There’s been a lot of excitement for Apple fans this week. With the release of the iPhone 4, Apple has garnered a lot of media attention in the tech world. But another story also got a lot of attention and scrutiny from Apple: CEO Steve Jobs’ assertion that because of the iPad, Apple has eaten up 22% of the ebook market.

That’s a very large chunk. When I see numbers that big I become skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t doubt that Apple is now cutting a large slice of the ebook market pie. Just how much, though, is up for debate.

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I spend a lot of time writing about the virtues of the ePub format on this blog. But I’ve never gone into detail about what ePub is and why it’s an important ebook format. I realize there are still a lot of newbies joining the ebook world and they may not be familiar with the the basic formats.

To start with, ePub is short for ‘electronic publication’ and is the standard format adopted by the International Digital Publishing Forum. Because ePub is an open-source format, it’s free to use. With the proper technical-knowledge and some basic design skills, anyone can create an ePub formatted ebook using a software program like Adobe InDesign.

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I’ve always maintained that ebooks and digital publishing will bring the short story back to the mainstream. For over half a century now, short fiction has taken a back seat to novels.

There used to be a time when writers could make a living writing short stories that they sold to magazines (who paid a healthy sum for quality work). F. Scott Fitzgerald financed his novels by writing short fiction, as have other writers.

Today, I think it’d be nearly impossible for a writer to make a living solely on short fiction. But with ebooks now in the mainstream, it’s a lot easier for writers to publish their short stories and for readers to consume them. And publishers are taking notice.

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If you’re a Kindle 2 or a Kindle DX owner, then you can look forward to Amazon pushing out the Kindle firmware 2.5 very soon, and all of its new features. It’s unclear exactly when the update will be available, Amazon is hinting around the end of May. Regardless, the new features coming to a Kindle near you are bound to make you giddy with excitement.

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Borders, the brick-and-mortar bookstore that always seems on the brink of financial collapse, will be opening their own ebookstore next month, according to this Mashable article. Along with an ebookstore, Borders has been taking pre-orders for the Kobo e-reader, which will retail for around $150. Borders will also release its own mobile ebook reading app.

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Amazon is not only tracking Kindle users highlighted passages, they are also advertising the fact. While this might make for an interesting study in what readers find important in a particular book, my big question is: Does this mean privacy should be compromised?

I first saw this story on Mediabistro, which gave a rather simplistic, non critical post of this new Amazon practice. I did a quick Google search and found another, more critical article from Bnet Amazon risks Kindle sales by tracking, reporting what readers highlight. This fact that Amazon is now tracking your ebook highlights begs other questions: What else are they tracking? What about annotated comments?

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Note: Can’t decide on which ebook reader is right for you? Check out my post Ebook Reader Holiday Roundup that compares the major readers on the market. You might also want to read Nook Vs. Kindle: Sharing Ebooks with Others.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook ebook reader just got a face lift when firmware 1.3 became available for Nook owners to download. This is probably the biggest and most significant firmware upgrade for Nook to date. And it’s becoming even more obvious that the largest bookseller in the United States is serious about taking on the Kindle and the Sony family of ereaders.

Here are the new Nook 1.3 features:

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Last weekend I headed to the Apple Store at my local mall for a few minutes of hands-on time with the new iPad. I’ll be honest, I’m very impressed. If I didn’t want one before, I do now. The device is sleek and fun to play with. My only general complaint is that the iPad is way too heavy. Holding it up in your hands for any length of time would be very uncomfortable.

Of course, I most looked forward to testing out iBooks, Apples new ebook app for the iPad. I opened up iBooks and opened a random book. The text is crystal clear on a white background and the page turns are smooth. When you swipe your finger to turn the page, you see the page turn over like on a real book. Pretty nifty!

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My local bookstore held a book signing for 3 authors last weekend. It drew a sizeable crowd and there’s no doubt a lot of books were sold to customers anxiously seeking an autograph from their favorite author/s.

I’ll confess, I’m a literary autograph hound myself. I have a small collection of autographed books (a collection I hope to expand). There is something about having an author sign his/her own work that makes owning that book like a trophy – as hokey as that sounds.

But with ebooks rapidly growing in popularity, what’s going to happen to author signings? After all, I wouldn’t want an author to sign my Sony Pocket Edition. As popular as ebooks have become, and as their popularity will continue to rise, I still think there will be a spot for print books in the literary marketplace.

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One argument publishers like to use to justify higher ebook prices is that it will also benefit their authors by means of higher royalty payments. But now that publishers are switching to the agency model in an attempt to increase ebook prices, the amount of author royalties is actually going down.

Surprise! Higher ebook prices benefit only the publishers.

Author Michael Stackpole wrote a very eye-opening article for the Huffington Post entitled Who Benefits from High Ebook Prices? As a traditionally published author, he knows the ins and outs of the publishing world and how royalty payments are calculated and paid out.

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