Rowling launched the ebook versions of her books in March, opting to ditch DRM and allowing fans to read them on any device.

The tie-up with Kobo allows the retailer’s customers to buy the books from Pottermore via a quick link on the Kobo website. After purchase the books will be synced to the libraries on their Kobo device or app.

“We’re excited to bring together the extremely successful Harry Potter phenomenon and the always-enthusiastic Kobo eReading community. Fans have been waiting for years to see the Harry Potter series in digital and now that wait is over,” said Michael Tamblyn, Executive Vice President Content, Sales & Merchandising, Kobo.

“Best-selling author J. K. Rowling has captured the imaginations of book lovers everywhere, and we couldn’t be more excited about bringing her vision to the Kobo reading experience.”

 
“Kobo is an increasingly powerful player in the eReading market and we are delighted to have them on board,” said Charlie Redmayne, CEO, Pottermore.


Since the app launched Bluefire CEO Micah Bowers has been a familiar presence on ebook forums and social media sites listening to what end users want and implementing many of their suggestions.

That very open and public style of engagement has seen the app win an army of loyal users.

I caught up Bowers at last month’s London Book Fare where he said that although many book lovers use the Bluefire app, the company sees its main customers as “publishers who want to sell direct to the consumer who really value that direct relationship, or retailers.”

The company offers branded reader apps to those partners allowing them to compete with the big ebook retailers. This means Bluefire’s competitors are txtr and Mobcast, not retailers such as Apple or Amazon.

“Retailers really don’t have a choice,” Bowers said when explaining why his partners need a white label app.

“There’s nothing they can do in the Kindle ecosystem, there’s nothing they can do in the iBooks ecosystem and publishers can provide books to them but they become just a supplier versus having that direct relationship.”

Most of the big vendor apps allow side-loading of non-DRM’d books, a feature which could become actually of use if, as suspected, the days of ebook DRM are drawing to an end.

But if books are suddenly sold unencrypted and users can finally place all their books in a single app where does this leave the likes of Bluefire and their clients?

On the issue of DRM Bowers says Bluefire is “all about enabling the retailers to have a great platform for delivering content so if they or the publishers want DRM we make that work for them, we make it as seamless as possible. If they don’t want DRM the solution works great.”

He also dismisses suggestions that dropping DRM would see a shift away from smaller apps.

“Those of us in the industry tend to shop here, shop there, try this, try that but consumers just want simplicity, they want to find that great retail ecosystem that they buy into. For them I don’t think there’s a big issue about moving things here and there.”

“A lot of it has to do with the relationship between the customer and the retailer – customer support, pricing, do they help find content that they like, do they provide sync services?

“If you’re a customer of Books-A-Million and you shop there all the time and you get their apps, as long as you have a good reading experience there’s really no reason to move your books anywhere else.”

But where does Bluefire go when every book retailer who wants an app has one?

Cliff Guren, Bluefire’s Vice President of Business Development, tells me the company has its eyes on markets outside consumer ereading including “business to business communications, business to consumer outside the traditional ebook retailing and Government publications.”

“We had a meeting with one of the UK Government institutions who said ‘we’re really want to use something like your product because we have a mandate to reduce paper’ so there’s lots of opportunities as we build out the platform.”

Guren and Bowers agree when I suggest Bluefire’s current consumer retail services could become “a very small part” of their future business.

Bowers says they want to partner with “any company or Government institution who creates a large amount of content, be it manuals, policy documents or training materials” who want to “have that content distributed to [their] audience in a managed, branded way.”

He also cites an example of a partnership with a US educational establishment to provide course materials, telling me “the students log in and they get a list of content that they can access that’s part of their course programme.”

Guren adds: “Our apps contain an embedded web view [which is] a very powerful tool for establishing and maintaining persistent relationships. So it’s not just that [partners] can reduce costs by distributing electronically, it’s that if they build out the embedded services they can also maintain relationships in a way they simply can’t in print.”

Such a move to digital has the potential to deliver significant cost savings by reducing the amount of printed material students or sales teams have to carry around.

But Bowers says digitising has benefits beyond costs, such as analytics which allow sellers and trainers to understand how customers and employees are using content.

