More iPhone E-books
ScrollMotion, a two-year-old iPhone application development company, has launched the Iceberg e-book reader for the iPhone with titles from six publishers: Random House, Hachette, Penguin, Counterpoint, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Simon & Schuster. Under the ScrollMotion system, each book is a self-contained application, not a piece of software. Books can be downloaded wirelessly, and are priced close to list price. There are currently about 24 titles are available for download, and approximately 200 titles should be available soon.
Borders Gets More Time
Borders Group has reached an agreement with Pershing Square Capital Management, its largest shareholder, to extend the expiration date of Borders’s option to sell its U.K.-based Paperchase gifts and stationery business to Pershing for $65 million. The “put” was due to expire January 15, and has been extended until February 16. The deadline for repayment of the $42.5 million loan that was originally payable to Pershing by Borders on January 15 has also been extended to February 16.
Amazon Starts Author Stores
Amazon.com has launched Author Stores, a new feature on its site—single pages that list all books from a particular author, plus an author photo and some related content, such as a biography, message board and streaming video. Author Stores launched with 2,500 authors. Customers access the stores through the standard search box; when a shopper searches for an author with a store page, a link appears at the top of the search results, next to Amazon’s Author Store logo.
Correction
In the People section of the Dec. 22 issue, Al Silverman was cited as the editor of The Time of Their Lives. Silverman is the author of that book, which was edited by Truman Talley.
