Amazon, Kindle and the IHT

We've had a couple of good articles about Amazon's Kindle this past week, including a large piece on Thursday about the unease Kindle is causing publishers (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/05/technology/ebook.4-282603.php) and then Krugman's prediction that anything that can be digitized will eventually be given away for free (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/06/opinion/edkrugman.php) , including I presume the IHT.

I've had my own set of issues with Amazon this week (as a published author) because my publisher (which is owned by Hachette Livre) is having its books blocked from being promoted on Amazon, because Hachette Livre won't cave in to Amazon's ceaseless demands for ever deeper discounts.

I've blogged on this at http://aplaceintheauvergne.blogspot.com/2008/06/friday-6th-june-2008.html including posting the full text of an email that the CEO of Hachette Livre sent me, and my completely insane response (but if we're all going to be the Grateful Dead anyway, as Krugman predicts, earning money from 'readings', what's the worry about upsetting my publisher?).

Anyway, all that aside, this is what Amazon have to say about the IHT, and very reasonable I find it too.

The International Herald Tribune collects and distributes world news, information, entertainment and opinion of the highest journalistic integrity. Its balanced perspective addresses all areas of human interest and is trusted and enjoyed by people in all corners of the globe.
The Kindle Edition of International Herald Tribune contains most articles found in the print edition, but will not include some images and tables. Some features such as the crossword puzzle, box scores and classifieds are not currently available. Also, please note that International Herald Tribune features a combined weekend edition on Saturday, and therefore does not publish on Sundays. For your convenience, issues are automatically delivered wirelessly to your Kindle so you can read them each morning.
Order The International Herald Tribune from Amazon for $9.99 per month
Don’t have Amazon Kindle? You can always purchase it from here
Or if you prefer to read the Print editions instead, you can get it from here
http://kbooks.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/b000n8v468-2/#comment-109


QUESTION: IF HACHETTE LIVRE'S EXPERIENCE IS ANYTHING TO GO BY, WHERE IN THE UK THEY ESTIMATE AMAZON WILL HAVE 50% OF THE UK BOOK MARKET LOCKED UP IN THREE YEARS, FOR JUST HOW LONG WILL THE IHT BE ABLE TO HOLD THAT $9.99 PRICE - WHICH BY THE WAY, IS AN ABSOLUTE BARGAIN FOR THE READER.

I'd say we're moving towards Krugman's model. Whither the IHT/NYT?

This is what http://www.koozie.org/ says about it all:

International Herald Tribune: New Newspaper Addition for Kindle
By recently adding "International Herald Tribune", a $9.99 Kindle newspaper subscription, Amazon bumps up their newspaper subscription offerings to 19.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm still surprised that USA Today hasn't jumped on board with the Kindle.




http://www.ianwalthew.com/
http://www.aplaceintheauvergne.blogspot.com/