Apparently it is eBook week and I have only just noticed. The event is designed to get you reading an eBook this week and some special offers have been made to coincide. More details are here.

“E-book information and free e-books define Read an E-Book Week. From March 7-13th major e-book retailers and authors offer free, or deeply discounted e-books for the event. These e-books will be available in the E-Book Store. Many of our participants have free, or discounted e-books throughout the year, so please return often to see what is available.”

Joel sums up this article at pocketnow with this comment- “Here I was thinking competition would decrease ebook prices…”

“Apple had gone on for years defending its singular price model for the iTunes Music Store (which now utilizes a three-tiered strategy) as being in the best interest of consumers–that consumers want songs priced at $0.99. With books in its iBooks Store, set to launch on its iPad tablet, Apple is going a different strategy with publishers than the company had done with record labels. The Cupertino, California software company is encouraging book publishers to price books as they see fit. This time, though, Apple’s deal with book publisher Macmillan has led to the rising prices of digital books, set between $13-$15, on the competing Amazon Kindle. Macmillan wanted pricing flexibility on the Kindle as it has with the iBooks Store. Amazon often sets bestsellers at $9.99…”

You are probably aware of my thoughts on the recent geographic restrictions problem that has hit people who like to read eBooks and who, by no fault of their own, live outside the US. eReader and fictionwise is now a pointless resource for those of us who want to read new books and despite their claims that only 10% of eBooks are restricted (which I don’t believe for one moment) we simply cannot buy new eBooks worth reading anymore.

After a few months of not reading eBooks at all I took the plunge and purchased the Peter James app from iTunes for my iPhone. It costs £4.99 and you get 2 full eBooks plus exclusive extras and the ability to buy more books in the Roy Grace series. I wasn’t particularly interested in the extras, but just wanted to read something new and this seems worth the risk. And well worth the risk it was- so far I am heavily engrossed in book 1 of the series and am fully expecting to go through the next 5 books throughout the year ahead.

I am no fan of the way eBooks are sold on iTunes because some of them are very expensive. For example, The Lost Symbol by Dam Brown is £14.49 and the reviews suggest that the eReading experience is not that good. I can buy the hardback for £9.99 everywhere else. However, eBooks are practical and allow me to read whenever I like and so I will continue to read them albeit it at a premium. If the number of eBooks on iTunes grows then this will be my first port of call for future purchases and the likes of eReader will lose my business forever.

It is not just the fact that the restrictions are in place because I understand why they are there, but the fact that they never respond to questions about it, they have not bothered to make their sites usable by only allowing me to see books I can buy and they seem to have no interest in helping loyal customers who have purchased hundreds of books from them in the past. Once again, Apple sneaks in while others drop the ball…

One issue some of you may have with large Mobipocket eBook libraries is that when you move to an unsupported device, like the iPhone, you will not be able to read your eBooks. Tom has sent in some tips to get around this, but PLEASE make sure it is legal where you live before you do it-

You can strip the DRM off your own purchased eBooks legally in some locations & then convert them to many different formats other than pdf to read on the iPhone. I downloaded the reader for iPhone called Stanza that will read the standard epub format. It works great on the two books I processed. You can see all the instructions for doing this at this site. Here are the instructions to get them onto the iPhone.

Vodafone UK is promoting the BlackBerry Bold 9700 with an expected delivery date of 28th October. It is rare to see such a short gap from launch to delivery, but let’s not complain about it. Expect a review here within the first week of release.

the nook is claiming to be the ‘world’s most advanced eBook reader’ and it may well be. The feature set is impressive and on the back of the Kidles success it could do well. This part made me chuckle- “traditional book than a computer screen. With no glare or backlight, and adjustable text size, you can read comfortably for hours.” I think eBook readers need a backlight…

HTC is struggling to keep up with demand for the Hero. To quote Jack Tong- “The tight production will not be eased until November and the sales momentum of HTC Hero is expected to continue in the first quarter of 2010.” It deserves all of its success so far and we look forward to more.

