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Amazon launches Fire HD, HDX and Kindle Store in Australia
It's a good day for you, mates from down under -- or at least for those with a hankering for Amazon's Kindle devices. The e-commerce giant is bringing the Kindle Fire HD and HDX to Australia, following the Paperwhite's release in the country. As things often go in the continent, the devices cost a bit more than their counterparts in the US: the Kindle Fire HD, which is now available at retailers Dick Smith and Big W, sells at AU$189 (US$176). The 7-inch Fire HDX will arrive on November 26th, with its most basic model priced at AU$329 (US$306), while the 8.9-inch HDX will land on December 10th and begins at AU$479 (US$445). In addition to its tablets, Amazon's also launched the Australian Kindle Store curated especially for the country's audience, which features works from local authors and publishers. Finally, Kindle Direct Publishing is now active on the Amazon AU site, enabling indie authors to sell their work in the land of kangaroos, koalas and Chris Hemsworth.
Kindle e-bookstore and self-publishing platform now available in Mexico
Both readers and writers in Mexico have a reason to rejoice today, as Amazon has just launched the Kindle Store and Kindle Direct Publishing in their country. The e-bookstore will feature over 70,000 Spanish-language titles, as well as e-books in indigenous tongues like Nahuatl. To help fill up those new e-readers, Amazon will also be offering upwards of 1,500 free books among the store's 2 million titles. The availability of KDP is especially significant, as it offers both unknown authors and big name writers like Paulo Coelho (who's using it to release his books El Alquimista and Once Minutos) an alternative path to publishing. Additionally, Gandhi, one of the largest bookstore chains in Mexico, will now sell the basic Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite in its brick and mortar shops for MXN$1,399 (USD$105) and MXN$2,399 (USD$180) respectively. For more info, check out the source links below or the press releases after the break.
Kindle Paperwhite and two Fires up for pre-order in Japan, Kindle Store opens there tomorrow
Amazon's just announced that it's bringing the entire Kindle family to Japan. The basic Paperwhite is now available to pre-order for 8,480 yen (around $106) from the online retailer, with the 3G version arriving at a slightly pricier 12,980 yen (approximately $162) -- both will start shipping November 19th. Obviously you're going to need stuff to read, so the Kindle Store is opening its doors tomorrow and shelves are stocked with over 50,000 Japanese language books (including 10,000 for free) and more than 15,000 manga titles. Amazon's tablet range is heading to Japan as well, with the Fire costing 12,800 yen (approximately $160) and the 7-inch Fire HD setting wallets back 15,800 yen (almost $200). You'll have to wait a bit longer for these two, however, as shipping is slated to begin December 19th -- hopefully arriving in time to fill those stockings.
Amazon launches India Kindle Store, swap rupees for good reads
Indian consumers haven't been cut off from Amazon's world of e-book goodies, but their experience is about to get a lot more native with the launch of a local Kindle Store. The prices of over a million books are now available in rupees, and if you're in need of hardware, the latest bare-bones Kindle can now be found in-store at Croma for Rs. 6,999. That E Ink Pearl screen comes at a premium, however, as there are more than a few budget-friendly tablets available in the country which support the Kindle app. The best news is probably reserved for fledgling writers, who now have access to Kindle Direct Publishing to showcase their work and hopefully net some purchases.
Warner Bros. intros 'Inside the Script' eBook series, gives film buffs a deeper look
From time to time, we see movie studio Warner Bros. bring forth ways to give its oldies-but-goodies a longer life span. On this occasion, Warner's launching a novel eBook series titled "Inside the Script." The new release will give movie buffs a deeper look into a handful of the studio's films, which will include tidbits such as complete shooting scripts, deets about the flick's development and other "rare" goods. At launch, Warner will offer classics like Casablanca, Ben-Hur, An American in Paris and North by Northwest -- all available now on iBooks, Kindle and B&N's NOOK for $10 each. Those eager to flip through the antique pages can head to the source below, where you'll be able to grab the version best suited for your device.
Amazon launches Kindle eBook store en Español, over 33,000 libros to choose from
Buenas noticias para todos los amantes de los libros que viven en Estados Unidos. Amazon acaba de anunciar una nueva tienda llamada eBooks Kindle en Español. El nuevo servicio dará acceso a más de 33,000 libros que se podrán leer en los diferentes dispositivos Kindle. Esta biblioteca virtual incluirá una lista con los títulos más vendidos de Nielsen, autores mexicanos como José Emilio Pacheco y Sergio Pitol, libros para niños como Dora la Exploradora y Go Diego Go, mientras que también habrá traducciones de Hunger Games, The Help y la biografía de Steve Jobs. Todos aquellos autores independientes que también estén interesados podrán publicar sus libros usando el sitio KDP de Amazon. Si quieres conocer más detalles, puedes echar un vistazo a la nota de prensa o incluso hacer clic en la fuente para realizar el tour completo por la tienda. Psst... head on past the break for a translation.
