Apple Negotiating With More Publishers for New Tablet PC

By Dena Cassella January 19, 2010

We have a watchful eye on you Apple, so don’t think you can sneak around making deals with publishers and not have us know about it—or not have the Wall Street Journal know about it. The WSJ reported today that HarperCollins Publisher is negotiating with Apple Inc. to make electronic books available for its new tablet device. WSJ says they aren’t sure whether Apple will sell the HarperCollins titles via a new e-book store or through its existing iTunes Store.

HarperCollins is supposedly selling e-books with advanced features such as video formats, author interviews and social-networking applications—the publisher noted that these e-books would be sold for higher prices than the standard $9.99 new release set by Amazon. Brian Murray, the chief executive of HarperCollins, said in December that these enhanced e-books would sell for $14.99 to $19.99. Speaking of Amazon—Kindle’s in for bumpy ride this year isn’t it? With the countless new options for e-readers that were released at CES and new multifunctional devices like Apple’s tablet that are being readily introduced.

WSJ says the details are not ironed out yet, but there may be some announcements at the January 27^th press conference regarding the partnerships and who is providing what content on the new Apple device.

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