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On the other hand, the Kindle device was originally soldonly via Amazon’s website, but as of September 2011, itwas also made available in other retail channels, such asthe Staples office supply stores and the German Karstadtdepartment stores. In May 2012, another—much debated—partnership was been announced with the British bookchain Waterstones (buchreport, December 22, 2011, “Amazonverkauft Kindle-Geräte über Karstadt und Staples”).The first Kindle device was the game-changer for theemergence of today’s ebook market, but various surveysindicate a clear migration of customers from specializedereading devices to tablet computers. Between August2011 and May 2012, the preference for the Kindle as thedevice of choice for reading dropped among US consumersfrom 48 percent to 35 percent; Amazon’s tablet, theKindle Fire, seems to have topped Apple’s iPad tabletamong ebook users (“Consumer Attitudes Toward E-BookReading,” BISG study quoted in buchreport, August 2,2012).The total revenue from digital content downloads of Amazonwas estimated at $1.85 billion in 2011, placing theplatform at a rank of 21 among all global ecommerce vendors(“The world’s most successful digital media companies,”paidcontent.org 50, July 31, 2012).In the UK, Amazon accounts for 21 percent of the entertainmentmarket (according to Kantar Worldpanel, asquoted in The Bookseller, July 24, 2012). In Germany, a studyby the University of Hamburg on a panel of 2,000 consumersestimated that 57 percent of German ebook buyers acquiredat least some of their digital reading at Amazon in2011 (Michel Clement and Felix Eggers, “E-Books und E-Reader, Kauf und Nutzung,” Universität Hamburg, January2012).For 2011, in the UK, Amazon announced a five-fold increasein Kindle ebook sales over 2010.AppleAssessing the market share and impact of Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the international ebook markets has always beena difficult exercise due to the lack of public statistics. In thefirst half of 2013 though, some light had been shed on thearguably second largest platform for the distribution ofebook econtent.Apple executive Keith Moerer put Apple’s market share ataround 20% for 2011, when the iBookstore was launched,as well as for for later periods, when books from RandomHouse had been added to the catalogue, after they hadbeen missing at first. Moerer’s statement occured at thehearings at court in summer 2013 over allegations of fixingof ebook prices between Apple and major US publishers.(Publishers Weekly, 12 June 2013)Earlier estimates had seen Apple’s share closer to 10%, yetgrowing, notably at the expense of Barnes & Noble’s Nook.(Digital Book World blog, 28 february 2013) Industry analystHorace Dediu put the figure meanwhile at around 24%,aruguing that overall, between the launch of the iBookstorein June 2011, and October 2012, Apple may have soldsome 270 million ebooks, “Apple’s iBooks generated about$1.3 billion in payments and grossed about $1.8 billion”,equalling some 8% of the entire “iTunes universe”. (HoraceDediu: Measuring the iBook market) 28 february 2012.Yet it has been questioned by some if “Apple even caresthat much about ebooks”. (Joe Wikert, quoted in Paidcontent,11 September 2012)The more important part of Apple’s role with regard toebooks might be, in the long run at least, to have integratedbooks so deeply and seamlessly, in the iTunes ecosystem,with music, movies and all other formats of digitalentertainment, thereby spearheading a future in whichbooks and reading simply lose their traditionally priviledgedcultural prosition. This perspective is particularlyrelevant in a global perspective, as in many emerging markets,only poor distribution networks for printed booksexist, while the Apple brand, and the download of variouscontent via iTunes has become mainstream, even long beforea significant ebook market has evolved in these countries.In the US in 2013, Apple had gained unwillingly a veryprominent position with regard to ebooks in a court battleover ebook pricing strategies, and was found guilty in Julyof a “violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act” by conspiringwith major publishing houses “to work together toeliminate retail price competition and raise e-book prices”.(Judge Cole in his decision, quoted in Publishers Weekly,10 July 2013) The implied publishing houses, Simons &Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin and Macmillanhad settled the case with the US Department of Justiceearlier on. (For a short summary, see The Telegraph, 8 February2013)In a similar ruling as of December 2012, the EuropeanCommission had adopted “adopted a decision that renderslegally binding commitments offered by Apple andfour international publishers”, to stop any “collusion to re-84 The Global eBook Report