Spanish telecom giant Telefónica announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new ebookstore and ereader in Spain beginning next week. The reader, called the Movistar BQ, a 169 euro model with the now standard 6-inch touchscreen and wifi, will go on sale in the company’s Movistar cell phone stores and in big box retailers across Spain on June 14, in hopes of catching on with readers this summer. Initially, the ereaders will provide access to about one thousand public domain titles stored in the Movistar eBook cloud store, with paid content to be added in the fall. El País reports the […]
eNews
Finally, iBookstore Is Integrated Into iTunes
Though a minor piece of Monday’s Apple news through most lenses, the company has finally gotten serious about making the iBookstore easily accessible to the tens of millions of users on the iOS platform. The iBookstore is now incorporated directly into iTunes, alongside music, movies, TV shows, apps and other major elements. And Apple is promoting the inclusion on the iTunes home page. At Monday’s WWDC presentation, Apple also updated their tabulation of ebooks downloaded worldwide through the iBookstore. In March they were still saying 100 million downloads; now they are saying 130 million.
iBookstore Up to 130 Million Downloads
Apple still hasn’t said a word about sales of ebooks, but they have revised their tabulation of ebooks downloaded worldwide. In March they were still saying 100 million downloads; now they are saying 130 million.
eNews: Collins and Child Pass the Million Mark; Penzler Starts Mysterious Press eBooks
Suzanne Collins and Lee Child are the newest authors to sell over a million Kindle editions of their works. Collins is the first children’s author to achieve the milestone. They join Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Charlaine Harris. Release Otto Penzler intends to publish 250 ebooks through a new MysteriousPress.com venture, primarily reissues of classic mysteries not yet available electronically. The line will also publish one new title a month, including a novella by James Grady, a follow-up to Six Days of the Condor. MysteriousPress.com will use Open Road for distribution and marketing, Crain’s NY reports. Crains
Briefs: EBSCO and H.W. Wilson to Merge; Mirasol Reader is Dead; and More
EBSCO and H.W. Wilson have merged in a deal that combines the two publishing companies’ operations with the intended goal of improving services for libraries. Wilson president and ceo Harry Regan said in a statement: “EBSCO and H.W. Wilson have been engaged as business partners for a number of years and are now officially operating as one. The result will be a broader and deeper range of products and services for the library reference community with significantly added value. Both companies have had separate, distinctive histories, but have always shared a common commitment for the highest order of customer satisfaction.” […]
eNews: Stats on Google, Kobo and James Patterson; Borders Transitions; Unbound’s Deal; and More
Making the rounds electronically now (we missed it when posted a week ago), Google eBooks said their apps for iOS, Android and Chrome “have exceeded 2.5 million” installs since December. In contrast, Kobo said in early May they were “close to 4 million users” with adoption accelerating. (They went from 2 million users to 3 million in somewhere between 60 and 90 days.) Google There are varying degrees of consternation online based on whether or not people were paying attention previously, but as announced, Borders is transitioning their branded ebook line–which was already powered by Kobo–over to the Kobo brand. […]