Earthworm Jim has been released for the iPhone and is well priced at £2.99 / $4.99. If you loved this years ago, you will no doubt love it all over again in portable form.

American readers have the chance to win a Palm Pixi. Palm is offering 25 for free just for signing up for updates on the upcoming release. It will be on Sprint though so make sure that is OK for your needs.

AAS has reviewed the Nokia 5630 XpressMusic and Ewan concludes that it is maybe too similar to other smartphone to succeed. The problem is that it is too similar to the other Nokia devices and Nokia either needs to cut the number of devices it releases or start varying things a little.

SBSH has released version 2 of the wonderful Facade. There’s a big bundle of changes including a new home tab, custom plugins and much, much more. Good to see developers still supporting Windows Mobile Standard.

An author has stated that he would like readers to pirate his eBook because it seems that his publisher has more say over how his work can be priced than he does. Here’s the main extract from techdirt- “My reaction to seeing other Apress books getting the free, electronic version treatment is: I’m good with you pirating my book! Now, of course, I can’t actively participate in pirating my book but, heck, it’s around on plenty of “free e-book” sites and on RapidShare. There are even links on Twitter to torrents like this. I am happy for you to pirate my book, but I’m NOT A LAWYER, and I can’t guarantee what Apress would do about it – so you’d be doing it off your own back! So, uhm, don’t pirate it? ”

Barnes & Noble has confirmed that a colour eBook reader will be forthcoming in Spring next year. This should give rise to downloadable comics and other media that really does need colour to come up to the paper standard. However, don’t forget that if you live outside the USA you won’t be able to buy many books for it- oops sorry, there I go again…

“A Barnes & Noble spokesperson has claimed that Plastic Logic will deliver a colour eBook reader to market in “Spring next year.”

Colour is the next evolutionary step in the development of eBook readers, the majority of which currently only render in greyscale. Early colour models have yet to touch the mass market with Fujitsu’s Flepia only available in Japan for an eye-watering $1,000, and Bridgestone’s attempt still at the prototype stage.”

Here follows some select PDA-247 reader comments posted this week concerning eBook geographic restrictions. My question is- how can non-US residents get around this problem without buying a dedicated eBook reader or paying extra for eBooks? Anyone have any ideas? Eric almost provides the answer below. I am getting seriously annoyed with the lack of response shown by eReader and fictionwise, especially when I consider how much I have spent with both over the years.

“Yes this new complication is a real drag. I can order a “real” book from Amazon and get it shipped anywhere in the world but I can’t do it with e books from e-reader. I wonder what the new international Kindle will do?

I think e-reader and the others should start a “non USA” site so we wouldn’t be frustrated by getting interested in a book that we can’t buy.

With this kind of attitude book piracy becomes attractive – we are willing to pay but can’t buy anyway.

This is idiocy.”

“Yup. Wanted to buy a book today (for the first time in ages!) from Mobipocket, but can’t because I live in the wrong country at the moment. I don’t feel like moving to the States just now, so I guess I’m shafted right? (Just like a lot of you are.)”

“Join the club. I completed a survey for ereader.com and received a discount voucher for my troubles. Great, I thought, I need some new books. Zzzzt! Wrong answer. None of the dozen or so books I wanted to read were available to Australia. I emailed them thanking them for the voucher, had a rant (a polite one) and asked that they at least add a country filter. I received an email referring me to their web site FAQs. Nice.

The coupon duly expired and I received another email extending the discount. I emailed them again and received the same form answer. Obviously they don’t care about my paltry custom — 300+ books in the last 4 years — but what about ereader’s tens of thousands or more other non-US readers?

My dilemma is do I buy another reader or go back to hard copy? Will this issue be resolved, and if so, when?”

“Hi there – it’s Eric writing in. I was pleasantly surprised that a comment on ebooks had been “promoted” to front page news.

