Jouve Group Announces Direct Online eBook Conversion for Apple’s iBookstore

Press Release via Business Wire: "PARIS--As the global leader in digital eBook conversion, Jouve has developed an innovative online client platform for Apple’s iBookstore, making its industrial conversion solutions available to publishers of all sizes. A high-performance digital conversion process that’s personalized and 100% compliant with Apple specifications. Jouve now offers publishers an easy way to directly convert their catalog to standard or enhanced eBooks for the iBookstore. The iBookstore is included with the free iBooks app available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. This simple solution fits the digital needs of all types of publishers, with production costs starting from just $19.99 per book. ..."

Kindle's Secret Sibling: Amazon's Android Tablet

Jason Perlow, ZDNet: "Amazon is building its own App Store, but for what device? We think we have a good idea — a secret Android Tablet. Yesterday, in my piece about the lack of successful Android-based competitors to the iPod Touch, I touched a little bit upon what companies actually had the potential to launch an actual iPod Touch competitor that might actually resonate with consumers. One of the ones I mentioned was Amazon, which as we all know is kicking ass and taking names in the ebook and e-reader market. Amazon has all the value-added services that would be necessary in order to launch a mass-market Android device — be it a media player like the iPod Touch, a 7-inch slate like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, or even a full-sized 10-inch tablet like the iPad."

Overheating Vampire iPads Ain't "Just Like a Book"

Apple sued for Overheating iPads: eBook Reader Outrage : Product Reviews Net:

According to this report from CNN, the iPad shuts off after a certain amount of hours, when exposed in direct sunlight. The users have said that Apple hasn’t met its promises when they said that reading on the iPad is "just like a book".

Apple’s iPad shutdown also occurs on the iPod Touch and iPhone devices, giving users the message that the device is operating at a high temperature level and should be left alone to cool down for a while.

If Apple hadn’t of said that reading on the iPad is the same as on a real book, then we wouldn’t have an issue here. Instead, there appears to be further trouble on the way for Apple.

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.

More Apple WWDC iBooks Noise - Syncing, PDFs, and Agnosticism

From MobilitySite:

Slipped into all the noise of the iPhone 4 announcement, Steve Jobs had some interesting [comments] concerning the future of iBooks. As we all assumed he would, he followed the normal Apple pattern of announcing expanded functionality for a product announced in the previous big event. In this case Apple is opening up iBooks to PDF reading, annotations and proper bookmarking, which are very important steps in the evolution of the product.

Even more interesting is that Apple is moving iBooks squarely into position to compete with the Kindle head on. For one thing, they are porting the iBooks functionality to the iPhone as well, and I assume the iPod Touch if not now then in the near future when they release iOS 4 for that device. This gives at least a hint that Apple is buying into the prevailing business models for other ebook vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, that ebook reader software should be agnostic, and not be tied down to a single device. Whether this means that we will see Apple providing the iBooks software for Windows Phone 7 or Android, I don’t know yet…however I am almost certain we will at least see iBooks Reader for Mac and Windows. Remember that Apple’s media empire didn’t really get going until they provided iTunes for Windows.

In addition, Apple is taking the incredibly important step of making books you buy from the iBookstore load and sync on ALL devices running iBooks. So when you close your book on your iPad, it opens to the same place on your iPhone. This mimics Kindle’s WhisperSync technology which would be essential if Apple means to seriously compete with Amazon in ebooks, especially since B&N PROMISES this ability, but their forums are filled with comments that it has yet to work. If Apple can sync iBooks between the iPad and iPhone before you can sync B&N Reader between them, or between a Nook and your iPhone for that matter, then that will give Apple a major advantage. ...

Apple Grabs 22% of eBook Market for Past 65 Days, Announces iBooks Enhancements

All of this from the San Francisco Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as reported by AppleInsider's Sam Oliver:

Apple revealed that iBooks will allow for wireless syncing across devices, including purchased content and user-added content such as bookmarks, notes and highlighting. The wireless capabilities will be available free of charge for iBooks users on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

[Steve Jobs also announced a new version of the iBooks app] due out later this month that will add new features that will let users highlight text, paste sticky notes, bookmark pages, and add bookmarks to the title's table of contents.

