Friday, May 28, 2010

Penguin US reaches deal with Amazon over Kindle

27.05.10 | Philip Jones in The Bookseller

Penguin US has finally reached a deal with Amazon.com to again sell its new titles for Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. The titles were removed from the Kindle store in April as US publishers moved across to the agency model in anticipation of the launch of Apple's iPad.

The deal means it is now more likely that Penguin will also have titles available on the iPad bookstore internationally when it launches tomorrow (28th), along with the five US publishers who originally signed deals with Apple in January.

"We have reached an agreement with Amazon and we are pleased that a full selection of our books will be available on the Kindle," David Shanks, chief executive of Penguin Group, said in a statement. The arrival of the iPad has allowed US publishers to force Amazon to push prices up of original e-books from Amazon.com's standard bestseller price of $9.99.

It is not yet known which publishers will have deals in place with Apple for the launch of the iBookstore outside the US, but it is being heavily rumoured that those with with deals already in place with Apple in the US, will be first through the door. All declined to speak to The Bookseller on any such deals when approached this week

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