Two significant steps were announced yesterday for the advancement of the eBook phenomenon in Australia — the imminent launch of Borders eBooks and a move by retail chain Dymocks to make its eBooks available in the DNL and ePub formats.

Borders yesterday invited journalists to an eBook launch on May 19 in Sydney. The retail book chain in Australia is operated by REDgroup Retail — which also owns and operates the Angus & Roberston chain.

“REDgroup Retail CEO Dave Fenlon will reveal full details of the new eBooks platform that utilises cutting edge technology to deliver eBooks to your eReader, smart phone or PC,” a press invitation by the company issued yesterday stated. “REDgroup’s own eReading device will also be unveiled.”

The company announced in December that it would make eBooks available from its Borders and Angus & Robertson websites by May 2010, courtesy of an agreement with global eReading service Kobo. REDgroup’s Whitcoulls brand in New Zealand will also receive the services.

“Customers who download eContent via the Angus & Robertson, Borders or Whitcoulls websites will be able to read this on popular smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Android. REDgroup expects to launch Kobo with over 1,000,000 available eContent downloads including books, magazines and newspapers,” the company said in a statement in December.

It is believed that the Borders eReader will be the Kobo eReader, which is also on sale at Whitcoulls. Further information about the device is available from its website.

In a separate statement, Borders also threw down the gauntlet to global online book giant Amazon, promising customers they would always be able to buy books cheaper from the Borders website than from Amazon.com — starting from yesterday.

“I am delighted to announce today that from 6 May 2010 we will not be beaten by Amazon.com on price,” said Fenlon in the Borders statement.

“The Borders Australia website (borders.com.au) was launched in 2009 and already has more than 2.7 million books in stock ready for dispatch within 24 hours of receiving an order and with free delivery. Not only will we compete with Amazon.com on price, but also on range and the speed at which we can get the books to our customers.

“When you put all of those factors together, we have an Australian offer that is as compelling as the leading retailers in the global market.”

However, it remains unclear whether Borders will be able to compete on the same terms as Amazon.com for secondhand books — second-hand books can be available from third-party stores through Amazon.com for as low as US1c, but shipping — typically more than AU$10 — also needs to be taken into account.

The news comes as Dymocks also yesterday made a play to attract Australian consumers interested in the growing eBook phenomenon, launching support for the multimedia friendly DNL and the open ePub formats through its site. It’s not clear exactly which formats the company previously offered on its range of devices — including its flagship Iliad.

“The launch of these new formats on our website will give our eBook readers an interactive and enhanced reading experience like no other,” said Dymocks CEO Don Grover in a statement.

“We have over 3,000 eBooks available in DNL format on the Dymocks website. Most impressively however, is the interactive experience with editing capabilities to customise eBooks as well as sharing notes with other eReaders,” he added. Dymocks now offers over 150,000 eBooks through its website in total.

Image credit: Borders

Related posts:

1. eBooks in Australia – What went wrong?
2. Google eBooks finally hits Australia
3. Kobo eReader lands in Borders stores
4. eBooks: Publishers + authors keen, but unprepared
5. The Kobo eReader: What you need to know

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1. Darryl Adams
   Posted 07/05/2010 at 11:35 am | Permalink | Reply

   This is good news! Will comment more after looking at details!

2. Jeff
   Posted 07/05/2010 at 12:26 pm | Permalink | Reply

   quick price check seems to indicate that with shipping taken into account, borders is indeed cheaper than amazon. pity it is still 40% more than bookdepository.co.uk !

3. Darryl Adams
   Posted 07/05/2010 at 12:57 pm | Permalink | Reply

   If RedGroup can sell the Kibo ereader for $a200 they may have a killer product.

   One thing about Kibo is it uses ePub, so it will have a lot of choices and no vender lockin (like Kindle).

   It will also be intresting if A&R/Borders will charge price wise on the e-books. The issue here will be if RedGroup sources the books from the publishers like PanMcMillan. If they do, expect high prices :-S

   One thing I was supprised about is Boarders is an Aussie branch and not solely the US company traiding in Au.

4. Darryl Adams
   Posted 07/05/2010 at 12:59 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Very nice comparison between major ereaders: http://www.koboereader.com/comparisons.html

5. Blue Tyson
   Posted 07/05/2010 at 1:23 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Yes, if I could walk in and grab one for $200 then I’d be very likely to get one, I think.

   Borders in Adelaide has about the highest book prices in the world I think, so the buy cheap online thing is interesting.

   As Darryl suggests, will believe competitive local prices only when I see it, ebookwise. :)

6. Myke
   Posted 07/05/2010 at 5:30 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Excellent. That is all.

7. Helen
   Posted 08/05/2010 at 3:57 pm | Permalink | Reply

   My fingers are crossed and my toes are plaited – and thanks very much for the update – but I’m not getting my hopes up:

   As of three minutes ago, Dymocks has 75 ebook titles in the SF & Fantasy category. Yes, that’s fewer than 100. Borders doesn’t appear to have a search-or-browse-by-format facility at all.

8. Blue Tyson
   Posted 08/05/2010 at 5:32 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Hah. I remember a while back an HarperCollins search like that brought up 0. That might have been the US site though.

   Musings on the sort of thing Darryl is talking about here :-

   http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82905

9. Robotic Buttocks
   Posted 10/05/2010 at 12:42 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I do like the nook, I think it’s a swish device.

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 10/05/2010 at 1:41 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Yeah from what I have seen the Nook is quite nice with the two screens etc — very well developed, and certainly more advanced than the Kindle.

10. Kerry
    Posted 23/05/2010 at 11:39 am | Permalink | Reply

    Just purchased an ebook from Borders and am now trying to return it. Despite the website saying the book was available in epub format there is no way to download the epub file to use on other devices. Instead all I can do is install the Borders application on my PC and read it from there – or buy their device.
    Is a complete rip-off.
    At least when I buy books from Amazon I get an actual file that I can then convert to epub and read on whatever I want.

    • Darryl Adams
      Posted 24/05/2010 at 9:43 am | Permalink | Reply

      I have both the iphone and Pc app, i am still evaluating it. As As far as I know, (although havent tested) any Kobo powered device or software should be able to sync (including bookmarks)

11. Samir
    Posted 28/06/2010 at 4:58 pm | Permalink | Reply

    Anyybody Interested in converting your backlist to Ebooks??
    I can even help you list the ebooks in your portal & support in content management part of it.

    Do touch base with me for more details – peppysam@gmail.com

    Regards
    Samir