Kobo rolled out a new e-reader and three new tablets at an event in New York Tuesday evening. The company is also launching a digital newsstand and children’s ebookstore, and it partnered with read-it-later service Pocket.
The federal government outlined a revised punishment for Apple in the ebook pricing case Friday. It argued that Apple changed its in-app purchase rules to retaliate against Amazon. And it wants to make big changes in the way Apple does business in the iTunes Store.
On Friday afternoon, Apple and the federal government will meet in court to discuss Apple’s punishment in the ebook pricing case. Ahead of that conference, Apple argued for a stay, and the DOJ argued that the publishers have “banded together once again.”
Amazon, Kobo and Sony are petitioning the FCC to permanently exempt e-readers from laws requiring electronics to be accessible to the disabled. The companies say that if they were forced to comply with the law, the essential nature of e-readers would change.
Penguin reached a settlement with the federal government in the ebook pricing case back in December, but retailers have only just begun discounting its titles. Here’s a look at the discounts you can expect.
Ebook pricing strategies are changing fast as the market evolves and retailers and publishers amass more data. Here are some new tips.
Kobo said Tuesday that the $170 Aura HD e-reader now accounts for over a quarter of its device sales. And, the company said, 15 percent of its new customers are from the United States.
Kobo is now selling its e-readers directly through its website in the U.S. and Canada. Previously, customers had to go to third-party retailers to buy the devices.
Three independent bookstores have filed a class action suit against Amazon the big-six publishers, alleging that the proprietary DRM Amazon uses on ebooks creates a monopoly.
The long-delayed Bookish, a website backed by Hachette, Penguin and Simon & Schuster and designed to promote book discovery and sell books, launched Monday night and is designed to be a one-stop shop for readers looking for their next book.
