According to anonymous sources, Apple is planning to hold a press event in New York City this month, allegedly about improvements to its iBooks platform. TechCrunch confirmed this independently with its own source, though most details such as the date and time of the event are still unknown.
The takeaway from this rumor is that Apple is preparing to target Amazon directly by using the popularity of the iPad in the tablet space. While Apple has dominated the digital music world with the iTunes Music Store, the digital book market is still largely up for grabs.
Amazon historically has attempted to succeed independently of the major book publishers by establishing its own publishing imprints and encouraging authors to publish directly to the Kindle platform. The Kindle Owners" Lending Library program gives Amazon Prime subscribers access to one book per month, but the available books to choose from is severely limited because the major book publishers are not on board.
Conversely, Apple has managed to secure alternative arrangements with book publishers and could thus be in a position to announce an iBooks update that could directly affect Amazon"s interests in digital publishing. GeekWire points out that while Amazon has a vested interest in making digital books successful on the Kindle due to the Kindle Fire"s low $199 price point, Apple is not similarly constrained thanks to the higher profit margins of the iPad.