“Apple looks to be stepping up its battle to win book customers from Amazon by purchasing Booklamp, a startup trying to deliver better book recommendations for readers,” Daniel Kline writes for The Motley Fool.
“BookLamp’s best-known product, the Book Genome Project, scans the writing style of books a customer likes and suggests novels or authors with a similar feel,” Kline writes. “It could also break down plot themes and content, allowing for better search and discovery, TechCrunch reported. According to a source from the technology news site, ‘Apple bought BookLamp to power an ebook search competitor to Amazon.'”
“Amazon and Apple are both very cagey about their specific sales numbers of digital books. But due to a court case, an Apple executive had to reveal some data in June 2013. While testifying in U.S. vs. Apple, in which the Department of Justice accused Apple of colluding with book publishers to set digital prices, Apple’s Keith Moerer said the company had a 20% market share,” Kline writes. “PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that trade e-books — that’s consumer, not educational or academic — will account for $8.2 billion in sales by 2017. If that is correct, every 10% of digital market share will be worth around $800 million, so you can see the logic of Apple trying to up its game.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple acquires BookLamp book recommendation startup – July 26, 2014