By
Rachelle on December 10, 2010, 11:47 am

Amazon has expanded its Kindle web app so consumers can purchase and download entire books onto the devices of their choice – a laptop, say, or a desktop. The point is, there is no additional software to download to make the purchase – nor is it necessary to own a Kindle. Amazon will now enable bookstores, authors, bloggers and even rival retailers to offer Kindle books from their own sites, with readers now able to instantly access the full text of the title across any web-enabled device. Another change lets blogger and e-tailors sell Kindle books directly from their websites. There are a number of reasons why Amazon took this step – the long-foreseen launch of Google ebooks being one; the ever encroaching iPad another. The point is, ebooks are migrating to an open web strategy not only for Amazon and Google but also likely their competitors such as Barnes Noble. And as more companies move in this direction, advertisers are going to going to follow suit, intrigued by the promise of a brand new online medium.

Kindle Publishers BookScan

In recent years, individual authors have increasingly been asked to take part in the marketing and promotion of their own books. Publishers have faced budget cutbacks, and the Internet has provided authors with more ways of reaching readers — and potential book buyers. Amazon sees the Nielsen BookScan data as a tool to that end. “The geographic view of print sales will help authors identify trends to help their promotion efforts and enables authors to develop more effective methods for reaching the widest possible audience,” Amazon’s Kinley Campbell wrote in an e-mail.

Nook vs. Kindle

Kindle, Kindle 3G and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon, but if you’re looking for an alternative, you can check out Nook.

The first Nook, a $259, grayscale-screen device with WiFi and ATT 3G wireless access–now selling for $199 and since joined by a WiFi-only $149 version–was a me-too competitor to Amazon’s Kindle. This $249, Android-based, WiFi-only device is a little bit Kindle and a little bit iPad, without trying too hard to imitate either device.

Here’s an interesting little side option available to Nook users: LendMe, a service that allows you to loan out a book to a friend also using Nook. While it’s definitely something fun to do, keep in mind you’ll only be able to loan out a book once, ever. Once a book has been loaned to a friend, it’s permanently unavailable to loan out after that. Hopefully, they’ll fix that with some kind of reset (maybe one loan every 6 months?), but as of right now, it’s one loan for your ebook’s lifetime… So choose wisely!

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