Amazon prepares Kindle Touch for April launch in Japan?
According to one of Japan's big dailies, The Nikkei, Amazon will attempt to brave the tricky e-reader waters of Japan, aiming to launch its Kindle Touch as the flagship device in April. The newspaper reports that the device will land for less than 20,000 yen ($260), teaming up with Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo for 3G access to the Kindle's online store, gratis. Amazon hopes that the device's very competitive pricing, at least in comparison to existing 3G-friendly e-readers, will make in-roads to the notoriously frosty Japanese e-reader market. It will also bring Amazon's e-readers to the home turf of one of its biggest rivals; Rakuten.
Amazon launches iPad-optimized Kindle store
You may remember the good old days when you could use Amazon's Kindle e-reader app for iOS to pop right into the online Kindle store to purchase ebooks. That feature went away in July of 2011 in order to comply with Apple's policies. Amazon today launched an iPad-optimized Kindle Store website that, while still separate from the Kindle reader app, makes browsing for ebooks a much more touch-friendly process. The new website is visible at http://amazon.com/iPadKindleStore/ and features a touch-scrollable horizontal bar of recommendations for you. Down below are the Top 100 paid and free ebooks, along with the "New & Noteworthy" section. At the top of the site are a search field, a button for managing your Kindle books, and a button to launch the Kindle Cloud Reader if you prefer it for your reading over the iPad Kindle app. While the experience of purchasing ebooks from the regular Amazon site isn't that bad on the iPad, the iPad-friendly site does seem to make navigation and purchasing something that your fingers will enjoy.
Amazon launches touch-friendly, web-based Kindle store for iPads
After being forced to give up its in-app purchasing feature, Amazon has finally brought a finger-friendly Kindle store back to the iPad. The company launched a web-based shop designed with touchscreens in mind today, accessible at Amazon.com/iPadKindleStore. It's not an ideal solution, but at least you can quickly switch back to the Kindle app and start devouring your tomes. Or, you can continue with your browser-based experience and use the Cloud Reader.
Amazon UK opens its doors for the Christmas sales, adds hundreds of Kindle books from 99p
Got some Kindle hardware burning a hole in your pile of festive gifts? Well, British bookworms have been given some extra yuletide joy courtesy of Amazon UK which has also started a 12-day sale, focusing on its e-book wares. The site vows to add more digital reads each day and it looks like all the additions will stick with their shrunken price tags for the extent of the sale. Head to the source below for some one-click literary gratification.
Steve Jobs biography released early for Kindle, iBookstore (updated)
Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs has been released a couple hours early on the Kindle Store, and its release in the US iBookstore is expected at midnight. The US iBookstore is still showing the book as available for pre-order as of this writing, but it should be available for download within the next couple of hours. Multiple details of the biography have leaked out over the past week via multiple media outlets, and a 60 Minutes interview with Walter Isaacson provided some fascinating insights into both the biography itself and the man who was its subject. Along with many other members of the Apple-loving world, I am very much looking forward to reading it, and I will have a review of the work up on TUAW as soon as I've finished reading it. Look for that review later on in the week -- with a print length of 656 pages, it might take me a day or two to read through the whole book. Thanks to the readers who tipped us! Update: The biography went live on the iBookstore an hour earlier than expected, so it's now available.
Amazon brings Kindle and associated ebook shop to France
France is getting the Kindle! No, seriously, until now the land of baguettes and Nicolas Sarkozy has had to make do without the world's most popular ebook reader. Starting today though, our French friends can pre-order a Kindle (no touch and no keyboard) for €99 and have access to over 825,000 titles from the newly launched Kindle store. The first French-language readers from Amazon will start shipping out on October 14th and, if you need some more details, you'll find the full PR after the break.
Amazon axes copied content, duplicate Kindle Store ebooks get the boot
If we take a can of Spam and call it "Engadget's precooked pork meat product," you'll still know it's the same mystery meat you ate for lunch, right? Under the idea of "private label rights," authors can do just that: sell their works to others who can rebrand and resell them. This week, Amazon cracked down on duplicate ebooks in its Kindle Store, pulling titles because they "diminish the experience for customers." One copycat who got the smack down called it a "kick in the pants" when his 22 titles got yanked. He did, however, admit he had the swift one coming. Aping authors can expect more book banning Kung Fu as Amazon continues to rid itself of "undifferentiated or barely differentiated versions of e-books." Hi-yah!
