09:29 AM by library addict in E-Book General | News

Rakuten buying eBook firm OverDrive for $410 million in U.S. push

(Reuters) - Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc (4755.T) is buying U.S. eBook company OverDrive Inc for about $410 million, deepening its push into the U.S. market and into the "sharing economy".

Rakuten's announcement on Thursday about the OverDrive deal comes a week after it led a $530 million funding round for U.S ride-sharing service Lyft, signaling Rakuten's shift in focus towards more-rental based businesses.

The acquisition of OverDrive, which currently offers eBook rental services to U.S. libraries and schools, is expected to be completed in April. It will push Rakuten's eBook business EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) for 2015 closer to profit, the company said in a statement.

"OverDrive can be described as a 'sharing economy' business as it shares books," Takahito Aiki, head of Rakuten's global eBook business, told reporters.

Aiki said that Kobo Inc, a Canadian eBook company Rakuten bought in 2011 for $315 million, is "phase 1" of its eBook business as it allows consumers to buy eBooks. As part of "phase 2," OverDrive will allow libraries and schools to rent eBooks, he said.

Another reason for the purchase is the firm's aggressive drive into the U.S. market, Aiki said.

Rakuten has been on a buying spree in recent years to reduce reliance on its home market. In October it bought U.S. discount store Ebates.com for about $1 billion.

(Editing by Sunil Nair and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

from Reuters

here are some other articles:

Tech Crunch

Business Wire

07:19 AM by GeoffR in E-Book General | News

Online shoppers could soon be hit with GST (New Zealand Herald)

The Prime Minister has warned New Zealanders they could soon be paying GST on online purchases as small as a song download from iTunes.

[...]

GST is not currently charged on imported digital products such as music and film downloaded from services including iTunes. Physical goods bought online and worth less than $400 also usually escape GST.

Edit: New Zealand GST is 15%.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been so busy reading e-books that you haven't had time to keep up on the week's news? Here's some of what you've been missing:

E-Book General - News

• ECJ Rules that Ebooks must have standard VAT rate
• Sir Terry Pratchett died today, age 66

11:17 AM by pdurrant in E-Book General | News

The BBC has just announced that Sir Terry Pratchett has died today, age 66.

A great loss.

"Rest well, Terry Pratchett who died with his cats on his bed and his loved ones by his side. A great life, a brave death, inspirational man." - Tony Parsons (via Twitter)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31858156

01:48 PM by pdurrant in E-Book General | News

Way back in 2012, Luxembourg and France dropped the VAT rate they charged on ebooks from the standard rate to the reduced rate (17% -> 3% in Luxembourg and 20% -> 5% in France).

The European Comission ruled against them in 2013, but they appealed to the European Court of Justice.

The European Court of Justice has now ruled that they are not allowed to charge the reduced, as ebooks must be classified as electronically supplied services, not as books, and so are ineligible for the reduced rate.

This is unfortunate, but expected - the relevant laws are pretty clear. It is to be hoped that the relevant EU laws can be changed, but even if they are, it will take some time.

Thanks to Ink, Bits & Pixels for the info that the judgement had been rendered.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been so busy reading e-books that you haven't had time to keep up on the week's news? Here's some of what you've been missing:

E-Book General - News

• Solar reader

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• March 2015 Special Run-Off Vote

10:11 AM by WT Sharpe in Reading Recommendations | Book Clubs

Since this month's vote resulted in a tree two-way tie, we are having a Special Run-Off Vote between the two leading candidates. I will not vote in this poll unless my vote is needed to break a tie. Since this is going into the weekend, the poll will be open for 4 days rather than the regular 3 normally assigned to a runoff vote. All MobileRead members are invited to participate. This is a visible poll. It is not multiple choice.

We will start the discussion thread for this book on January March 20th. Please select from the following Two Choices:

• West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo

• Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon US / Kobo

11:32 AM by EowynCarter in E-Book General | News

it seams bookeen made a partnership to make some solar power e-reader.
Idea is interesting. (Thinking about it, no one did that already ?)

http://blog.bookeen.com/sunpartner-t...rgy-e-readers/

Sunpartner Technologies is a high-tech engineering company specializing in Solar NETs (New Energy Technologies). Since 2008, they’ve been developing the transparent PV component Wysips® that seamlessly integrates into any surface, transforming it into a solar panel.

So, over the screen ? What impact on readability ?