At this point Guren is keen to stress that any use of such analytics would be “subject to the appropriate privacy laws” and insists Bluefire is “super, super concerned about that issue and trying to make sure that what ever we deploy complies with local laws.”

“From a business perspective we just want to make sure that what we’re doing takes privacy into consideration and so that we architect the system to allow us to have the right privacy settings.”

“The last thing we want is for consumers to think that we’re inappropriately gathering or using data.”

It’s clear that Bluefire has big plans for the future but Bowers says for now “our bookseller customers are really our focus. But yes, there are places where it can go and there’s lots of opportunity and there’s a lot of interesting things we can do.”

The title is available through Apple’s Newstand app and has been optimised to take advantage of the high-resolution retina display on the new iPad.

The Total Film Interactive Edition launches with an exclusive The Dark Knight Rises cover story while inside is bespoke video content direct from the set.

Publishers Future say the Total Film Interactive Edition was created using the firm’s own proprietary software, FutureFolio, an Apple-approved wrapper for digital products on the Newsstand.

Jane Crowther, Editor of Total Film, says: “The Total Film Interactive iPad Edition offers our readers the perfect opportunity to fully engage in the Total Film experience. Through interactive pages, bespoke video, plus exclusive extra content and galleries, our audience of passionate film fans are able to interact with the brands cutting-edge editorial content more than ever before.”

Mike Goldsmith, Future’s Editor-in-Chief of iPad & Tablet Editions, says: “Total Film is the perfect brand for the iPad – good-looking, cool, interactive, forward-looking and all about amazing content.

“By using our own magazine app creation software to create this product, we are able to make editorial workflow as efficient as possible and produce an interactive edition that’s truly best in class.”

The Total Film Interactive Edition is available to download for a special introductory price of £1.99 for two weeks only and thereafter each monthly edition will be priced at £3.99

Kobo's Touch reader

The device uses e-ink’s latest Pearl technology which provides crisp, easy to read text on a non-reflective screen which can be read in bright light without any screen glare.

If your last ereader is a couple of years old – in my case Sony’s PRS-505 – then you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much the screen technology has advanced.

The contrast between the text and background is far greater than on older devices, a development which makes reading easier and more enjoyable.

e-ink also offers long lasting battery life which dwarfs that offered by tablets and other LCD devices. However there is a tradeoff – e-ink screens lack a backlight so you’re unable to read in dark and very low light conditions.

The device is WiFi enabled so it can connect to your home broadband network which allows you to browse Kobo’s built-in store and download books for instant reading.

If you buy your books from Kobo and have a tablet you can easily read your purchases on both devices by installing Kobo’s app on your tablet.

As well as books from Kobo, the Touch will also display titles purchased from other retailers who support ePub files protected by Adobe’s DRM so if you have existing books purchased from WHSmith, Waterstones or Foyles they can be copied to the Kobo by connecting it to your PC or Mac.

Looks-wise the Kobo Touch is a pretty standard black plastic affair much like many other ereaders.

What differentiates it is the rear which Kobo describe as ‘soft-quilted’ – a term which conjures up the idea of a girly, spongelike feel – but is actually a textured, non-slip pattern.

This makes the device easy and comfortable to hold for long periods and reduces the possibility of it slipping from your hands.

Performance-wise the Touch is fast, the touch screen is responsive and the menu system intuitive and easy to use.

All the standard features – font sizes, font selection, search, dictionary and annotation – are present and brought up by taping the screen from within your book so there’s no need to quit back to the menu to make changes.

Conclusion
If I was looking at buying an ereader as a gift the Touch is the device I’d choose, it’s a well built, high-quality device which provides an enjoyable user experience and a simple way to buy books.

The Kobo Touch is available to buy at WHSmiths and other high street stores.

As predicted by author Charles Stross, Tor’s announcement has generated huge publicity for the company and an equal measure of goodwill among ebook readers.

It is both an astute business move and a great PR triumph for the company.

It also feels like the beginning of a process which will soon gather critical mass and lead to the eradication of DRM from all consumer ebooks.

The arguments against DRM are now so familiar that it’s no longer even remotely worth time rehashing them. Suffice to say that it’s merely an impediment to honest ebook buyers enjoying their purchases on their terms and does nothing to stop piracy.