[Jobs said that the new iBooks would] add support for PDFs, a feature widely requested for its e-book platform. The new update will be available later this month, and will feature a separate bookshelf for users to view their PDF.

In the first 65 days [of the iBookstore], Jobs said users have downloaded more than 5 million books -- amounting to 2.5 eBooks for every iPad sold and giving Apple a near-instant 22% slice of the eBook market. Five of the six largest publishers in the world are on board with iBooks, releasing content for the Apple-supported format.

Note this useful analysis from the Nieman Journalism Lab's Joshua Benton:

In the two months since the iPad launched — and with it Apple’s new ebook platform, iBooks — Apple has taken over a remarkable 22 percent of the ebook market. (That’s based on data from five of the six major publishing companies; the sixth, Random House, isn’t on the iPad.)

In one sentence, Jobs revealed more hard data about ebook sales than Amazon has in 2.5 years of the Kindle. (I exaggerate, but only slightly. Amazon still hasn’t unveiled any hard numbers on Kindle device or ebook sales. Maybe this will prompt them.)

Those Apple ebook sales are based on the 2 million iPads sold, which are the only Apple devices that have iBooks. But iBooks is coming to the iPhone and iPod touch later this month — around the same time Jobs said the 100 millionth iPhone OS device will be sold. In other words, iBooks’ momentum is about to get punched up.

DNAML Announces DNL 2, the Operating System and Device Agnostic eBook Reader

From PR Web:

DNAML Pty Ltd (‘DNAML’) today announced that it has commenced testing of its new DNL 2 eBook format, which is the next generation of its multi-media friendly DNL eBook format.

DNL 2 is designed to be operating system agnostic and work across multiple devices.

“Developing the DNL eBook format to work on multiple operating systems enables the end user to read their eBook on their Slate or iPad device, mobile phone as well as PC’s, laptops, tablet PCs and netbooks with a single purchase” said Adam Schmidt, Managing Director and Founder of DNAML.

In today’s market, device manufacturers are controlling which eBook formats can be read on their devices. This significantly limits the potential proliferation and penetration of eBooks and does not provide a great consumer experience. As a result, the eBook market is becoming oligopolistic and fragmented with multiple proprietary systems, which is not good for publishers or consumers.

DNAML supports openness and a free digital market economy. The new DNL 2 eBook format is operating system and device agnostic, so consumers will be able to freely read DNL 2 eBooks across whatever devices they choose. The DNL 2 format will be open to all distributors, publishers and authors.

DNL 2 is based on the industry standard ePub format and will enable eBooks to be resized where text will be automatically reflowed to suit the screen size of the device, the orientation of the screen, and the font size selected for viewing.

“We see DNL 2 as the security blanket for the publishing industry and consumers” said Schmidt. Consumers will have peace of mind knowing that they have a control centre which stores the purchased eBook, and makes sure it is always available to be retrieved if a device is lost, broken, or replaced.

Publishers will have the option to use the proven ‘Bullet Proof’ DNL DRM eBook security system, which is backed up with a full back office administration system. Most importantly, DNL 2 provides absolute transparency all around. The publisher can see essential data such as sales results, is able to adjust prices and territorial restrictions and much more, all in real time. ...

DNL 2 will support the following Operating Systems

iPhone OS: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
Android: Devices running Android 1.5+, Android phones, Android tablets
Windows Phone 7: Windows Phone 7 phones
Windows: Windows 98 to Windows 7 on Desktops, Laptops and Tablets
Mac OSX: Mac OSX 10.4 and above, Desktops and Laptops
Linux: Desktops and Laptops
Symbian OS: Mobile phones running Symbian OS
Blackberry OS: Mobile phones running Blackberry OS