Recent developments seem to show that Amazon is moving away from a tight bonding between the Kindle book formats and the Kindle reader - the new Kindle DX features support for PDF files, rather than just Mobipocket and AZW, and the new 'Kindle for iPhone' program lets Kindle book buyers use the iPhone as their reading device if they prefer. Indeed, Jeff Bezos has now explicitly said that Kindle books and Reader are two separate businesses:

The device team has the job of making the most remarkable purpose-built reading device in the world. We are going to give the device team competition. We will make Kindle books, at the same $9.99 price points, available on the iPhone, and other mobile devices and other computing devices

Can't help but feel that the unexpected success of the iPhone as a reading device, using third-party apps, has swung Amazon's strategy somewhat...

Print on Demand publishing pioneer Morris Rosenthal has posted an interesting blog entry about the Espresso Book Machine and the effect it could have on offset printers, and also the library business. Head on over there and check it out - I've included Morris's video on the subject here for your enjoyment:

From the mouth of Bezos:

I get grumpy now when I have to read a physical book....The physical book has had a great 500 year run, but it's time to change

More thoughts from Amazon's founder and CEO here.

Time Magazine has a new feature available online titled "Is Amazon Taking Over the Book Business?".:

No question, Amazon is the most forward-thinking company in the book business. If there's a Steve Jobs of books, it's Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos. His vision is defining the way books will be bought and sold and written and read in the digital world — which is to say, the world. The question is whether there will be room in it for anyone besides Amazon.

Ultimately, the article says the free market will not allow Amazon to completely dominate. Apart from a brief mention though, it doesn't explore the possible monopolistic advantages of Amazon's vertical integration and whether that may be a significant buttress against the wants and needs of the free market.

Miscellaneous links with interesting reading pertaining to publishing's digital future...

• Wired discusses monopoly concerns about the Google Book deal.
• eBooks finally 'get some respect' from BookExpo America.
• Google to take on Amazon's eBook dominance with new online publishing model.
• Will Google's entry into the digital book fray cause a standards war?

Who wins, who loses?

According to bibliographic data provider Bowker, last year the number of print-on-demand titles exceeded the number of traditionally-published titles for the first time ever. If anyone ever doubted that PoD was taking over, the numbers are in:

US title output in 2008 decreased by 3.2%, with 275,232 new titles and editions, down from the 284,370 titles that were published in 2007. By contrast Bowker projects that 285,394 'on demand' books were produced last year, a 132% increase over last year's final total of 123,276 titles. It is the second consecutive year of triple-digit growth in this sector, driven by the huge rise in self-publishing.

With advances in eBook technology and print-on-demand availability and ease of use (see the previous two stories), this trend can only continue.

According to research group Piper Jaffray, worldwide Kindle revenues will more than double in the coming year, as eBooks finally come of age as an alternative to paper versions. It seems Amazon won't have it all their own way though, with more an more apps for the iPhone giving that device eBook functionality (on top of its already hefty feature list - phone, camera, ipod, gaming machine, GPS, Internet browser). The latest, Eucalyptus takes the design interface to a new level, with the touchscreen literally used for page-turning.

Lightning Source has officially announced their partnership with the Espresso Book Machine company to create a new book distribution channel, via printing of books in-store using the EBM.

The EBM, an ATM for books, is located in bookstores, libraries and other sites. The Espresso Book Machine is the latest pioneering distribution channel to join the Lightning Source family of publisher-to-market pathways. The Lightning Source Espresso Book Machine Channel will give publishers the option to make available the books they have stored in the Lightning Source digital library, and have those titles printed, bound, and delivered at point of sale, on demand, in minutes.

This new move may help offer affordable distribution for Lightning Source customers in markets such as Australia, South Africa and Japan. It might also be seen as one of the few chinks in Amazon's armour as it consolidates its dominance of the book retail market, given that one of the keys to Amazon's dominance over bookshops is its ability to sell and quickly distribute obscure, lesser-known titles. Certainly, at this stage Amazon wouldn't have much to concern them. But one would have to think that with the inevitable advances in technology, this may in the end make Amazon obsolete - at least in terms of 'real' books (it's obvious that they are currently working hard on locking in the other 'advancing technology' book market, with the Kindle).

For the curious, here's a look at the Espresso Book Machine in action:  read more »

Amazon seems to have acknowledged the ongoing 'adoption' of Apple's iPhone as a portable reading device, indicating a growing acceptance within the book retailing behemoth that multi-platform Kindle reading will not damage their growing domination of the eBook market: they've released an iPhone-friendly version of the Kindle bookstore.

This optimized Kindle store offers iPhone and iPod touch app users quick and easy access to the Kindle Store’s 280,000 books, including 106 of 112 New York Times Best Sellers and most New Releases that are available for $9.99 or less.

The Kindle for iPhone application was released on March 4 and within days became the most popular books app in the iPhone App Store. iPhone users can shop Kindle’s massive selection of books on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. Amazon's Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes Kindle customers’ bookmarks across Kindle, iPhone and iPod touch, so you always have your reading with you and never lose your place. Kindle customers can read a few pages on their iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their Kindle.

Apple has to be happy about this development, strengthening the claim that the iPhone is not only a phone, personal organizer and iPod, but a book reader as well.

Google's controversial book deal looks to be meeting more and more resistance, with news that the U.S. Justice Department is making inquiries into concerns that it would give Google a monopoly over orphan works:

Peter Brantley of the Internet Archive, which also digitises books, said his organisation had "multiple conversations" with the Justice Department about the Google plan.

"There are legitimate antitrust issues related to Google's ability to solely commercialize this content," Brantley said, adding he hoped the settlement agreement would be rejected by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin.

"We would like the court to say: 'This is fine theoretically, but these orphan books, they don't have anyone to speak for them, so let's take them out of the agreement,'" he said.

In further news, the deadline for authors/publishers to opt-out of the deal has been extended by four months. The original deadline was May 5th.