The question many are asking themselves is: who will follow Tor? Will it be another division of Macmillan or will one of its rivals notice the halo generated by the announcement and fancy some positive coverage for itself.

One thing we can be certain is that very soon another big name will follow Tor’s example and once they do it’ll become a matter of simply waiting for other publishing houses to bow to the inevitable.

The company says its LexisNexis Digital Library “is an innovative new service that offers legal professionals access to the largest collection of authoritative legal eBook content on all major mobile devices and desktop platforms.”

Organisations are able to share individual ebook titles among multiple users, purchase eBooks centrally and manage their library efficiently while reducing costs by eliminating the storing, filing and distribution of traditional print books.

“As today’s lawyers increasingly use tablets, smart phones and laptops as part of their everyday work, they need more flexible and cost-effective ways to use and share legal eBooks,” said Bob Romeo, CEO of Research & Litigation Solutions at LexisNexis®Legal & Professional.

“Working with OverDrive, we’ve created LexisNexis Digital Library so our customers have quick mobile or desktop access to more trusted legal eBooks than any other source, along with the ability to economically expand and manage their library.”

Books can be accessed on a wide range of devices including Windows and Mac computers, iPad, iPhone, Amazon’s Kindle, Android devices and Blackberry handsets.

Users can also add titles from other publishers to their library.

”We’re proud to work with LexisNexis and add law libraries to our growing network of more than 18,000 libraries worldwide,” said OverDrive CEO Steve Potash.

“Our proven system and large, diverse catalogue of eBooks will complement the LexisNexis offerings and become an asset to the legal community.”

More information about LexisNexis Digital Library is available at: www.lexisnexis.com/ebooks/lending.



Tor made the announcement on its blog

Earlier this week Tor US announced it will drop DRM from ebooks from July 2012.

The imprints are owned by publishing house Macmillan

“We know that this is what many Tor authors passionately want. We also understand that readers in this community feel strongly about this,” said Jeremy Trevathan, Pan Macmillan’s Fiction Publisher.

In a post on its website, Tor UK said: “This decision has been made in partnership with our sister company Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, in New York. We are consulting with our authors at the moment and we will announce our plans in more detail in due course.”

The move affects all titles published under the Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen brands.

“Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said company president Tom Doherty in a blog post.

“They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.”

Tor is owned by publishing house Macmillan.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that publishers would drop DRM. Much of the rumour has centred around the big publishers who have been forced to drop agency pricing after regulator action in the US.

With a dedicated team of Kobo experts, customers will be guided through their eReading adventure every step of the way—from activating their Kobo accounts, choosing the right device for their personal reading styles, and browsing the Kobo eBookstore in search of their next great read.

The companies say the new mini-stores follow a “overwhelmingly positive response” to trialed “Kobo Centres” in some of the larger WHSmith stores.

WHSmith are currently selling the Kobo Wireless reader for £59.99, the Touch version for £79.99 and the Kobo Vox tablet for £149.99.

Just a 2 weeks ago I suggested that J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter ebooks might have slain DRM.

Fast forward a few days and it seems almost certain that the US’s Department of Justice will be able to share the credit.

As previously reported, the DoJ is suing Apple and some book publishers over the decision to adopt the agency pricing model for ebooks.

The publishers which settled have to agree new contracts with retailers and for two years allow books to be discounted – the very thing agency was implemented to stop.

So now the settling publishers are back to square one – their biggest customer controls the pricing of their product while they once again fear control of the market by a single retailer.

That retailer control is very real potent because of the vendor lock-in which forms an inherent part of the Kindle and iBooks ecosystems. Buy a book from them and the DRM means you can’t read it on a nook, a Kobo or Sony reader unless you’re a naughty boy or girl and hack the DRM.

For more on this see the Harry Potter article.

But what’s clear from online commentary is that the idea of publishers dropping DRM even on their biggest titles is no longer a flight of fancy.

Suddenly it’s being discussed by serious people as a way of ensuring book readers are free to move their books between devices and brands of devices.

Over at Digital Book World, former txtr executive and founder of ebook sampling service Jellybooks, Andrew Rhomberg writes:

“It is my observation form discussion before and during the London Book fair that no-DRM has suddenly moved from the fringe to the mainstream. The central reason is the DOJ and how the playing field has tilted in Aazon’s favor.

