Borders eBooks store coming to webOS? 25
Fri, 04 Jun 2010 2:16 pm EDT
Borders is working on a cross-platform eBook store to rival that of brick-and-mortar competitor Barnes & Noble as well as online juggernaut Amazon, and it looks like the reader/store might be headed for the warm waters of webOS. PreCentral reader musicianmike decided to reach out to about the possibility of a webOS app, and here’s the response he got after a less-than-useful automated reply:
“Thank you for contacting Borders with your eBook inquiry. There will be a free application available for the Palm Pre.”
Huzzah! To make it even better, the Borders eBooks store is destined to be of the DRM-free variety, simply providing you with what we assume will be an ePub file or something similar. Due to launch some time this month, Borders eBooks will come with more than a million titles out of the gate, along with store/reader apps for PCs, Macs, iPhone OS devices, Android phones, and BlackBerry devices. And if their customer support is to be believed, webOS is to be added to that list.
Thanks to musicianmike for the tip!
25 Comments
Audible or bust. Us illiterate types need books be read out loud to us.
+1 Yeah, what my friend told me the above says.
According to the Kobobooks website Borders is one of the backers behind Kobo (Indigo in Canada being the largest backer) so this is probably just going to be a Borders branded version of the Kobo app. Just like Borders will be selling the Kobo Reader.
I sure hope Borders gets Kobo to finish the Pre app before they put their name on it. In it's current form, the Kobo app is sub-par at best. I have been able to read a few books on it, but the experience has been anything but pleasant.
I promise to move all my book purchases from Amazon and B&N and buy everything from Borders, just to support this!
WTG Borders!
This was pretty much my feeling too. I've been a Kindle app guy for a while on my laptop, and was disappointed to find no corresponding app for the Palm. If Borders can get this anywhere close to right, they've picked up a former Kindle customer...
This is pretty expected, actually. The Kobo bookstore is merging with Borders to back up their new eReader that's being launched this summer. We already have the free Kobo app for webOS. Borders might re-badge it with their name, but that's pretty much it.
Nice...now Palm develop me a device with a larger display for all of my e-book reading :-)
my wife will like this. Me not so much. Books are boring.
Your wife sounds a lot smarter than you.
Don't hit on his wife!
Excellent news!!!
Even more exciting is the $150 Kobo ebook reader! I'm very excited for that. It comes out June 6th, I believe. That'll be my birthday gift come August!
I've got one, it's pretty cool but at the moment quite buggy. The great thing about books from Kobo is the multiplatform support so I can read books I've bought on my Pre, my Kobo and anywhere with an Internet connection.
my wife will like this. Me not so much. Books are boring.
@jahooba
she is for sure the smarter one, also way better looking then my ass.
sweet, I'm so going to love this. Wonder if this will stop the book apps from appible
Meh.
I'm still looking forward to seeing what HP does with Barnes and Nobles. Check out: http://hp.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/.
I imagine we'll see some tight integration with #webOS across a variety of devices. Can't wait.
Actually, I wrote to Barnes & Noble about there being a Palm app for their ebooks, since they support other smartphones. Their response: "Unfortunately, at this time, eBooks purchased on our website are not compatible with (DEVICE)."
I thought making the boilerplate just a little less obvious would have been a nice touch, but this, along with a slightly-less-impersonal but still negative response from Amazon, made me appreciate that Borders at least was making an effort...
cool! my wife will love this too. she is boring.
this makes me : )
eReader works fine for me for now with the native reader on the Pre Plus. But it's always nice to have options, Steve. :)
I'm more interested in the fact that Borders may distribute books in non-DRM ePub format. Kudo's to them for that. If that's the case I'll stick with pReader anyway. It really is a great piece of software.
wow im holding my breath