Kobo, Wall Street Journal, Amazon to stop directly selling through iOS devices
Apple is clearly enforcing its stated rules about not selling content through iOS devices unless Apple gets a cut in revenue. The latest companies to comply are e-book sellers Amazon and Kobo, and newspaper publisher The Wall Street Journal. The Journal is reporting this morning that it will remove all purchasing options, which have included links to the WSJ website in its iPad app. "We remain concerned that Apple's own subscription [rules] would create a poor experience for our readers, who would not be able to directly manage their WSJ account or to easily access our content across multiple platforms," a Journal spokeswoman said. Meanwhile, a Kobo spokesman says it has updated its app so no books can be purchased from it, and customers will have to use the Safari browser to go to the Kobo store. Amazon has also caved. In a an update released today to the Kindle apps for iPad and iPhone, Amazon has removed the Kindle Store button from the app. Apple had set a June 30 deadline for companies to comply with app store rules. How do you feel about this latest chapter in this saga? Is Apple being greedy, or do content vendors owe Apple a toll for the privilege of selling in the app store?
Amazon launches German Kindle Store with 650,000 titles and lots of long words
After having already penetrated the UK's e-book market last year, Amazon has now launched the German Kindle Store, bringing more than 650,000 titles to Europe's most populous country. With today's launch, the German Kindle Store instantly becomes Germany's biggest e-bookstore, with some 25,000 German-language titles, thousands of free classics, and a similarly bountiful collection of independent newspapers and magazines. Customers will also be able to purchase the latest Kindle and Kindle 3G models directly from Amazon.de, along with a whole new suite of free, German-language Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, PC and Android platforms. Germany's writers and publishers, meanwhile, can use the Kindle Direct Publishing service to make their works instantly available on the new store, where, if they're lucky, they may get to pocket some handsome royalties, as well. Full press release after the break.
Amazon promises tablet-specific Kindle apps for Android and Windows slates
You can read your Amazon-bought ebooks on your Kindle, your PC, your Mac, your mobile, and even on your iPad. Now, it's time to have them, contained in a tailor-made application, on your Android and Windows tablets as well. Amazon has just announced its intention to introduce a free app for reading Kindlebooks on devices running Google and Microsoft's operating systems, which will expand its device compatibility list as the year goes on. Amazon specifically notes that these apps are intended for upcoming devices, which probably foreshadows the sort of tablet-heavy year we're going to be having. Skip past the break for the full announcement.
The iBookstore six months after launch: One big failure
It's been over six months since the release of the iPad on April 3rd, and the simultaneous launch of iBooks and the iBookstore, which promised to give Amazon's Kindle and Kindle Store a run for its money. I figured that this would be a good time to see just how the iBookstore has progressed. The answer, in a word: poorly ... very poorly. The Kindle store currently advertises that they have over 700,000 books, magazines, and blogs available for download. Apple hasn't released statistics on the number of currently available books, so an accurate comparison isn't easy to make, but it's a safe bet to say that once you eliminate the ability to load .pdf files, the availability of e-books from the iBookstore pales. At launch, it was reported that the iBookstore contained somewhere between 46,000 and 60,000 titles, 30,000 of which came from the Project Gutenberg library of free out-of-copyright books. However, since these are also available on the Kindle, we can reduce both sides of the equation by 30,000. This brings the number of titles at launch for the iBook to a generous 30,000. That's a big difference, but outside of raw numbers, there are many factors constraining a massive increase in iBookstore sales.
Amazon's Kindle Store opens digital doors in UK
Amazon has just announced the launch of its UK Kindle Store, furnishing UK netizens with a localized storefront from which to browse and purchase their ebooks. It starts life with an imposing 400,000 book collection, and is claimed by Amazon to offer the lowest prices "of any e-bookstore in the UK." Guess that gives price comparison sites a new avenue to branch out into. More than 170 magazines and newspapers are also available, for one-off purchases or on a subscription basis, while the new lighter, better, cheaper Kindle is up for pre-order and set to ship at the end of the month. Good to see that Amazon isn't neglecting its extra-American markets.
Rupert Murdoch: Amazon now 'willing to renegotiate' e-book prices
You didn't think the price hike would stop at Macmillan, did you? In today's News Corp. earnings call, chairman Rupert Murdoch gave indication that his HarperCollins would also soon be changing its e-book prices with Amazon. As relayed by All Things D, the mogul has been unhappy with the $9.99 tier, that Apple's iBookstore "does allow some flexibility and higher prices," and here's the kicker: "And now Amazon is willing to sit down with us again and renegotiate." Nothing's changed yet, but we gotta imagine it's only a matter of time -- not just with HarperCollins, but probably all "big six" publishers before too long.
Amazon's new iPhone-friendly Kindle Store takes some of the heartache out of mobile book buying
The first (and last) time we attempted to buy a Kindle book from our iPhone we were frankly astonished by how bad the process was -- basically negating decades of mobile browsing evolution and sending us through an Enlightenment-era, desktop-style purchasing process in Mobile Safari. Well, Amazon's finally seen reason, and embedded a more mobile friendly purchasing experience into its iPhone Kindle app. The store is still accessed from the "Get Books" button on the top, and while the list of links and the search box still spit you out into Mobile Safari results pages, at least it's all phone-optimized from start to finish.
