This is on the Amazon Kindle e-books home page:
When I asked Amazon about this, a spokeswoman told me, “We’ll have to ask you to stay tuned for an upcoming announcement.” The company declined to comment on timing.The banner, on the Kindle home page, is in the Harry Potter font and isn’t clickable.
Since the banner is on the Kindle page, this may have something to do with Pottermore. Through its arrangement with Pottermore, Amazon doesn’t sell the Harry Potter Kindle books directly. Instead, it sends shoppers to Pottermore’s site to buy the e-books, then connects to users’ Amazon accounts to get the e-books on Kindle. It’s possible the “wizardry” announcement is that Kindle is going to begin selling the e-books directly, but that would go against the company’s contract with Pottermore and would have to be done with Pottermore’s permission.
Selling the e-books directly through Pottermore, J. K. Rowling said back when the site was first announced, “means we can guarantee people everywhere are getting the same experience and at the same time.”
Because the e-books aren’t sold directly through Amazon, they don’t appear on the Kindle bestseller lists. Pottermore sold nearly $5 million worth of e-books in its first month, but it’s possible Amazon managed to argue the books would be doing even better if they were sold directly through Kindle.
Could Amazon do a Harry Potter Kindle?
Of course, it could be something else entirely. One reader wonders if it’s a Harry Potter-branded Kindle. But Kindle competitor (uh…sort of) Sony is a Pottermore partner, providing technology for the site and offering Sony Reader/Harry Potter e-book bundles.
Another reader points out it looks as if that owl is posing with a diploma.
I’ll be interviewing Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne at paidContent 2012, May 23 at the TimesCenter in New York City. Register here.
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