Here we go: we’ve got Amazon, and we’ve got Apple. And as of today, in Italy, we’ve even got Google Play with its own ebook store. And two days from now Nokia (backed by Microsoft) will announce the kick-off of its Nokia Reading operations. I can’t help but break into a little smile, somewhere between moved and sarcastic, when remembering that many of the publishers who are now bustling about trying to be the first to say “Here I am, look at me!“, just two years ago raised a haughty, condescending eyebrow when I talked to them about ebooks: okay.
The Italia Oggi article that announced the upcoming launch of Google Play’s bookstore yesterday, however, contains a rather serious inaccuracy: RCS, Mondadori and GEMS are not the only publishers involved from the very beginning. There’s also Newton Compton (perhaps the most outstanding phenomenon by far on the Italian ebook market, in fact someday we should have a nice talk about this publisher) and Giunti, and then all the other publishers and authors (Narcissus) distributed by STEALTH, the Simplicissimus Book Farm distribution platform.
[P.S. Simplicissimus’s past and present team of developers working at STEALTH is truly extraordinary: proud of you, guys!]
Il blog di Antonio Tombolini
