Borders' new electronic bookstore went live this week, with the US bookselling giant confident that it will soon catch up with Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and other competitors in this fast-growing market.
Apple's iBooks app has most recently captured the imagination of iPad owners, while e-book manufacturers such as Amazon and Sony are currently engaged in a price-cutting war on dedicated electronic reading devices.
Not a device maker
Mike Edwards, President of Borders Inc, bullishly told Reuters this week: "We'll take market share just by turning it on.
"A lot of people have said, 'You're kind of late to the game,' and I'm saying, 'the game actually just started'."
Edwards added that he was "ecstatic that we decided we're not going to be in [the device] game… We are not a device maker -- we're a bookseller."
Borders has personal buying data and e-mail addresses for over 38 million customers registered to its loyalty program, in addition to a huge network of 700 bricks-and-mortar stores across the US.
The new Borders e-bookstore will offer 1.5 million titles, including free out-of-copyright titles for download.
Borders recently launched its own apps for Apple's iPhone and iPad, Blackberries and Google Android smartphones (which are US-only right now).
Via Reuters
