Indigo Bookstores bringing the "Kobo"
e-Reader to Canada
From the National Post, Dec 19th, Indigo's Shortcovers, a division of the book giant that sold books on smartphones and other electronic devices, have changed their positions on e-readers, saying they will soon bring out their own device. This is a complete turnaround from their earlier announcement when they did not anticipate getting involved in the e-Reader market.
Here's how the CEO explained the change of mind to the National Post: "I think where I was at the time and where I am today is that consumers do want choice. That means smart phones, desktops, laptops, as well as dedicated e-readers. I think, long-term, multipurpose devices win. And right now we are at an interesting time in the market, where we're transitioning from that early adopter to the early majority.
But as we go through that transition, there will be some consumers that want a dedicated e-reader, and to make sure our partners are successful, we need to give them that option. But we'll maintain an open platform on that device. It will not be a closed format. You'll be able to buy books from any of our partners, from anyone that supports ePub, that supports Adobe.
Amazon Kindle 2 now in Canada
Amazon.com announced Tuesday that the popular device - which is lighter than the average paperback, less than a centimetre thick and has a 15-centimetre screen - is now available in Canada, about six weeks after it launched internationally in more than 100 other countries.
Amazon remained tight-lipped about why the Kindle took two years to come to Canada but said it was happy to finally sell it to Canadians, who were very vocal about their desire to buy it.
"We've heard a lot from Canadian customers that they want a Kindle and they're excited about it," said Jay Marine, director of product management.
"We've obviously got a large Canadian business with passionate readers so we're really excited to make it available."
Amazon is selling the Kindle and its ebooks in U.S. dollars, which Marine said helped expedite the sale of the device in Canada. He wouldn't say if Amazon is moving toward selling the Kindle in Canadian funds.
A reader in Toronto considering a Kindle will pay about $330 CDN after accounting for currency conversion, shipping, and an import fee of almost US$34, which includes taxes and duties.
Amazon remained tight-lipped about why the Kindle took two years to come to Canada but said it was happy to finally sell it to Canadians, who were very vocal about their desire to buy it.
"We've heard a lot from Canadian customers that they want a Kindle and they're excited about it," said Jay Marine, director of product management.
"We've obviously got a large Canadian business with passionate readers so we're really excited to make it available."
Amazon is selling the Kindle and its ebooks in U.S. dollars, which Marine said helped expedite the sale of the device in Canada. He wouldn't say if Amazon is moving toward selling the Kindle in Canadian funds.
A reader in Toronto considering a Kindle will pay about $330 CDN after accounting for currency conversion, shipping, and an import fee of almost US$34, which includes taxes and duties.
Local newspapers available for Kindle 2 subscribers
Two years after Amazon released the original Kindle, Canadian newspaper content will be made available for the Kindle 2 International Ed. With the Nov 17th announcement that the Kindle will be made available to the Canadian market, Canwest newspapers such as the National Post, Vancouver Sun & Ottawa Sun daily news as well as locally published books for the national audience will made available across the country.
"Whether in print, online, or on the go on mobile devices and smartphones, our quality journalism is accessible to Canadians where, when and how they want it, throughout their day," said Dennis Skulsky, president and CEO of Canwest Publishing.
Gordon Fisher, publisher of the National Post, said the Kindle announcement is "great news for National Post fans who can now subscribe to the full edition and have it delivered daily, wherever they are in the world."
Newspapers owned by Canwest & other national publishers have quickly included digital monthly subscriptions for Kindle owners through the online retailer "Amazon". Currently in December 2009, there are seven newspapers available across the country and subscriptions start from $9.99 US per month.
Other comparable countries like the United Kingdom, with twice the population, have four Kindle newspapers and Australia has none at all. The United States has forty two daily newspapers through Kindle's whispernet downloading service.
The newspapers sold in the Kindle store at Amazon.com are: The Globe & Mail National Edition, The National Post, The Edmonton Journal, The Vancouver Sun, The Windsor Star, The Montreal Gazette, The Regina Leader-Post. We will add papers to this list as they become available.
Few choices in Canadian stores
Once again, Canadians are left out in the cold when it comes to electronics retailers. In Toronto, the largest city, very few retailers have stocked e-Readers this year. Most of the less popular devices are no where to be found in any of the shopping centres.
Recently, several newspaper articles & items on the evening news have introduced Canadians to the idea of portable electronic books but few "Canucks" have heard about e-Readers until this year. With the recent announcement that Canada will have access to the Kindle 2 International version & can now be shipped from Amazon.com in the U.S, Sony is no longer the only player north the 49th.
The Amazon Kindle is a good choice if you want to buy an ebook reader online but what if you want to buy one inside a store? Unfortunately, the major electronic stores & department stores are only stocking Sony Readers and not at all locations. There might as well be only two e-Readers in Canada right now, the Pocket Edition PRS300SC & the Touch Edition PRS600SC because there is nothing else on the shelves.
