What's Behind Amazon's Kindle App Tweak?

Today Amazon announced that it's improving the code behind its Kindle app for iOS and Android to allow support for graphic novels and children's illustrated comics. The iOS app is also being polished to alow better searches of your library of downloaded titles and to better fit the iPad's screen. The kid's books get a dynamic Kindle Text Pop-Up so that words are easier to read, and comics get a special panel view.The timing is almost assuredly meant to snatch a bit of limelight in the moments after Apple revealed its powerful new iOS 6 software, destined to challenge every other tablet maker's efforts--including Amazon's (particularly if the long-rumored iPad mini does actually appear on sale later this year). Apple also operates in the ebooks space, and has made a big play for more interactive, graphical content in the ebooks it publishes in its own electronic bookstore, iBooks.While the cheap, relatively low-tech Fire is perhaps the hottest tablet to rival Apple's dominance of the market with the iPad, Amazon is rumored to be planning a more powerful 10-inch unit later in the year. That would be a direct competitor for the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch display, and possibly more suited to consuming movies and rich-media books and magazines served up from Amazon's own digital content stable (a direct rival to iTunes). Logic would suggest that Amazon may try a similar trick to the one it tried with the Fire, launching it at a significantly lower price than the iPad's $499... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'

[ Fast Company | 2012-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Starting to Name-Check iTunes "Top Grossing Apps"

From Yahoo's The Cutline: At a panel during the TechCrunch conference in New York last week, Greg Clayman, publisher of News Corp.'s Daily iPad publication, said the application had "almost a million downloads" since its launch in February. "This puts us in the large pantheon of large apps,"... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo, Nook Newcomers vs. Kindle: Chart

Barnes & Noble and Kobo are getting into the e-reader game with a new breed of touchscreen ebook readers, set for release in June Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon reveals frontlist deal for Eisler at BEA

Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Thu, 26/05/2011 - 08:52 Thriller writer Barry Eisler, who turned his back on a two-book deal for half a million dollars from St Martin’s Press, has decided to accept six figures from Amazon and become one of its first frontlist authors. The Eisler... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble Announces New Nook; Amazon Responds with Cheaper 3G

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch announced the new Nook, aimed at "those turned off by buttons." Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com lowers price of 3G Kindle with ads

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 09:23 Amazon.com has created a 3G version of its cheapest Kindle after it become the company’s bestselling e-reader. The internet retailing giant announced that it was selling Kindle 3G with Special Offers in "response to customer... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Publishing Plans Cause Rivals Some Unease

Earlier in the week, Amazon announced that it was hiring Laurence Kirshbaum, the former CEO of Time Warner Book Group, to head a new publishing imprint. This seems like an odd time for Amazon to be making its mark on the pubishing industry: book sales are down, major book chains like Borders are... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Kirshbaum move could reduce competition—BEA

Written By: Gayle Feldman Publication Date: Tue, 24/05/2011 - 09:41 Responses to Amazon.com's hire of Laurence Kirshbaum as publisher have varied from worried to fear of a "dampening" effect on competition among delegates at the BEA conference. Word that started to spread Sunday night was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Secret World of Apps

Last week, Apple went to Washington, D.C., to answer questions from U.S. lawmakers about consumer privacy in the mobile marketplace. The visit was triggered by the discovery that Apple’s iPads and iPhones tracked and kept users’ locations for up to a year, creating a step-by-step picture of... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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QOTD: About Those Amazon E-Book Sales…

“As a former Amazon Associate, I can tell you that a great many sales of Kindle Books are for the 99¢ complete Dickens, etc.” –Movie critic and Web publisher Roger Ebert, providing some context for Amazon’s stat about Kindle ebooks outselling print books. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Book Sales Pass Print on Amazon

While the Rapture isn’t scheduled to occur until Saturday, according to members of certain religious fringe groups, it looks like doomsday has come early for publishers of print books. Amazon announced Thursday that sales of ebooks on the site have finally surpassed combined sales of hardcovers... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Books Outsell Print Books at Amazon

Amazon.com said that it sold 105 ebooks for every 100 printed books, a milestone that its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, said had occurred sooner than expected. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon to accept ePub files

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 09:59 Amazon has told US publishers that it will begin accepting digital files in the ePub format in the near future and will also allow users of its Kindle device to read ePub files. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Report: 40 Percent of App Users Opt To Share Data With Publishers

Apple's attempts at limiting publisher requests for consumer data and the conversion of first-time downloads into regular users have been two of the larger stumbling blocks for magazine publishers building a business around apps. A new report from digital publishing vendor Yudu Media suggests... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Build an App on Any Budget

E&P Exclusive: Small publishers don't need deep pockets to build mobile apps for their newspapers. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Adobe Aiming to Be the App Fulfillment Middle Man

Coinciding with the recent news that Conde Nast is the latest publisher to come to an agreement with Apple to offer subscription capabilities for its magazine apps, Adobe separately revealed a little bit more about how it actually helps facilitate those subs. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Charlaine Harris sells 1m Kindle ebooks

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:19 Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series of novels, has become the latest writer to sell more than one million Kindle ebooks through Amazon. The author, who is published by Gollancz in the UK, joins Stieg... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon to Publish New Line of Romances [Voices]

Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its fast-growing publishing business with a new line of romance books, its latest quest for original content to distinguish its print and digital bookselling services. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sandra Boynton Demonstrates App, Signs Books--and a Few Nooks

Monday night’s Sandra Boynton book event at the Barnes & Noble on Manhattan’s Upper East Side looked like a pretty normal book signing--normal for Boynton, the bestselling children’s book author, anyway. Toddlers and slightly older kids, some dressed in pajamas, crammed into the event space,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Argos takes on Amazon with book push

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:30 High street retailer Argos intends to increase its online book range from 500 to 5,000 titles over the next month. The chain store, known for stocking a large range of non-food products, launched its books category on its... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Al Gore's Next Invention: The Future of Books? (Cheap Shot, But Cool App) [NetworkEffect]

Push Pop Press, a digital book publishing platform, went live with its first title this week, Al Gore's "Our Choice," available as an iOS app for $4.99. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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