WHSmith.co.uk Launches Ebookstore

Posted on September 7, 2001

WHSmith.co.uk, the interactive division of retailer WHSmith, and OverDrive, Inc. have announced a partnership for the launch of the WHSmith.co.uk ebookstore scheduled to open in October. OverDrive will provide secure hosting, copyright protection and digital inventory management services for the ebookstore that is being co-developed by WHSmith.co.uk.

At the opening in early October the WHSmith.co.uk ebookstore will feature thousands of ebook titles supplied by OverDrive's Content Reserve, a distribution service for digital content with over 250 publisher members which include Random House, McGraw-Hill, Time-Warner Publishing, Cambridge University Press, Taylor & Francis, and John Wiley & Sons. The ebookstore will feature Microsoft digital media technologies, with Microsoft Reader, and Microsoft Digital Asset Server.

``OverDrive has been at the forefront of the ebook industry providing leading solutions to both publishers and resellers of digital content,'' stated Ross Beadle, Commercial Director, WHSmith.co.uk. ``We are excited about adding their experience to our team to offer our customers ebooks as an option to enjoy reading in new formats and with great titles. This partnership illustrates WHSmith.co.uk's commitment to bringing innovation to interactive retailing,'' he added.

``We are very proud to be partnering with the award-winning ecommerce team from WHSmith.co.uk,'' stated OverDrive CEO Steve Potash. ``We aim to extend their success in book retailing with leading technologies developed for ebooks,'' Potash added.