Publishers Team Up to Take on Amazon

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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Jane McEntegart works in marketing communications at Intel and was previously Manager of Content Marketing at ASUS North America. Before that, she worked for more than seven years at Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, holding such roles as Contributing Editor and Senior News Editor and writing about everything from smartphones to tablets and games consoles.