Just as a feedback to this crazy situation – I can tell you there are loopholes in this “geographic restriction wall of US”!

I contacted an author in relation to this issue and ask them whether there was any possible way to purchase an ebook. The author then referred me to a website which charged slightly more (about USD$0.50). I registered and pruchased the ebooks using my actual address (residing in Australia) and entered my credit card details (also from Australia) and hit “purchase”.

A few minutes later, I got a confirmation email which I could download the ebook and it was DRM keyed to my reader (ereader format)

Another piece of news – Amazon will be bringing the Kindle reader to Australia. As nice as it may be, I can’t imagine filling up one of these readers with 2,500 ebooks if there are geographic restrictions placed on purchases. (Perhaps Chaucer, Aesops fables and anything that predates the 1900’s…)”

One of Eric’s comments has been ‘dragged to the front page’ today concerning a 247 article on eBooks and geographic restrictions-

The geographic restriction is annoying me immensely. Even Australians are getting walloped around by an archaic publishing model.

Two things can be said AGAINST geographic restrictions.
1) The model is applied print books and against parallel importation to protect the print book industry. But we are talking about electronic media which is sold through only one supplier – a completely different model. A bit like the Apple Appstore – except that it hates the rest of the world if you live outside the US.

2) The very practice itself is anti-competitive and a restraint of trade. Why can’t I buy something which someone in the US (or Canada) is able to purchase from a single source supplier (barring trade secrets and so on)?
Doesn’t the UK and Australia have a free trade agreement that should remove these trade barriers?

I have queried Fictionwise / EReader / Barnes and Noble on this and their response has been disappointing. The only other avenue is to source these books from some less than legitimate sources which rob the authors of their dues.

I love reading ebooks and to date, I have over 700 ebooks in the Fictionwise library. Since the geographic restrictions have been implemented, the selection has been severely limited.

I don’t see the logic on “geographic restrictions” on books published several years ago and difficult to obtain in the US and never imported into my country.

The Motorola DEXT will be on sale at Orange UK from tomorrow and Phones 4U (shudder!) from the 8th October. My understanding is that you may already be able to get one, but it is a surprise to see it arrive so quickly.

The HTC HD2 will be available in the US in the first quarter of 2010. That seems like quite a wait, but us Europeans have been doing well with releases recently so we have sympathy. OK, no we don’t:)

NPD Group has undertaken a survey which shows that 85% of Mac users also own a PC. The income of Mac users in the US is also higher than average which is not a surprise.

MotionApps has released version 2.0 of the Classic application for webOS. HotSync is now included alongside full screen mode, keyboard mode switch and some extra fixes and performance improvements.

7digital has launched a new MP3 download service for BlackBerry devices. Besides the downloads the app includes a media player that can import existing playlists plus extras such as the latest charts, new music and weekly features.

Spb has released Spb TV for BlackBerry. It is available for $9.95 and you can expect a full review at PDA-247 tomorrow morning.

NokiaFlagshipUK posted that the Nokia N97 mini would hit the UK on 23rd October yesterday, but then changed their minds and posted a retraction. Whatever the confusion, it can’t be far off.

Crime by Irvine Welsh has been released on the iPhone App Store. It is a bit pricey, but likely to be a good read. When will publishers realise that the way to stimulate the eBook industry is to price the books according to the perceived value of the user i.e. no physical materials blah blah…

Time Inc. wants to start a joint venture with a number of US magazine publishers to deliver their magazine titles to electronic devices such as eBook readers and tablets. Whether this will filter down to smartphones remains to be seen, but this could have huge ramifications for the whole publishing industry if it turns out to be a success. The content will be paid for as well which may be the initial stumbling block considering how we all tend to view online and electronic media as worthy of less money than paper magazines and newspapers. More at msnbc.

“Time Inc. is gathering U.S. magazine publishers to start a jointly run digital newsstand next year that would deliver their titles to mobile devices like increasingly popular electronic book readers.

