Harry Potter comes to Kindle
Boys and girls, power up your Kindles; Harry Potter is coming to the Kindle lending library near you.
That鈥檚 right, starting June 19, all seven of J.K. Rowling鈥檚 Harry Potter books will be available 鈥� for free 鈥� to Amazon Prime members, Amazon announced Thursday morning.
鈥淲e鈥檙e absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we鈥檒l continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners,鈥� Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.
There are restrictions. Pottermore remains the only place to purchase Harry Potter e-books. The Potter books can only be borrowed through the Kindle lending library, and only by Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle. Amazon announced that the deal was made through an 鈥渆xclusive license鈥� with Pottermore that allows Prime members to borrow one e-book free each month.
鈥淥ver a year, borrowing the Harry Potter books, plus a handful of additional titles, can alone be worth more than the $79 cost of Prime or a Kindle,鈥� Bezos said in a statement. 鈥淭he Kindle Owners鈥� Lending Library also has an innovative feature that鈥檚 of great benefit for popular titles like 鈥楬arry Potter鈥� 鈥� unlimited supply of each title 鈥� you never get put on a waiting list.鈥�
The e-books will be available in many different languages, including English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
One more big reveal: Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne told that he would be announcing new partners and new platforms for the Pottermore site 鈥渋n the next few weeks.鈥� We don鈥檛 yet know who those partners will be, but Apple won鈥檛 be among them.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not live with Apple,鈥� Redmayne told the Guardian. 鈥淲e鈥檙e having conversations with Apple, but there is no date, no agreement.鈥�
In the Harry Potter Quidditch race that鈥檚 Amazon 1, Apple 0.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
