Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Harry Potter books launched on Amazon Kindle

Jumbo Editorial Report

There’s a breaking news for the bookworms as Amazon has announced that the famed Harry Potter books are now available on Kindle devices, although it is being thought that the retailer has made big concessions to JK Rowling to secure the hit series.

According to reports, the Harry Potter fans have now been offered the facility of purchasing the English-language versions of all seven best-selling books to read on Kindle devices and Kindle mobile apps.

This has been made possible through an agreement with JK Rowling's new website and eBook shop Pottermore, which will get a dedicated section on the Amazon UK site. Any books purchased will now be available as "buy once, read everywhere", meaning they can be 'pushed' to a Kindle library and any Kindle device or app.

"For years our customers have loved reading Harry Potter books in print, and have made them the best-selling print book series on Amazon.com. We're excited that Harry Potter fans worldwide are now able to read JK Rowling's fantastic books on their Kindles and free Kindle reading apps," Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content, was quoted as saying.

A section of press, however, has speculated that Amazon appeared to have offered major concessions to Rowling in order to get the highly lucrative Harry Potter books on Kindle.

To complete a purchase of a Harry Potter eBook, consumers will be required to create an account at the Pottermore Shop, which allows the competing store to collect customer data and insight usually held by Amazon itself.

"They are her customers now. She knows about them because they have registered with her site. It's a huge concession. Amazing,” Mike Shatzkin, the helmsman of The Idea Logical Company, a digital publishing firm, observed.

Shatzkin reckoned that the case drew parallels with the impasse between Apple and The Beatles over getting the band's back catalogue on iTunes, which was finally resolved after years of negotiations.

"JK Rowling is the Beatles. Amazon decided that having the Potter books to sell was more important than the control they usually insist on," Shatzkin added.

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