Great info with the video interview. Tx. I have serious doubts on both the business model (selling by chapter) and the screen size … The market for Palm sized ebooks is rather small, and I don’t believe this will grow it more, especially when you have the audio book alternative. I would be more interested in a newspaper/magazine version, since this is small articles, with on-air access being a key value driver. I have read books on ereaders like Illiad’s Sony’s or Bookeen’s and found there is a minimal size I will consider (7,5 to 8 inches, the size of a pocket book). See http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix . I will wait for foldable screens like Samsung’s to be available to consider any mobile phone ereader …
But considering this is a venture by a majore book retailer like Indigo makes it interesting … looks like the industry is taking its own future in hands !

Amaury

The idea of paying per-chapter remains silly. Free samples, though, per the Kindle, are fantastic and have changed the way I evaluate whether I’ll buy a book. (Annoyingly, the Kindle samples aren’t editorially-controlled and can cut off randomly — that can be improved.)

The absolute only per-chapter use case I can see is where I pay per chapter until I’ve reached the cost of the book, and if I choose to buy the whole book at any time, my per-chapter paid cost is applied with no penalties (as if I had bought the full book from the start). This process must be clear (I know when and how much I’m paying) but unobtrusive (like the Kindle, I don’t have to enter a password or be redirected somewhere else).

But that’s all a lot of infrastructure for, I think, limited gain. Free sample + full cost should be good enough assuming the ebook cost is reasonable.

There’s still no good way to get a large selection of front-list books on the iPhone without a lot of confusing multiple accounts and sign-ins, so there’s definitely room for someone to take the lead there.