“This does not mean that the end of DRM is necessarily imminent, but it now has become a distinct possibility. If 2 or 3 top tier publishing houses were to drop DRM, then every publisher would follow.”

I can’t claim to have spoken to the same people as Andrew, but the number of people who sense something is about to change is rapidly growing. And while groupthink doesn’t always turn out to be true, I’d be surprised if this year doesn’t see at least one major publisher abandon DRM.

Our chat covered a number of issues, including the current retailing of the company’s ereaders here in the UK, Agency Pricing and a potential return to price competition.

Asked whether Kobo was confident it could withstand a potential price war between Amazon and Apple in the wake of US and EU action over the Agency model, Michael said:

“The advantage of our acquisition by Rakuten in January was having a large, well funded and highly profitable parent that really wants to be in this space so that has substantially increased our ability to withstand a very competitive price war.

“In the long term this is just the latest in what seems like an annual set of pricing trauma and pricing innovation that’s going on in this space right now.

“The publishers are motivated to try and create a market that has as many competitive retailers in it as possible and all the retailers want to do the best they can in terms of acquiring new customers and we’re fully confident we’re going to be able to find a balance in that that works.”

As I know it’s an issue which interests a number of readers, I also tried (and failed) to discover a little more about how Kobo’s deals with retailers work.

As you might expect, Tamblyn was unwilling to discuss the commercial terms between Kobo and outfits such as WHSmith, but stressed everyone involved had an “incentive to grow the ebook business in the UK”.

Asked whether that incentive was “one penny to every retailer” for each sale or was based on some way of tying a sale to an ereader purchased through a specific retail partner, Tamblyn told me: “we’re into the commercial terms that I can’t really speak of but we’re both motivated to make the market grow.”

A smaller, cheaper device would help Apple compete with rivals. Photo: Apple.

Yet the iGadget craze started off with the iPod – a brand which covers products of varying sizes and features to suit different customers and their lifestyles.

To ensure it doesn’t cede a sizeable part of the tablet marker to the Kobo Vox or Kindle Fire Apple needs to return to the flexibility of its iPod range and make devices which fit the users, not expect users to fit the devices.

One potential answer – which fits in with the latest round of the ever returning rumour of a smaller iPad – is to launch a new, smaller, cheaper device which does much that an iPad does but under a different name.

A smaller device which lacked some hardware and features might well deserve a new name in order to be avoid being seen for what it is – a pared down iPad.

And in its list of trademarks Apple has the perfect name – the iBook.

Originally a laptop, the iBook would be a natural brand name for a new, more portable device primarily aimed at reading content from Apple’s iBookstore.

And if Apple could keep the cost down to around £179-£199 the new iBook reader, while still more expensive than the cheap Android alternatives, would be very attractive to those who cannot afford the £400 starting price of an iPad.

Publishers selling books in Apple's iBooks use the Agency model

Agency pricing sees publishers set the final retail price and pay the retailer a commission.

Many publishers adopted it in order to sell through Apple’s iBooks app and subsequently extended the model to other retailers including Amazon’s Kindle store.

The DOJ has accused Apple and big publishing houses Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster and Penguin of colluding over the prices of e-books.

If the five defendant companies, Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins have agreed to settle with the DoJ. That leaves Apple, Macmillan and Penguin to defend their actions in court.

Macmillan CEO John Sargent has issued a defiant defence of the company’s decision to adopt agency pricing and its refusal to agree to the settlement offered by the DOJ.

In an open letter to authors, illustrators and agents, Sargent writes: “..the terms the DOJ demanded were too onerous. After careful consideration, we came to the conclusion that the terms could have allowed Amazon to recover the monopoly position it had been building before our switch to the agency model. We also felt the settlement the DOJ wanted to impose would have a very negative and long term impact on those who sell books for a living, from the largest chain stores to the smallest independents. 



“When Macmillan changed to the agency model we did so knowing we would make less money on our e book business. We made the change to support an open and competitive market for the future, and it worked. We still believe in that future and we still believe the agency model is the only way to get there.”

Noting that some of Macmillan’s rivals have agreed to settle out of court, Sargent adds: “That is their decision to make. We have decided to fight this in court.”