Time Warner is leading the effort, and has approached other big U.S. magazine publishers including Conde Nast and Hearst, a source with knowledge of the joint venture but no authorization to speak about it told Reuters.

Users of the service would get a digital newsstand where they could buy subscriptions, potentially by the month or year or in other forms, the source said.”

The continuing saga of geographic restrictions on eBooks rumbles on and seems to be getting worse (for me) as the days pass. The arrival of an email from eReader pointing to three titles which are available for only $1.99 and a selection of many other titles looked good. However, I am not allowed to buy any of them…

I have just finished reading my latest book and decided to have a search for my next read. Every single titles I have tried to buy is geographically restricted and thus I would have to look at something I would not normally buy to read. I read somewhere that only 10% of eBooks are restricted and if true, I presume that to be a very large percentage of the best sellers because that figure does not relate to what I am finding.

Gavin came up with a solution for reading eBooks if you are based outside the US which is here, but it involved him paying a lot more for a book that he should have to. Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol is now $15.75 at Powell’s books which is quite good compared to the $20 eReader want (not that I can buy it from them), but that is still expensive compared to the initial $9.99 the book was offered at through eReader. You can also buy the same book for a whopping £14.99 in the App Store which is of course crazy, but it seems to be doing brisk business with people who know no better.

My main issue is that eReader, fictionwise and others have done nothing to reduce the frustration non-US residents feel over this. We still receive emails promoting books we cannot buy and the sites are set up in a way which gives you no option to filter the books. When I log in, why does eReader not only show me books I can buy? They have my details and could do this fairly easily, but instead we have to browse countless titles which we cannot buy. Also, why can I but The Lost Symbol in iTunes, but not at eReader? Maybe they need to look at the publishers they are using.

I know I keep banging on about this, but have written this article to find out if any of you have come up with a better solution to this problem. My solution is to not buy eBooks at all at the moment.

eReader is in the process of being ported to the Palm Pre. A mobileread member received an email advising that it is being developed, but there is no time frame for release yet. Such a shame no one outsidethe US can buy the good books. There I go again…

RIM has announced its second quarter results and yet again they are impressive. Despite this the shares have taken a tumble because a couple of analysts feel that the threat from Apple is looming large. It’s very easy to discuss potential problems, but somehow I see RIM being able to react quite easily. When you have a user base as large as it has currently the advantages are clear. “Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 was $3.53 billion, up 3% from $3.42 billion in the previous quarter and up 37% from $2.58 billion in the same quarter of last year.”

The price of the TomTom Car Kit for the iPhone has finally come to light and it is pretty hefty. At $119.99 / EUR 99.99 it is expensive when you consider that the software will be sold seperately. It may well be the only solution which improves the poor iPhone GPS antenna, but it is difficult to see the value compared to a standalone unit.

I received the following email from Nokia this week- “How time flies! It will soon be a full year since you signed up for our ground breaking Comes With Music service. We hope you have enjoyed the freedom of unlimited music downloads during your first year with us.

As a big thank you, we have some great news. We’re going to give you more. We are giving you another 90 days of musical freedom at no cost at all: your membership, due to end on 24/10/2009 will be extended until 22/01/2010.

You don’t need to do a thing (except carry on downloading and listening to even more of your favourite music). It’s our gift to you. We will also be in touch with some really cool new Comes With Music devices soon. So watch this space – and enjoy!” Looks like the whole Comes with Music thing is not doing as well as expected…

If you have not heard about the CyanogenMod ‘09 scandal in the Android word, check out this post at mobility site. It is hard to know where this one is going, but it is an interesting twist for an open source platform.

i-mate is still trading. This is a bit of a shock, but it seems legit and the reasons for all of the previous news follows in a statement from the company- “As reported in the media the company has had to close its operations in Dubai after discovering that a financial fraud had been committed. This was uncovered in August 2009. Jim Morrison with the support of the bank, the auditors and employees set out to rescue the company but by September 17 this proved to be impossible. As a result the Dubai company will have to be shut down with the assistance of Dubai Internet City.

