.

Amazon’s Kindle Wi-Fi is very affordable at $139, and it currently sits at No. 2 on Amazon’s list of best-selling products. The Kindle 3G — which, at $189, costs $50 more than the Wi-Fi-only version — is No. 1 on the list.

Thanks, Mike

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Apple updated its popular eBook reader application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on Wednesday. iBooks 1.2 adds a variety of new functionality, including the addition of fully illustrated books, the ability to organize books into collections and AirPrint support. Apple’s full change log is as follows:

• Experience fully illustrated books, from children’s picture books to beautifully designed art books, available for download in the iBookstore.
• Organize your books and PDFs into personal Collections. Swipe left or right to jump between Collections.
• Print PDF documents and notes you’ve written in iBooks using AirPrint.
• iBooks now fits more words per page by automatically hyphenating text, available only on iOS 4.2 or later.

The updated iBooks app is available immediately, and current iBooks users will be notified of the update the next time they open the App Store.

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Following a report on Tuesday questioning the ethics surrounding free public-domain eBooks that were reformatted and made available for sale in Amazon’s Kindle store, BGR has learned that a similar scenario exists in Barnes & Noble’s NOOKbook store. In a thread entitled Scammers and Bottom Feeders: NOOKBooks Open for Business on Barnes & Noble’s public forums, users share a variety of complaints surrounding public-domain eBooks that are available for sale in the NOOKbook store. Beyond the ethical questions surrounding this practice, some users also raise concerns surrounding the inevitable clutter that results when “bottom feeders” post multiple copies of the same book for sale. One forum member lists 10 separate copies of the Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities for sale that have been uploaded to the NOOKbook store by various third-parties. The famous Dickens novel is a public-domain work that is available for free through numerous outlets.

Whether or not Amazon and Barnes & Noble plan to put measures in place to prevent the sale of free public-domain eBooks remains to be seen — though it is important to note again that while this practice is certainly unethical, it is not illegal.

Thanks, Bic

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A report in Tuesday’s Washington Post reveals that Amazon is apparently selling free public-domain eBooks that have had their license information stripped. The eBooks in question originate from Project Gutenberg and are available there for free in a variety of formats including ePub, HTML and Kindle. Project Gutenberg — not to be confused with 80s legend Steve Guttenberg — was founded by eBook inventor Michael Hart and is known as the first generally available collection of free eBooks. It is also maintained by volunteers who are not paid for their services. Amazon’s alleged practice of selling rebranded Gutenberg eBooks is not illegal — in fact it doesn’t even violate Project Gutenberg’s license terms. It is, however, unethical at best and very disturbing at worst. In response to inquiries, an Amazon spokeswoman told the Post, “These books were uploaded by a third party using our self-service platform. I’ve sent your note to the appropriate team internally.” Amazon did not state that the Gutenberg eBooks would be removed from its Kindle store, nor did it condemn the practice of selling reformatted versions of free public-domain eBook files.

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Even though most schools are now shut down for summer, that doesn’t mean that companies have given up trying to selling products to students. Amazon today announced that it has refreshed its Kindle DX. Now featuring an even better 9.7″ E Ink display that boasts a 50% increase in contrast ratio, the next-gen Kindle DX also received a price drop and now stands at an attractive $379. The only other major difference is that the Kindle DX is now graphite as opposed to white. The Kindle DX is available now for pre-order and is set to ship on July 7th.

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