Report: Apple Talks ‘Enhanced Ebooks’ With HarperCollins, Others

If Apple unveils a tablet Jan. 27, publisher HarperCollins may also be in the spotlight, according to a Tuesday report. Apple is talking with HarperCollins and other publishers about making ‘enhanced ebooks’ available on its much-expected and long-rumored tablet device.

Citing anonymous “people familiar with the situation,” the Wall Street Journal reports enhanced ebooks with video, interviews and social-networking connections, could command up to $19.99 per title – far from the $9.99 price for Amazon’s Kindle.

“The HarperCollins negotiations with Apple represent a direct challenge to Amazon,” the report said

Although the WSJ was unable to confirm if the ebooks would be sold through iTunes or a newly-created online marketplace, other reports suggested Apple may offer all iTunes content – video, music and ebooks – to tablet users.

Although the percentage of Apple’s take from such sales hasn’t yet been determined, HarperCollins and other publishers are reserving the e-book versions of some best-sellers until late February.

The report seems to only confirm earlier suggestions of the value of enhanced or “hybrid” content and the various alliances publishers are testing to either welcome or ward-off Apple’s advances.

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[Via Wall Street Journal]

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Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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Sam
I knew it. Publishers are just as stupid as Movie studios. No new movies on Netflix, no new books offered online either. Apparently they think there’s no money to be made on the internet, so it’s better to just hold back and be cautious. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.
Charli
i think that the publishers will embrace this idea, but it may take some time. Textbooks and magazines will likely come first. And then particular non fiction titles that would benefit from audio and or video should as language learning, cooking etc.
at this point fiction would probably be limited to getting the text and audio book melded together with a way to flip back and forth as you like without losing your place. And probably only major titles they are sure would sell. Then grow from there
as for using the itunes store rather than an independent. I could see it. why reinvent the wheel. the real question would be if there is DRM on these things so you could only use it on the AppleX, or perhaps your computer via itunes. there’s a good argument both for and against the idea. from a sales point of view.