As part of a broader “strategic alliance” in both the US and Japan between Walmart and Rakuten, Kobo will provide ebooks, digital audiobooks and ebooks devices to Walmart in the US. The two announced “an exclusive retail alliance that will enable Walmart to begin selling eBooks and audiobooks, as well as offer Rakuten Kobo eReaders,…
ebookstores
Apple Books Changes
Bloomberg looks at some changes on the way from Apple. In an early developer version of iOS 11.3, Apple is changing iBooks to Books; as they have done with music and podcasts, the service will be known as Apple Books going forward. The iBookstore (soon just Apple Bookstore) will be redesigned to “look more like…
Microsoft’s April 11 Update Will Roll Out eBookstore and In-Browser Reading
Microsoft formally confirmed that the release of the Windows 10 Creators Update on April 11 that will make the Microsoft Edge browser “the default reader for books in Windows Store” for ebooks purchased from the Windows Store. First reported in January, the features have been available only to a group of “Windows Insiders” until now. Microsoft software…
Rakuten Kobo Acquires the Tolino Tech Platform from Deutsche Telekom
Rakuten Kobo announced on Tuesday they have signed contracts to acquire the Tolino ebook technology platform serving the German-language ebook market from founding partner Deutsche Telekom at the end of January 2017, pending approval from the German Federal Cartel Office. (That paperwork was filed December 22.) Kobo will join the three bookseller partners Hugendubel, Thalia and Weltbild….
International Briefs: Kobo, Amazon, Luebbe and More
The rest of the world was open for business all week long and accounts for much of the catch-up news: – Kobo has now redirected their efforts to sell ebooks and ereading devices in Spain towards their France-based retail partner Fnac. The relationship has been expanded to Spain, where Fnac has 50 stores. Kobo first opened their own local ebookstore…
Waterstones Exits eBooks and Digital Audio; Transfers Customers to Kobo
Waterstones is giving up on ebooks again and — perhaps more importantly in the long-term, also walking away from the still-growing digital audio market. The company told their digital media customers by email and posted site notice that “the Waterstones digital download store is closing,” and digital files are no longer available for sale on…
