Publishers Team Up to Take on Amazon
Five big name publishers are teaming up to try and take on Amazon's ebook store.
The Los Angeles Times today reports that five major publishers yesterday announced plans to would join forces and develop an online storefront to rival Amazon.com Inc. According to the report, the publishers of Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Wired and Vanity Fair said their venture would sell newspapers and magazines online but could also be used to sell digital comics and books.
The LA Times cites John Squires, the group's interim managing director, as saying the group's aim is to build a Web store that would sell full-color, interactive digital versions of their newspapers and magazines that would be readable on next-generation touch-screen reading devices. Squires goes on to explain that, while content bought on Amazon's Kindle cannot be read on Sony's Reader, content purchased from his store will allow users to purchase content and use it on multiple platforms.
"Once purchased, this content will be 'unlocked' for consumers to enjoy anywhere, any time, on any platform," Squires is noted as saying.
The news comes following reports that the Kindle outsold every other product on Amazon in the month of November.
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Amazon ebooks cost almost paper back prices, everywhere else is nearly 3 times that. Maybe letting Amazon sell them for less is the problem? Ya think?
Now this is good news!
Content which can be read anywhere at any time on any platform.
Now if only they would come out with an eReader similar to the Kindle DX (or better) for a lower price. After all $489.00 for the Kindle DX is a bit excessive and the Sony eReader is a bit small and clumsy.
Will fail just like Hulu.
Good luck trying to take on Amazon; they're too well established AND they're a great service.
How does Hulu fail? it is free and it actually works. You fail.
Hulu isn't failing, the amount of content they distribute has increased exponentially.
I use hulu all the time. It's free and it works well.
The idea that you can go to one place and get all content scares the content creators... thus they try to keep the market segmented to slow down the inevitable changing process. Should something like Amazon's store every fully catch on, the people who write books might decide to bypass traditional publishing houses and just go straight to the net. THE HORRORS!!! Think iTunes app store, but for books. This is the new way... publishing companies are the old way. Please step aside.
The idea that you can go to one place and get all content scares the content creators... thus they try to keep the market segmented to slow down the inevitable changing process. Should something like Amazon's store every fully catch on, the people who write books might decide to bypass traditional publishing houses and just go straight to the net. THE HORRORS!!! Think iTunes app store, but for books. This is the new way... publishing companies are the old way. Please step aside.
Yup. It's called EVOLUTION!
Hulu is a great service, Its the flash player they use that sucks.
A little random I know, but are you from San Diego ssalim?
Anyways, Amazon rocks. Good luck with this joint venture.
I am against buying books in this way.I own over 1200 paper books.Lots of rare 1940'60's scifi paperbacks (1ST editions) as well as hard cover 1st editions and it doesnot end there..........
Over 150 vintage scifi pulp magazines from jan.1930 - dec.1949
my books are worth money and can be sold and go up in value.
your ebooks do nothing except make you lazy to carry around things.
by the way i weigh around 105 - 110 but that doesnot stop me from packing away 20lbs of books and walking around or on a trip.good exercise folks and your 1st editions kept in good shape are a future investment.
your ebooks won't be resold.it is a shame that no one cares about buying PHYSICAL THINGS like books,cd's, movies, etc.
In the near future when you see more and more bookshops,videostores,and music stores go out of business it won't be my fault.
Right... It costs money to store things and on top of that is extremely hard to find a buyer for the prices you'd probably be seeking. Adapting technology is convenient and is better in a large number of ways. The ONLY downfall of digital copies is DRM. I'll get my exercise working out in a gym, I don't need to get back problems from carrying around 40 pounds of weight, which is what I have to do for university because of labs in school. The day textbooks come in electronic versions will be a day I jump for joy.