Microsoft Removes Ebooks from the Microsoft Store

Microsoft launched the Microsoft Store as the “Windows Store” with Windows 8. At the time, it had a plethora of categories like apps, music, video, and ebooks. Now, it has a much narrower focus. After previously ditching music, the Microsoft Store has dropped ebooks. It’s not hard to see why, but this is still yet another argument against buying digital content from Microsoft.

As of April 2, Microsoft stopped selling ebooks. The few consumers who purchased ebooks from Microsoft won’t be left in the lurch, though. Pre-orders are already canceled, and the refunds should be processing. Books you already own will be available until July 2019, at which time the service will close completely. At that point, users will get a refund for all the books they’ve purchased. Unfortunately, any notes you’ve made in books are going away with the books this summer. Microsoft will offer another $25 account credit to anyone who is losing notes.

Demand for books in the Microsoft Store was, by all accounts, almost non-existent. There is no dedicated e-reader hardware for Microsoft’s platform. Amazon has the Kindle, Apple has the iPad, and even Google has throngs of giant Android phones for its woefully undersupported Play Books store.

Microsoft is also in the midst of a move to Chromium as its web engine of choice, so it would have to either re-implement its e-reader functionality in a new browser or just give up. It (understandably) chose to give up. After all, it would have to sell a huge number of books to make any significant amount of money from it. Most of the sale price goes to publishers.

This is the new reality for Microsoft. There was a time when it could muscle its way into every facet of our digital lives, but those days are long gone. Amazon rules ebooks, and everyone else is playing catch up. Microsoft isn’t in a position to keep plowing money into fights it has already lost.

Continue reading

Chromebooks Gain Market Share as Education Goes Online

Chromebook sales have exploded in the pandemic, with sales up 90 percent and future growth expected. This poses some challenges to companies like Microsoft.

FTC Files Antitrust Case to Break Up Facebook

New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced a major antitrust case against Facebook, which will be joined by 47 other state and regional AGs. And that's not all: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is filing a separate case against Facebook later today.

Microsoft Bleeds Market Share as Chromebooks Outsell Macs for the First Time

Microsoft bled a lot of market share to Chromebooks in 2020, and analysts don't expect things to slow down in 2021.

Windows 10X, Microsoft’s Chromebook Competitor, Supposedly Coming Later This Year

Windows 10X will reportedly ship on systems in H2 2021. Originally intended to compete as a high-end OS variant for premium devices, Windows 10X is now intended for educational markets, where Chromebooks have recently made huge strides.