Yahoo Launches Ebooks Category

Posted on September 7, 2001

Yahoo! announced that it has signed agreements with four major publishing houses to launch an ebook destination. Yahoo signed agreements with Penguin Putnam, Simon & Schuster, Random House, and HarperCollins for the new shopping section. Time Warner was a notable exception to Yahoo's ebook destination and the The New York Times reported that Time Warner did not sign an agreement for Yahoo to sell its electronic books.

``Yahoo! is pleased to provide consumers with a new ebook shopping destination featuring an impressive collection of quality ebook titles from four of the largest publishing houses,'' said Rob Solomon, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Shopping. ``As technology enables consumers to access digital content more conveniently, we anticipate that there will be increasing demand for ebooks. Aggregating a broad collection of the most sought after titles in multiple ebook formats positions us effectively to meet these needs today and to meet growing consumer demand in the future.''

The ebooks category on Yahoo! Shopping features ebook content from bestselling authors including Patricia Cornwell, Stephen King, and Lisa Scottoline. Consumers can search using the author's name, title, category or ISBN or browse the site using its recommendation features. Ebooks can be downloaded for Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader or Microsoft Reader. The website also includes an ebook FAQ.

``What's exciting about the Yahoo! ebook site is that all parties involved are converging to do what they do best in their core usinesses,'' said Phyllis Grann, chief executive officer and president, Penguin Putnam. ``The publishing houses are providing a great list of authors, and Yahoo! Shopping is offering a centralized and user-friendly ebook platform to its tremendous audience of online consumers.''