Sargent closes his letter by saying: “Since we are now in litigation, I may not be able to comment much going forward. We remain dedicated to finding the best long term outcome for the book business, for Macmillan and for the work you have entrusted to our care.”



Kobo's Vox eReader

“London Book Fair provides a great opportunity for Kobo to connect with our partners and offer our unique insights into how the digital reading landscape is evolving,” said Michael Tamblyn, Kobo’s Executive Vice President, Content, Sales & Merchandising.

“We’ve made it our business to bring eReading to an ever-growing list of countries – including Canada, United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands and more. We have done all of this while balancing our deep commitment to the reading experience with a desire to push the possibilities of what it means to be a reader, writer or publisher. At LBF 2012, we will be telling stories and sharing data that illuminate both ends of that spectrum.”

Tamblyn is one of three executives from the firm delivering speeches during the three day event.

Twelve months on Yahoo have filed for eBook ad patents and I’m still puzzling over the ‘why’.

The appeal of Amazon’s Kindle with special offers is a complete mystery to me – how can paying a few less dollars be worth having adverts fed through to your reader?

I can’t quite shake off the suspicion that the long term winner of that sale is Amazon.

And as for ads in the books – the Yahoo patent application reads like Google’s existing context-based ads they display on websites. Like many websites, we display ads because they help monetise content we make available at no cost.

But why would anyone want their enjoyment of a book they’ve paid for spoilt by adverts within the text?

eBooks could soon include adverts

The patent applications cover determining which adverts should be displayed based on the genre or contents of a book.

In its filing, Yahoo suggests “Greater levels of advertising, which may be more valuable to an advertiser and potentially more distracting to an e-book reader, may warrant higher discounts.”

The adverts could be text links, graphics or audio/video content.

Asda also sells a touch-screen version of the Kobo eReader for £79. Both products are available in Asda stores and online at www.asda.co.uk.

Image: Future Publishing

The company says its new How to Draw & Paint title will be “packed with interactive content” showing how to use Photoshop to create digital artwork in a particular style.

The first issue covers Manga and features animated lessons in how to get to grips with the basics of the genre, an interactive guide to Photoshop and its digital art functions; plus a range of expert-crafted interactive lessons.

Other topics in the series include Anatomy, Gods & Monsters, Fantasy characters and Cartoons.

Tom Dennis, Digital Product Editor for Future’s Creative Group says: “We’ve taken a new approach to delivering tutorial content on iPad based on how digital artists use their tablets alongside their main computer.

“Our Group has mastered tutorial content, as magazines like Computer Arts and ImagineFX prove. The How to Draw and Paint series takes this tutorial process to the next level, not just by telling readers how to create a particular style or artwork, but by also walking them through the various stages with animations and dynamic content.”

The magazine will be available from Apple’s App Store via a 90-day subscription priced £4.99.

Sony's mailing to customers. Image: Sony/Pottermore/J.K. Rowling

While many books are sold without DRM, these tend to be cheaper (in price) self-published titles or those from smaller publishers.

If you’re buying an eBook from one of the biggest publishers – the sort of books you see advertised on TV or sold in supermarkets – you’re almost guaranteed the book will be encrypted with DRM.

That DRM restricts what you can do with the book including the devices or apps you can read it on.

Buy a book from Kobo or Waterstones and you can put it on a myriad of devices but not a Kindle or Apple’s iBooks app because they don’t support the Adobe DRM the book will be wrapped in.

And an eBook bought from iBooks can only be read on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

Buy a book from Amazon’s Kindle store and you can read it on a Kindle or any of the devices they make apps for.

A lot people argue this means the DRM is invisible but it isn’t – you can’t put those books onto (for example) a Sony or Kobo reader or read them in a rival app because they can’t support Amazon’s DRM.

That means you’ll always be restricted to reading the books on the devices and app Amazon allows. The tether may be longer than with other sellers, but you’re still firmly tied to Amazon.

But the Harry Potter titles sweep those restrictions away – I can download a copy today and put the same file on my iPad or my Sony reader. And if swap either for a Kobo, I can read it on that too. The book is mine in a way no other major eBook is.

Instead of the usual restrictive DRM, the Potter books are watermarked with unique identifiers allowing the publishers to track illegally shared copies back to the original buyer.