Having said that, there are many choices that you can ship from the US, if you want to be adventurous and try other eReaders such as the Ectaco Jetbook, Interead Cool-er, Pocketbook 360 and many more.
Everything you need to make an informed choice about e-Readers is all at e-readerfeeder.com
Recently, several newspaper articles & items on the evening news have introduced Canadians to the idea of portable electronic books but few "Canucks" have heard about e-Readers until this year. With the recent announcement that Canada will have access to the Kindle 2 International version & can now be shipped from Amazon.com in the U.S, Sony is no longer the only player north the 49th.
The Amazon Kindle is a good choice if you want to buy an ebook reader online but what if you want to buy one inside a store? Unfortunately, the major electronic stores & department stores are only stocking Sony Readers and not at all locations. There might as well be only two e-Readers in Canada right now, the Pocket Edition PRS300SC & the Touch Edition PRS600SC because there is nothing else on the shelves.
Having said that, there are many choices that you can ship from the US, if you want to be adventurous and try other eReaders such as the Ectaco Jetbook, Interead Cool-er, Pocketbook 360 and many more.
Everything you need to make an informed choice about e-Readers is all at e-readerfeeder.com
Found: e-Readers located in Future Shop & Best Buy
Canadians have a few places to buy their e-Readers, (if they want a Sony), but some retailers have not made some space for any Readers at all. Best Buy Canada, Future Shop & The Sony Stores are the best places to pick up a Sony Touch Reader $299.00 Cdn or Sony Pocket Reader $399.00 Cdn.
The new Sony Daily Reader PRS900SC may arrive in America by December 19th but probably not in Canada until the new year.
Zellers has no e-Readers in stock & Walmart Canada has nothing online. I did not see anything in Canadian Tire or the Bay either. Sears Canada did have a Sony e-Reader in one of its stores but it was an old Sony 505 Reader (replaced by the 300 version).
If you want to buy a Kindle before Xmas, you should place your order online within the next two weeks because it may take a while to come across the border. Amazon Canada still does not sell Kindle here yet & won't until 2010
e-Books still a fraction of overall book sales
From Canada.com, June 28th, 2009 For book lovers, such as Mr. Simpson, no digital device has yet proven as cool or as user-friendly as the iPod has for more than 42 million music lovers. Most books are still printed on paper -- much like they have been since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450. "They're not as aesthetically pleasing and they don't have the same tactile feel as paper," the 61-year-old Mr. Simpson said of e-readers, although he does like his machine's ability to do searches and look up words.
Hand-held devices for digital books have been around since the late-1990s from such companies as Franklin Electronics Inc. of Burlington, N.J., and NuvoMedia Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. But sales were plagued by bad design, high hardware costs and a frustrating lack of content.
Today, many of the original e-reader makers have left that business. Franklin, for example, sold its eBookman business to New York-based Ectaco Inc., which is marketing the device as a language-learning tool.
Meanwhile, sales of e-books, while growing -- rising 44% to US$179.1-million last year in the United States, according to Management Practice Inc. -- still account for less than 1% of total book sales of US$25.1-billion in 2005. Many e-books are read on computers, and reference and educational books are the most popular.
That's not to say e-reader makers have given up. Several new devices will be launched this year. Sony Corp. will lead off with its much-acclaimed Sony Reader. iRex Technologies Inc., a spinoff of Philips Electronics, and Chinese supplier Tianjin Jinke Electronics Co. will also hit the U.S. market with new devices.
Hand-held devices for digital books have been around since the late-1990s from such companies as Franklin Electronics Inc. of Burlington, N.J., and NuvoMedia Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. But sales were plagued by bad design, high hardware costs and a frustrating lack of content.
Today, many of the original e-reader makers have left that business. Franklin, for example, sold its eBookman business to New York-based Ectaco Inc., which is marketing the device as a language-learning tool.
Meanwhile, sales of e-books, while growing -- rising 44% to US$179.1-million last year in the United States, according to Management Practice Inc. -- still account for less than 1% of total book sales of US$25.1-billion in 2005. Many e-books are read on computers, and reference and educational books are the most popular.
That's not to say e-reader makers have given up. Several new devices will be launched this year. Sony Corp. will lead off with its much-acclaimed Sony Reader. iRex Technologies Inc., a spinoff of Philips Electronics, and Chinese supplier Tianjin Jinke Electronics Co. will also hit the U.S. market with new devices.
Kindle in Maple Leaf Land, eh?
From the Globe & Mail (satire) , Nov 19, 2009 Hey Canada! We know Canadians are used to waiting for things that most of the rest of the world has had for years, like sitcoms, cappuccino and non-sensible shoes.
