Google Books for iDevices gets landscape view for iPad and other features

mobiputing: "There’s a new version of Google Books for iOS, which is optimized for the Apple iPad thanks to a new landscape mode that lets you view two pages at a time and browse through the 2 million books in the Google Books library in landscape. I’m really not sure why it took this long before Google decided to enable this feature. ... "

Amazon courting Apple's iOS developers to port apps to Kindle

AppleInsider: "Amazon is actively enticing Apple's iOS App Store developers to bring their efforts to the Kindle platform, particularly educational apps, in a strategy that attempts to push ebook readers up into competition with more sophisticated, general purpose tablets. ... "

Apple: if we get you subscribers, we deserve a cut

Ars Technica:

It has been almost two weeks since The Daily made its debut on the iPad, but Apple has finally announced its in-app subscription terms for other offerings in the App Store. The system is open to all publishers of content-based apps—music, newspapers, video, and magazines, but not insurance policies. Anyone who sells subscription-based content outside the App Store must also use Apple's system, giving Apple a 30 percent cut. Hello in-app Netflix subscriptions?

"Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing," CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app."

Apple's announcement went on to emphasize that publishers are not limited to using the App Store for subscriptions; they're allowed to use their own websites to sell subs. They can even offer free access via their apps to existing out-of-app subscribers (so, if you subscribe to a magazine in print form and that magazine lets you get iPad subscriptions for free as part of your agreement, that's still allowed). However, companies cannot offer those types of subscriptions as the only options within their iOS apps—just like Apple's newly enforced rule with e-books, publishers must go all-in with Apple's subscriptions and their own, or they can't be on the App Store.

Oh, and the subscriptions offered within iOS apps must be the same price or less as the company's other offerings, and the apps can no longer link to an outside store where users can purchase content. ...

Sony Reader eBook app Hits Android Market

mobiputing: "Sony has launched a mobile eBook Reader app for Google Android. It’s now available for download from the Android Market. The app supports Android 2.2 and up. An iOS version is expected soon. ... "

Read (Some of) Your Own Books on Kindle for iPad

Charlie Sorrel | Gadget Lab | Wired: "You can now add your own eBooks to Amazon’s Kindle App on iOS devices, as well as books from Project Gutenberg and other copyright-free sources. Great news, right? Not so fast. ... "

Background Downloads Come to Kindle for iOS

thenextweb: "If you’ve ever started the download of a book, flipped over to another to read while it finishes and then flipped back, you’ve been sorely disappointed. Until now, background downloads just didn’t work on the Kindle app for your iPad or iPhone. However, according to Electronista, the just-released 2.5 update to Kindle for iOS will allow you to finish (though not start) a download in the background while you enjoy other content. There’s another pretty hefty change, too. The app will now support raw files, so you can send in text from Mail, Safari and even pull in books via iTunes file sharing."

iFlow Reader Takes Reading Down the Wrong Path

The Digital Reader: "iFlow Reader is getting a lot of attention today. This is a new reading app for iOS, with different versions for iPhone and iPad. While it comes with a good set of reading options, iFlow’s one big pitch point is that it abandons page turns in favor of scrolling. This is so not a good idea. ... "

bol.com Partners with txtr to Deliver Dutch eBook Apps

eBook Magazine: "Online book retailer bol.com has launched two new ebook reader and shopping apps for iOS and Android devices to Dutch book lovers. From this month the Android app will come preloaded on each Samsung Galaxy tablet and smartphone sold by bol.com will the iOS version for Apple’s iPad and iPhone will be available to download from iTunes. txtr CEO Christophe Maire said the Dutch eBook market 'is ahead of most other European countries' with more 1500 eBooks are downloaded per day."

Sony Expanding Reader Store eBooks to iPhone and Android

FierceMobileContent: "Sony Corporation will extend its Reader Store ebook effort to iOS and Android smartphones beginning next month. A teaser page posted on the Reader Store website confirms the move--according to Sony, consumers will be able to access digital titles purchased via the Reader Store across iPhone and Android handsets as well as PCs and Sony's own touchscreen Reader devices. In addition to new releases and New York Times bestsellers, Reader Store boasts more than a million free public domain titles from Google Books as well as links to borrow ebooks from public libraries. ... "