Dangdang’s E-Bookstore Launching on 21st, Bringing More Than Just E-Books

Dangdang's new e-bookstore will follow the lead of Apple's NewsStand (pictured) as well as Amazon.

After the Chinese e-commerce site Dangdang (NYSE:DANG) revealed that it will soon launch an e-book platform – with a Kindle-like e-reader due next year – the company is now divulging more details of its venture. The e-bookstore will launch on December 21st and apparently include digital magazines, comics, and newspapers as well.

Dangdang’s e-books will be readable in upcoming apps for iOS and Android, as well as presumably in the web app. The B2C e-commerce site has 50,000 titles lined up for the launch day next week, with many of those being offered at a discount of up to 70 percent – that makes a great number of e-books available for less than 10 RMB (about US$1.50).

In terms of revenue sharing, Dangdang will take 40 percent and the publishers get 60. Neither Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iBooks or NewsStand (pictured above), nor Google’s (NASQAQ:GOOG) Books platform, support users in mainland China – so Dangdang’s main rivals in this sector will be local online publishers Hanvon, and Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ:SNDA). But neither of those have the same range of extended reading, such as up-to-date magazines and comics, giving Dangdang’s new e-bookstore a boost from the start. Look out for our coverage of it next Tuesday.