Amazon has just announced that the Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 are now available in Canada. These tablets do not come with Alexa, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since the Echo Plus and other products just became available in the past few weeks. The Fire 7 features a thin and light design, a 7-inch IPS display with high contrast and sharp text, long battery life with up to … [Read more...] about Amazon Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 Now Available in Canada Sans Alexa
Canada
Audible Launches in Canada with Hundreds of French Titles
Audible has launched in Canada and updated their audiobook app for Android and iOS. There is over 300,000 audiobooks available to purchase or download for free, in addition to 100 new titles from Canadian authors in English and French. The company also has a French version of their main homepage and is curating titles to appeal towards people who speak the language. In order … [Read more...] about Audible Launches in Canada with Hundreds of French Titles
Canadians are starting to read more books on their smartphones
Smartphone reading is on the rise in Canada and 20% of readers are now consuming ebooks on their mobile devices, which is a 6% increase over last year. This has mostly been at the expense of e-readers (used by 23% of Canadian readers), which is down by 5% since last year. Booknet Canada recently conducted a survey with 750 respondents and asked if they had read or listened … [Read more...] about Canadians are starting to read more books on their smartphones
Canadian Book Selling Industry Remains Stable in 2016
The Canadian book selling industry is certainly not as tumultuous as the United States. Print and digital sales are fairly stable with only a 1% dip in the first six months of 2016 vs the same period last year. Some genres had a bit of fluctuation in the first six months of 2016, but nothing too dramatic. Non-fiction titles increased 0.9% over the same period last year. … [Read more...] about Canadian Book Selling Industry Remains Stable in 2016
The Kindle Voyage is a Flop in Canada
The Amazon Kindle Voyage launched in Canada on February 18th 2016. This marks the first occasion since the e-reader was first released in late 2014, that Canadians can buy it directly from Amazon. Sadly, Canadians have not been purchasing the Voyage in droves and it looks like hardly anyone is buying it at all. Amazon never releases sales figures for their hardware division … [Read more...] about The Kindle Voyage is a Flop in Canada
Canadian Publishers Embrace e-Books
The Canadian publishing industry has been embracing digital in a big way. In a few short years almost everyone is putting out e-books the same day the print version is available. Booknet Canada released new information and the report states that the percentage of publishers producing e-books in 2014 increased slightly to 93% (vs 89% in 2013). Of those producing ebooks, close … [Read more...] about Canadian Publishers Embrace e-Books
Spotify Music Streaming Service Available in Canada
It's about time! Time and again, Canadians have to watch these awesome music streaming services pop up, only to discover that once again we won't have access to it. This time it's our turn --five years after the initial launch, the Swedish company is giving Canadians access to Spotify. Before you start pointing out that competing services are available in Canada (including … [Read more...] about Spotify Music Streaming Service Available in Canada
Google Play TV Finally Available In Canada
When it comes to streaming media, Canada is getting pretty used to having the 'not so' latest and greatest. This is why it is rather exciting news to learn that Google has (quietly) brought TV shows to Google Play for Canadians! As far as content goes, the Canadian store appears to have virtually everything that the US store does --perhaps even a few more titles that aren't … [Read more...] about Google Play TV Finally Available In Canada
Digital Publishing on the Rise in Canada
Canadian publishing companies are increasingly becoming enamoured with focusing on digital. Close to 90% of publishers currently produce ebooks, and the remainder are either in the process of starting to produce ebooks, or plan to produce them in the future. Digital books is big business with major publishing companies reporting that 10% of their entire revenue stream … [Read more...] about Digital Publishing on the Rise in Canada
BlackBerry Claims Superiority Over Good Technology’s Security Solutions
BlackBerry is up against stiff competition from mobile security solutions provider Good Technology, besting BlackBerry’s perceived lack of ability to deliver in a multi-platform environment, although BlackBerry claims they've been providing multi-platform support for almost 2 years now. The Canadian company backed that up with figures that show there have been 30,000 new BES … [Read more...] about BlackBerry Claims Superiority Over Good Technology’s Security Solutions
Canada Institutes Its Own eBook Terms with Publishers
Following the court drama of the Department of Justice investigation of five of the Big Six publishers, attorneys then lined up to file their own class action lawsuits on behalf of consumers who overpaid by millions of dollars for ebooks as a result of a conspiracy to arrange the prices on titles. While the battle is still not fully finalized in the US in terms of how much … [Read more...] about Canada Institutes Its Own eBook Terms with Publishers