ePublishing: eBooks, Kindle, ePub, and Paper

Amazon mounted the first serious challenge to Apple, and while adopting Google’s Android OS, it chose to de-Google their version as it launched it’s much-anticipated colour tablet, the Kindle Fire at the quite reachable $199 price point.

This is a huge step up from the their non-touch, e-ink readers. As well as targeting Apple’s iPad, Amazon has set its sights on rival bookseller US Barnes & Noble.

Amazon’s much predicted Kindle tablet will cost $250 US and launch this November, according to M. G. Siegler at Techcrunch.

Initially the device is said to have a 7 inch LED capacitive multi-touch screen, with a single-core chip running a “forked” version of Android – i.e. one which does not rely on Google’s OS updates – with a small-ish 6GB of storage. This will be followed by a 10 inch version in 2012.

No images as yet.

Given the price point and Amazon’s retail dominance, this represents the first serious competition for the iPad.

Microsoft has sued huge US bookseller Barnes & Noble over their eBook reader, the Nook, as well as Inventec and Foxconn who developed the device on Google’s Android platform.

Microsoft press release said, “The Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft’s patents, and companies manufacturing and shipping Android devices must respect our intellectual property rights,” said Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel of Microsoft’s intellectual property and licensing.

“We have tried for over a year to reach licensing agreements with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec. Their refusals to take licenses leave us no choice but to bring legal action to defend our innovations.”

In an eBook price-fixing investigation, European agents raided several as yet unnamed European publishers last week. The pressure comes as the UK Office of Fair Trading continues its own investigations into the pricing of eBooks.

The European Commission said its agents had “reason to believe” that several unnamed companies across Europe “may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and other restrictive business practices”. (Telegraph)

Meanwhile, 26 year old Amanda Hocking is reported to have become a millionaire by self-publishing her vampire fiction using a very different pricing model – $3, and $.99 – and retaining 70% of profits.

Looks very much like the existing publishing industry is making exactly the same mistakes the music industry made when it was first impacted by technology in the form of digital distribution.

The Independent newspaper reports that the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) a consumer protection watchdog has launched an enquiry into anti-competitive practises in the fast-growing eBook industry following a “significant number” of complaints:

The regulator did not name any of the parties affected by the inquiry, but is investigating whether any of the industry deals were anti-competitive and could affect trade in the UK. The investigation will be led by Andrew Groves, deputy director of the OFT. The issue focuses on publishers’ ability to set e-book prices using the “agency” pricing model, which has been held responsible for stifling competition.

In August, Connecticut’s attorney-general said his office had started an investigation into the pricing of digital books over concerns that agreements between retailers and publishers were anti-competitive. It has expressed these concerns to Apple and Amazon.

The news from the OFT came a day after Sony attacked Apple, saying the Californian electronics giant was blocking Sony’s customers from reading e-books on Apple’s devices.

Apple has blocked Sony from offering software that will allow iPad and iPhone users to read books they have bought at Sony’s online store, the Japanese group said.

The OFT released few details on the investigation but said the case was at an early stage and “it should not be assumed that the parties involved have breached competition law”.

The eBook ecosystem continues to grow. Leatherbound has just been launched as a free app for iPhone and iPad. It describes itself as an “ebook search engine for comparing prices and availability across the Nook, Kindle and iBook stores”.

Apps running on the same device as the reader are one way in which Apple products could eat into Amazon’s dominance, which of course means that Kindle app store development could become a focus for Amazon as the territorial battles heat up.

E Ink, the Cambridge, Massachusetts company behind the Kindle and Sony reader display has taken a big step forward in colour display, reports the New Scientist. Hanvon of China has launched a product using the new colour display.

Unlike LCDs that constantly draw power, electronic ink uses power to change the image – but not to display it – increasing battery life from hours to weeks. Electronic ink works by attracting black or white powders to the front of a clear pixel capsule.

As statistics emerge gainsaying Apple’s iPad hype about owning 22% of the eBook market, indicating that Amazon’s Kindle format is outselling eBooks 60-1, Amazon Kindle 3 is comprehensively reviewed by Len Edgerly. Kindle 3 is faster, has better resolution but crucially is now pocket sized. Apple are unlikely to produce a pocket-sized iPad until 2011 though rumours abound of a 5 or 7 inch version appearing for the consumer holiday spend.

With the iPad at the start of its evolutionary curve, however, as Len points out, if you’re waiting for the technology to mature before buying your first e-reader, this could very well be the one.

The Kindle UK store contains 400,000 e-books and UK newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Mail, Evening Standard and the Economist, available on a monthly subscription basis. Kindle UK also does away with the additional fees UK Kindle owners were previously charged for downloading books from the US site.

One Way Journey is now available in Amazon’s new UK store as a Kindle download for £1.89 – paperback for £6.78

Amazon has released Kindle for Mac (no Kindle required). The 10.5 OS X application automatically synchronises with your Kindle or iPhone app.

Kindle newspapers, magazines, and blogs are not currently available for Kindle for Mac.