Along with the opening today of its online ebook store, Whitcoulls has launched the Kobo dedicated eReader, giving Kiwis their first retail experience of an e-Ink ebook reader. The Kobo eReader will be stocked in about 30 of Whitcoulls’ stores as well as being for sale online at whitcoulls.co.nz. It sells for NZ$295 including GST which [...]

[Read more →]

New Zealand’s largest book chain Whitcoulls today launched the country’s first commercial ebook store. It’s the fruit of an investment by Whitcoulls’ parent, the Red Group, which late last year took a stake in Canadian ebook operation Kobo Books. Whitcoulls’ ebook store carries the ‘Whitcoulls’ brand but is powered by Kobo and integrated into Whitcoulls’ [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve been working on a project called BookTV.nz, a book video channel on YouTube with reviews and author interviews done in a web-friendly style, easy to share to spread the word about good books. It’s ready to go live and we’re starting with some great video clips of New Zealand and international authors from last week’s [...]

[Read more →]

Top six US publisher Simon and Schuster, a division of CBS, broke out its digital numbers from its first quarter results to show an impressive year-on-year growth of 233% to US$12 million, up from just US$3.6M in Q1 2009 .  The figure includes ebooks, audio downloads and standalone apps. While these numbers are still small [...]

[Read more →]

Google has confirmed that it plans a “June or July” launch for its long-signalled foray into the ebook selling business. Called Google Editions, it introduces a major new competitor into the ebook market. Google Editions’ approach will differ in a couple of significant ways from current outlets including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Apple. [...]

[Read more →]