Amazon to Roll Out Kindle for Textbooks

Publishers group says it was strong-armed to accept new terms

(NEWSER) - Amazon is playing hardball with a book distributor that refused to give it a bigger share of the pie. The company's Kindle store yanked some 5,000 e-books after Independent Publishers Group, which represents hundreds of independent publishers, refused the online giant's demands. "They decided they didn't like the terms we offered, and we said, 'We're not going to change,' and they removed them," IPG chief Mark Suchomel tells the Chicago Tribune . More»

But it's only for those who belong to its Prime program

(NEWSER) - Starting today, Kindle users who are Amazon Prime subscribers—and no one else—will have access to Amazon’s new ebook lending library. The library won’t be available to those using Kindle apps on other devices, and it’s opening with a fairly small selection of books: just over 5,000, the Wall Street Journal reports. That’s because none of the top six US publishers are participating in the plan. More»

Sales soaring of the device iPad was to make obsolete

(NEWSER) - Looks like the advance obits for the Kindle, which was supposed to be killed off by the iPad, were a bit premature. The iPad is selling sensationally (3.3 million and counting), Daniel Lyons notes in Newsweek , but so is the Kindle (3.5 million this year). Why? Sure, slashing prices to $189 helped triple sales, but there's also the fact that the Kindle, if not as sexy as the iPad, is arguably better for reading books. Here's why:

• It weighs less than half as much as the iPad
• The Kindle screen is easier on the eyes and more visible outdoors, in sunlight.

Even with iPad competition, sales of devices rise

(NEWSER) - Amazon is selling more books as Kindle downloads than as hardcovers, CNET reports . In the past month, the website sold 180 Kindle books for each 100 hardbacks. CEO Jeff Bezos calls the shift "astonishing, when you consider that we've been selling hardcover books for 15 years and Kindle books for 33 months." More»

App works similarly to popular iPhone version, but no annotations

(NEWSER) - BlackBerry users no longer have to look longingly at others reading e-books on their Kindles or iPhones, as Amazon today released an e-reader app for their device. After the iPhone app launched last year, an exec tells CNET , “customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry.” The company has plans to offer a Kindle app for the Apple iPad soon, but no word on one for Android devices. More»