Tag Archives: e-reader technology

Kindle expanding to more than 100 countries

According to a Reuters report, Amazon’s e-reader, the Kindle, will now be sold in a further 100+ countries, including China.

While significant for the digital book market, the move is also of interest to publishers investing in e-editions or e-reading technologies.

Many high profile newspapers are available on a Kindle: the Financial Times, Times, Daily Mail and USA Today to name but a few.

This expansion could see new news clients for Amazon; potentially more Kindle-specific editions from publishers, such as that launched by Tribune Co.

A wider Kindle audience worldwide could also help publishers build their reach and possible revenue streams.

WAN 2008: Microsoft’s e-reader technology open to all publishers

Microsoft has opened up the technology behind the New York Times’ e-reader to all publishers.

The Times Reader format, which creates a digitised version of the paper browsable on or offline, is now freely available to publishers.

The system has already been implemented by some publishers, Michael Cooper, director of advanced reading technologies at Microsoft, told delegates at the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) conference.

“What took Microsoft and the New York Times 18 months to develop has been adopted by other publishers in less than six weeks,” he said.

The technology, Cooper said, will allow publishers to deliver content to a range of devices in one go.

The growth of the mobile internet will not eliminate the need for the e-reader technology, he added, because of the format and offline accessibility to news it offers.

However, the next stage of the technology will be to develop it for use on mobile phones.