In-Depth Wall Street Journal Profile of Vook

Tim McMahan: "You can find a Sherlock Holmes book in just about any bookstore. But when you buy an interactive digital book called a 'vook,' you get the 'Sherlock Holmes Experience.' So says Vook Inc., which offers digital books that combine video, text, photos and social sharing. Its Sherlock Holmes vook, for instance, features two classic stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 'The Man with the Twisted Lip' and 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' - and enhances them with videos that delve into the history and legend surrounding the character of Holmes. ... "

Vook Closes $5.25 Million

Press Release: "NEW YORK, NY – January 18, 2011 – Vook, the leading digital publisher of mixed-media reading, announced it closed $5.25 million in Series A financing from investors including VantagePoint Venture Partners and Floodgate. Vook will use the proceeds to build on its momentum, accelerate sales and invest in technology to support its growth plans. ... "

Enhanced Editions, Vooks, Amplified Books ...

Of course, "enhanced books," "vooks," etc. are ideal for tablets and nonstarters for eReaders such as Nook and Kindle, which are not designed to handle multimedia. But this fact is not a death knell for eReaders as a class of devices, especially as these become steadily cheaper, elegant, compact and efficient. I can easily see myself traveling with a tablet in my briefcase and an eReader in my breast pocket. I don't always want or need multimedia. Sometimes I just want to curl up with a good book, and to do so without digging out the tablet. The simple eReader e-Ink screens are MUCH easier on the eyes when it comes to extended reading.

Multimedia E-Books, Adorned With Video Extras - NYTimes.com: "Penguin Group released an 'amplified' version of a novel by Ken Follett last week. And on Thursday Simon & Schuster will come out with one of its own, an 'enhanced' e-book version of 'Nixonland' by Rick Perlstein. All of them go beyond the simple black-and-white e-book that digitally mirrors its ink-and-paper predecessor. The new multimedia books use video that is integrated with text, and they are best read — and watched — on an iPad, the tablet device that has created vast possibilities for book publishers."

Kindle iPad App Gets Audio and Video, Plus New Amazon Emphasis on Reader Software Over Hardware?

The italics are mine. This report by Paul Lamkin for Pocket-lint:

Amazon has released an update to its Kindle apps for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that allows for the embedding of audio and video features within its eBook titles.

Now, not only is this a rather nifty little feature, it also raises two very significant points. Firstly, that the Kindle app can surely now claim to be the best eBook reader available in the App Store, even trumping Apple's very own iBooks.

And secondly it shows that Amazon considers the Kindle to be a significant brand, rather than just a hardware product. After all, the Kindle eBook readers themselves are not capable of these multimedia features (or even color for that matter) and so it demonstrates that Amazon may well be prepared to let its hardware take a back seat as its software makes inroads into the app market.

The first books that take advantage of the new functionality are Rick Steves' London and Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway. ...

Also note this from MobilitySite. Once again, italics are mine:

Adding video/audio to ebooks certainly steals a march on iBooks. Of course, such tech has been the basis for Vooks for nearly a year now. The ability to open ebooks with video or audio INSIDE a reader and not as a separate app is new however, and has it’s advantages and disadvantages. I am fascinated that Amazon is targeting this ONLY at Apple products. I wonder if they will be updating their PC or Blackberry software to also display Kindle Editions, and if it will be included in their upcoming Android software? Personally, I have a feeling they may keep it focused at Apple, at least for the short term.