Today Amazon (AMZN) unveiled screen-shots of a Kindle App for tablet computers, including the Apple (AAPL) iPad–the device that has already caused behind-the-scenes problems and will create competition for the online bookseller.
eBookNewser has the analysis: “The iPad will be the first device to comfortably offer access to a number of eBookstores and platforms. Most readers who use iPad to view eBooks will have their library spread across multiple eReaders–iBooks, Stanza, Ibis, Google, and, of course, Kindle. One of iPad’s biggest effects on eBooks may be to facilitate the transition from readers identifying as users of a particular device–‘I have a Kindle’–to identifying as eBook readers who simply say, ‘I read a lot of eBooks.'”
At the same time, OR Books co-publisher Colin Robinson urged other publishers to abandon Amazon: “we have simple message for publishers being menaced in this way: You are in an abusive relationship. It’s doing little for you that you can’t do better yourselves. It’s time to say ‘IT’S OVER.'”
Finally, the New York Times reports on Perseus Books Group’s new deal with Apple for the iPad. Here’s an excerpt: “Perseus’s deal comes as Amazon.com, the largest online seller of printed books and the biggest e-book seller in the United States, has put pressure on publishers who have not yet signed deals with Apple to refrain from doing so.”