Those who are honest can enjoy their books as often as they like and on whichever device they like while file sharers can be dealt with as the law and publisher’s will allows.

And that’s pretty much as it should be.

As was the case with digital music, encrypting eBooks hasn’t stopped piracy and it never will. The tools to remove most DRM types are a simple Google search away, those motivated to do so can release the locks on their books in a few minutes.

In short, the current DRM systems are too soft to deter real piracy but so over the top as to diminish the enjoyment of ordinary, IT-unaware punters who pay for their books.

While one even major franchise dropping DRM doesn’t guarantee that it’s on the way out, the popularity of the Potter eBooks proves even those with highly valuable franchises can make money without treating every buyer as a potential thief.

Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling have made it even harder for the big publishers to defend the current system. Bets on it still being here in 12 months time?

Sony's mailing to customers. Image: Sony/Pottermore/J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling’s novels launched on the format earlier this week and are compatible with all major ebook readers including Sony’s own range, Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iBooks app.

Instead of traditional DRM, books are personalised “with a combination of watermarking techniques that relate to the book, to the purchaser and the purchase time” to help combat piracy.

The books are available exclusively via the Pottermore.com website which was launched by Rowling and Sony last year.

Launching the site last year, Ms Rowling said: “I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have.”

txtr's apps will power Toshiba's store

The company will local stores to customers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, The Netherlands and Poland.

The rest of europe will have access to a a generic international version of the service.

“We are pleased that the European arm of Toshiba, a world-leader in technology, has recognised the significant changes in the eBook environment and has chosen txtr as their partner of choice in Europe for eBooks,” said Ulrik Deichsel, Head of Business Development of txtr.

“And it’s important to note that recent research shows that consumers are willing to pay a reasonable price for eBooks. Now is the time to focus on the book discovery process with expected innovations in social reading and recommendations and the quality and size of our local catalogues.”

The Kindle Touch is coming to the UK Amazon.com

The WiFi enabled device, which launched in the US last year, will be priced at £106. A 3G version will cost £169.

The Kindle Touch features an e-ink touchscreen which allows users to turn pages, navigate the built-in store and search books.

Speaking last year, Dave Limp, Vice President, Kindle said: “Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are the most full-featured e-readers available with a beautiful latest generation electronic ink display, fast page turns and long battery life.”

Pre-order today.

Last year J.K. Rowling confirmed the entire Harry Potter saga would be released as ebooks via her Pottermore.com.

After a longer than expected wait, the books are now on sale and available as ePub and Kindle editions. UK editions are priced at £4.99.

Instead of traditional DRM, books are personalised “with a combination of watermarking techniques that relate to the book, to the purchaser and the purchase time” to help combat piracy.

The store’s FAQ says books can be downloaded “up to eight times, at no additional cost”.

Buyers are advised: “If you want to share your Harry Potter eBook with your own children, that’s absolutely fine with us too, so long as they are under 18. Actually, we’d encourage it! However, once they are over 18, they will need to buy their own copy.”

Last month it was announced eBook distributor Overdrive would serve as the exclusive distribution partner for the range’s library editions.

All books offered by the jellybooks service are DRM-free so readers can enjoy them in their existing favourite reading app before deciding whether to buy the rest of the story.

Books can also be shared via Twitter and Facebook.

The site will eventually offer major titles up to six weeks ahead of launch and is “negotiating special book club deals with publishers to offer special buying opportunities for books.”

Such deals will allow readers to save as much as 50% off titles.

Visit jellybooks.com for more details

An advert for the Kindle has been cleared: Amazon.com

A customer complained that a TV ad for the Kindle was misleading because it did not state that a mains charger was not included with the product as standard.

However the ASA rejected the complaint, noting both that the product box included a USB cable which allowed buyers to charge the device.

In its ruling the ASA said it: “acknowledged that there would be some consumers interested in the product who would not own or have access to a USB-enabled device.

“However, we considered that these consumers would be in a minority and would not represent the average consumer. We considered it reasonable to expect consumers who did not own or have access to a computer to check either the product information, if purchasing online, or the packaging if purchasing in-store, to ensure that the product was suitable for them before making a purchase. “

The 10-year deal sees Random’s Vintage Publishing imprint take over publishing rights from Penguin in April and the books will be published this summer.

