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Publishers Team Up to Take on Amazon

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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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Jane McEntegart

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.

14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sunflier
    "Once purchased pirated, this content will be 'unlocked' for consumers to enjoy anywhere, any time, on any platform,"
    Reply
  • maigo
    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?
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    Will fail just like Hulu.
    Reply
  • flytrap23
    Good luck trying to take on Amazon; they're too well established AND they're a great service.
    Reply
  • ssalim
    How does Hulu fail? it is free and it actually works. You fail.
    Reply
  • Hulu isn't failing, the amount of content they distribute has increased exponentially.
    Reply
  • phexac
    I use hulu all the time. It's free and it works well.
    Reply
  • rodney_ws
    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.
    Reply
  • Shadow703793
    rodney_wsThe 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!
    Reply