With eBooks Outselling Print, Is iPad The Future of Reading?

By

ibooksupdate

More signs that your iPad may be the future of print. Online bookseller Amazon announced Thursday e-books are outselling paper versions. While the announcement focused on the Kindle, the news also gives reason for Apple to celebrate its own e-reading plans, including iBookstore.


Since April, the Internet retailer sold 105 e-books for every 100 printed books. Just four months ago, e-book sales overtook paperback sales. “We’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four year,” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said.

While the announcement was used to trumpet the success of the Kindle reader and the recently-introduced ad-supported device, Kindle books are the most popular e-books on the iPad. The Kindle iPad app is widely downloaded. However, that could change soon when Apple begins enforcing new rules requiring in-app sales go through iTunes, thus ensuring Cupertino receives a 30 percent cut on ebook sales.

Earlier this week we reported more signs Amazon is moving ahead with rumored plans to produce an Android-based tablet. After witnesses the failure of rivals to go head-to-head against the iPad, Amazon reportedly is preparing a “family of tablets” able to better compete. If true, an Android-based tablet would side-step Apple’s 30 percent solution and mesh with Amazon’s early-announce Android-centric App Store.

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