Legible Takes eBookstore Global With UK and Ireland Content Offering
25 May 2022 (Press Release)
This initiative spearheads Legible’s strategic expansion into international English-speaking markets. In 2021, UK digital book sales alone generated GBP 3.2 billion. By expanding into these markets Legible will be able to accelerate both readership and revenues. Access to additional global markets is forthcoming.
Owners of older Kindles won’t be able to buy ebooks on-device soon
25 May 2022 (Input Mag)
It’s likely the older Kindle hardware won’t physically be capable of connecting to the Kindle Store as the summer draws to a close. The original Kindles were all set up to use TLS 1.0 and 1.1 for their internet connections, and compatibility with newer TLS protocols just isn’t possible from these devices.
Kortext founder James Gray: “Is there a systemic problem with ebooks?”
23 May 2022 (Research Informatiion)
Students expect seamless online access to their course content that is both fair and affordable – and, ideally, free. To deliver a solution that enables university libraries to meet the needs of their students, publisher models need to evolve. There has to be some movement to break down these barriers.
Kobo’s Michael Tamblyn Announces Arabic as a Primary Language
23 May 2022 (Publishing Perspectives)
The heft that Rakuten Kobo can bring to the Arabic markets is considerable, of course, as much of the region works to develop both its digital-publishing and -distributional capacity while working to draw its broad consumer base of hundreds of millions of Arabic speakers in the direction of digital potentials. “At our heart,” Tamblyn said of his company and its Toronto-based staff, “we are booksellers.”
E Ink capacity to expand to fill orders
19 May 2022 (Taipei Times)
“Reading is still the most affordable leisure activity that people have,” E Ink CEO Johnson Lee told an online investors’ conference in Taipei. As e-books are less expensive than paper books, “we have so far not seen a slowdown in demand,” Lee said. “We are seeing quite robust demand.”
E-book sales fell in 2021 to lowest point since 2012
19 May-2022 (The Bookseller)
According to Nielsen’s UK Book Market in Review 2021 report, 80 million e-books were downloaded in 2021.
E-textbook service Perlego to make Mondadori Group titles available on platform
18 May 2022 (The Bookseller)
Non-fiction, science and fiction e-books will become accessible to university students who use the Perlego service.
Student Spending on Course Materials Fell 22% in 2021–22
18 May 2022 (Inside Higher Ed)
Students spent an average of $97 on e-textbooks.
Apple rumored to be developing foldable iPhone with an external E Ink display
17 May 2022 (Good E-Reader)
Apple has long been rumored to be working on a foldable iPhone device, one that would serve as a smartphone in its folded state and a tablet when unfolded. Now there are reports of Apple including a color E Ink display on the outer surface…
Conservative parents take aim at library apps meant to expand access to books
12 May 2022 (NBC News)
In several [US] states, apps [Like Overdrive and Epic] — and the companies that run them — have been targeted by conservative parents who have pushed schools and public libraries to shut down their digital programs, which let users download and read books on their smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Storytel: Streaming Revenue Up 35 Percent in Q1 Year Over Year
13 May 2022 (Publishing Perspectives)
Storytel’s first quarter reflects the reorganization of the company underway. Streaming revenue was up 35 percent in Q1 2022 over Q1 2021 to 699 million Swedish kronor (US$69.7 million).
Norway’s Beat Technology is behind Fluister
11 May 2022 (Publishing Perspectives)
They’re working in partnership with the Veronica media group and the Libris.nl chain of independent bookstores to open subscription service offering audiobooks, ebooks, and podcasts at a monthly flat rate of €12.99 (US$13.68).
Dutch streaming platform Fluister to launch in June with audiobooks, e-books, podcasts
11 May 2022 (Telecompaper)
Publishers Singel Uitgevers, WPG Uitgevers and VBK Uitgevers have announced a new streaming platform called Fluister (Whisper). The Fluister streaming service offers unlimited access to a huge amount of audiobooks, e-books and podcasts.
Amazon to half-heartedly support ePub on Kindles
5 May 2022 (Input Mag)
Any ePub file you send to your Kindle using Amazon’s service is actually getting converted to a proprietary KF8 file, which isn’t exactly the same thing as the e-reader “supporting” ePub files; in fact, it’s totally different. There are advantages to KF8 files — they’re designed for the Kindle, and fully-support the e-reader’s specific ways of displaying footnotes, fonts, and typesetting. But the major disadvantage of Amazon’s half-step remains: There’s still an annoying digital middleman keeping .epub files from working like the books they are.
Kobo has made improvements to Store, Apps and Web Reader
2 May 2022 (Good E-Reader)
This Spring, Kobo has made a number of improvements to their shopping experience, their reading apps and the new Web Reader, which allows you to read ebooks in your internet browser. They have also made significant improvements to their software on various Kobo e-readers, such as the Elipsa and Sage. If you want to find out the latest new enhancements fixes and new features, we have their entire change log.
More Ebook Industry News (back to Aug 2017)