And now that we've completed our rigorous 225-country product-testing of the amazing Amazon Kindle e-book reader (we wanted to work out any bugs with users in Vanuatu, the Falkland Islands and San Marino before rushing it too hastily into the Canadian market) we are pleased to offer it to you – but with many very, very special Canadian features, only most of which are the result of federal, provincial and municipal regulatory requirements!
When you order an e-book from Kindle, our built-in CRTC-app will immediately assess whether that book's electronic importation violates any federal copyright rules, and will, within hours, either deposit it almost untouched on your device, or levy a small fine on your Amazon account! With just one click!
And now that we've completed our rigorous 225-country product-testing of the amazing Amazon Kindle e-book reader (we wanted to work out any bugs with users in Vanuatu, the Falkland Islands and San Marino before rushing it too hastily into the Canadian market) we are pleased to offer it to you – but with many very, very special Canadian features, only most of which are the result of federal, provincial and municipal regulatory requirements!
When you order an e-book from Kindle, our built-in CRTC-app will immediately assess whether that book's electronic importation violates any federal copyright rules, and will, within hours, either deposit it almost untouched on your device, or levy a small fine on your Amazon account! With just one click!
eReader production falls short,
Canada waits for supplies
In the rush to market, eReader makers are running out of stock. You can't find a Barnes & Noble Nook in the US & Sony will not be able to make enough Daily Readers for Xmas. Even the BeBook & Cool-er models can be hard to come by. So Canadian retailers may not even get any stock for months.
Steve Haber, Sony’s president of digital reading, told the Financial Times on Tuesday that Sony was likely to run short of the new $400 touchscreen Daily Edition. “We’re deeply concerned that we won’t have enough to get them under the Christmas tree,” he said.
Analysts say Barnes & Noble and Sony brought their newest e-readers to market prematurely. “Supply is short because the companies rushed the announcement of these two products, and the reality is they’re not ready for holiday primetime,” said Sarah Rotman Epps of Forrester Research.
The problem was not a shortage of any particular component, or the E-Ink paper that e-readers use. Rather, Barnes & Noble and Sony did not establish supply chains robust enough to meet holiday demands. “The manufacturing process takes several months and Sony and Barnes & Noble have run out of time,” said Ms Rotman Epps
Steve Haber, Sony’s president of digital reading, told the Financial Times on Tuesday that Sony was likely to run short of the new $400 touchscreen Daily Edition. “We’re deeply concerned that we won’t have enough to get them under the Christmas tree,” he said.
Analysts say Barnes & Noble and Sony brought their newest e-readers to market prematurely. “Supply is short because the companies rushed the announcement of these two products, and the reality is they’re not ready for holiday primetime,” said Sarah Rotman Epps of Forrester Research.
The problem was not a shortage of any particular component, or the E-Ink paper that e-readers use. Rather, Barnes & Noble and Sony did not establish supply chains robust enough to meet holiday demands. “The manufacturing process takes several months and Sony and Barnes & Noble have run out of time,” said Ms Rotman Epps
Big screen eReaders "hard to come by" north of the 49th
From Macleans, Dec 24, 2009 . Any Canadians who desire to read eBooks on the 9.7" screen Amazon Kindle DX will have to take some extreme measures to get their hands on one. Mr. McCallum, a writer, had to drive across the border & pick one up from a US postal box. An Amazon spokesperson says the earliest it would be available in Canada would be “some time next year.” McCallum bemoans, “After a few years working in the tech industry, you realize that Canada gets these things pretty slowly, if it gets them at all.”
The Kindle, which allows users to wirelessly download books and read them on a screen that’s easy on the eyes, was launched in the U.S. nearly two years ago and updated earlier this year. In fact, by the time Kindle was made available to Canadians for US$259 plus shipping and import fees, it had already been rolled out in about 100 countries for nearly six weeks, making Canada one of the last places on earth to have access to the device billed by some as the biggest thing to happen to books since the invention of moveable type.
Many Canadians shrug their shoulders because Canada's "small market" seems to have to wait months and even years after the US to receive the latest technology. The iPhone was released in this country one year after the first Americans purchased the first edition. Of course, the DX will likely show up on Amazon Canada some time very soon & we won't have to make stealth runs across the border anymore to get our own.
The Kindle, which allows users to wirelessly download books and read them on a screen that’s easy on the eyes, was launched in the U.S. nearly two years ago and updated earlier this year. In fact, by the time Kindle was made available to Canadians for US$259 plus shipping and import fees, it had already been rolled out in about 100 countries for nearly six weeks, making Canada one of the last places on earth to have access to the device billed by some as the biggest thing to happen to books since the invention of moveable type.
Many Canadians shrug their shoulders because Canada's "small market" seems to have to wait months and even years after the US to receive the latest technology. The iPhone was released in this country one year after the first Americans purchased the first edition. Of course, the DX will likely show up on Amazon Canada some time very soon & we won't have to make stealth runs across the border anymore to get our own.