Vintage is a sister imprint of Jonathan Cape, the original publishers of Ian Fleming’s Bond stories.

Richard Cable, Managing Director of Vintage Publishing, said the imprint were “excited to welcome Ian Fleming’s books to the Vintage list for the first time and to reunite him with Jonathan Cape, the original publisher of his work.”

Cable added: “We are hugely looking forward to working with Ian Fleming Publications Ltd to relaunch the list in 2012, a year which marks the 50th anniversary of the first James Bond film, Dr No, and sees a new 007 adventure hit the big screen.’

eBook editions of the Bond titles have previously been published by estate and sold via Waterstones and Amazon.

The new deal will bring the books to all major eBook stores.

The Vox is an Adroid-powered tablet featuring a touchscreen, WiFi, the ability to play games, listen to music and watch videos and web access and is available in the UK from WHSmith.

The comics are available via the reader’s built-in store and online at kobobooks.com.

The retailer says new titles will be added each month.

“Kobo is the perfect partner for Dark Horse. Like us, they’ve established themselves on a basis of innovation,” said Matt Parkinson, Senior Director of Marketing for Dark Horse.

“We couldn’t be more excited to reach new readers around the world with some of the most exciting and dynamic storytelling that our comic titles offer.”

OverDrive offers apps as well as distribution services

OverDrive also offers eBook and audiobook apps for smaprtphones and tablets.

Unlike most retailers, Booki.sh uses HTML5 to makes titles available via the customer’s web browser rather than requiring them to install apps.

OverDrive says it will integrate technologies into its own services, expanding the options it can offer partners.

Booki.sh founders and principals Joseph Pearson, Virginia Murdoch and Peter Haasz will join OverDrive from their existing offices in Melbourne.

“Joseph, Virginia and the Booki.sh team have created a fresh, direct and immersive reading experience that uniquely serves the mission of our libraries and schools,” said Steve Potash, OverDrive CEO and President. 

“Their innovative technologies streamline the access and convenience of eBooks, which will help shape how millions of readers and students enjoy eBooks from OverDrive’s network of thousands of libraries, schools and booksellers in over 20 countries.”

Barnes and Noble is expected to launch the ono in the UK

Previous speculation has centred around B&N partnering with Waterstones to sell the nook in the UK

The free NOOK Developer Workshop is being held on March 19th, ahead of an evening session on the future of tablets.

The booking page for the event says the workshop “will deep dive into all the technical aspects to help you distribute your apps on NOOK tablets and cover the entire development process — from app creation to app submission.”

The Shorts range offers “a wide range of engaging, entertaining non-fiction and fiction for approximately the same price as a cup of coffee, written to be read over a long commute or during a lunch hour.”

The new additions will feature content “written by a number of highly-acclaimed journalists and originally published in The Economist”.

Tom Standage, The Economist’s digital editor, said: “We see this series as an excellent way to continue our commitment to delivering Economist content to readers wherever and however they prefer to consume it.”

Venetia Butterfield, Publishing Director for Viking Penguin, said: “We have always been determined that Penguin Shorts offer readers the highest quality writing at an affordably low price, and our partnership with The Economist does precisely that.
“These brilliantly written reports are the perfect primers for some of the most pressing contemporary issues, and come with the trusted editorial stamps of both Penguin and The Economist.”

The first five Economist Specials are:

China: Rising Power, Anxious State by James Miles – in less than a decade China could be the world’s largest economy, but James Miles argues that its continued economic success is under threat from a resurgence of the state and resistance to further reform.
The Future of Jobs: The Great Mismatch by Matthew Bishop – In the new world of work unemployment is high, yet skilled and talented people are in short supply. Matthew Bishop explores why.
Personal Technology: Beyond the PC by Martin Giles – Mobile digital gadgets are overshadowing the personal computer. This report looks at how their impact will be far-reaching.
Video Games: All the World’s a Game by Tim Cross – an exploration of how video games will be the fastest-growing and most exciting form of mass media over the coming decade.
Women and Work: Closing the Gap by Barbara Beck – Women have made huge progress in the workplace, but still get lower pay and far fewer top jobs than men. Barbara Beck asks why.