To safeguard the brand and assets of i-mate these have been acquired by a new company Hillfoot Limited which will continue to trade as i-mate with operations in Australia, Taiwan, the UK and USA. The new company will be led by Jim Morrison, Chief Executive who has committed to stay until normal trading is resumed and the financial infrastructure is established to take the business forward.. Other remaining senior management include John Bassachi, Director of Engineering, Majeed Salman, Director of Product Development.”

Sid sent the following to me last week- “With all this talk about ebooks and coupled with the much better syncing of TV shows from itunes to the Iphone I wondered what you thought about eMagazines or eNewspapers.

I know that there are excellent BBC and other sites for news, but these do require an internet connection to read and for me still don’t give the feel of a newspaper.

I think there’s room out there for someone to develop an app that allows you to read a magazine on a smartphone (with a decent sized screen) which gives the feel of a magazine or newspaper, but that is readable.

Imagine subscribing to your favourite journal and have it download via itunes. For me there’s some mileage in this if done right. What’cha think?”

This is something I have pondered for quite some time now and even took some steps a while back to set up such a beast. It would require a huge amount of work, but I agree with Sid that the major magazine producers could pull this off and potentially open a whole new revenue stream.

The problem is that it would cut into their traditional revenues and they would have to charge a ‘lot’ less for each issue. Add this to the fact that the magazine experience will almost certainly not be recreated perfectly on a mobile device and we could have a long wait on our hands for such a service.

What do you think?

Yesterday we discussed eBook reader and Bob came up with an answer which deserves more than just a space in the comments list.

I read e-book novels on both my Treo and my Sony Reader. The Treo wins in the area of backlight and always being with me. The Sony Reader wins in that it’s really comfortable and fun to read on. That may not sound like much, but those aesthetics are a big deal if you are going to spend hours and hours reading books. Some people say real paper is so much more comfortable (and sentimental), and won’t do e-books for that very reason. For me, there’s nothing like the feel of reading e-ink in sunlight. But it does take decent light to get some good contrast.

I’m funny that way, though. Reading a nice font on an electronic display screen has fascinated and pleased me for over two decades. In fact, something as simple as using Ubuntu’s command line terminal console makes me feel good just because of the way the characters look on the screen. Somehow it’s strangely comforting and delightful. Strange, but true.

A big advantage over paper (for me) is that I don’t have to smell the book. Some people like it, but it just gives me a headache if it’s at all dusty/musty. Even some new books can bother me. Plus, I can carry around so many e-books in a light portable gagdet, without taking up bookshelf space.

I also find it easier to hold and turn pages than with paper. Some people don’t like the short delay using e-ink. That’s fair, but I don’t really notice it much unless I’m trying to navigate across pages quickly.

Netbooks seem to be a decent alternative, which I’m still considering personally in the future. I’d like to see them cheaper, with better battery life and maybe even a slightly better screen quality. Even better if the screen folds all the way back, or rotates like a tablet. But any backlit LCD screen is going to produce more eye strain than e-ink in decent light.

Oh, and speaking of eye strain, it’s really nice as my eyes age to be able to pick the font size. Even on my Treo, it helps over paper books. But especially on the e-ink device with the 6″ screen.

I agree with eccleshill… DRM is the biggest battle facing e-books.

And I think there are a lot of people that are concluding that, in the future, most e-book devices will not be single purpose. I think that just depends on price points for the various display technologies, and quality of the displays. If netbook battery life and screens were markedly better, why would anyone need e-ink. But if e-ink gets cheaper as well as larger color versions and flexible screens, why would anyone settle for netbooks for large amounts of reading.

It will sure be interesting to see what we’re reading on 10 years from now!