There is now no centre of gravity for the Australian eBook scene to congregate around -- instead, local readers will now increasingly look towards the likes of Amazon and Apple for their content -- even more so than they were already.

Local book retailer REDGroup Retail today confirmed plans to offer the next generation of its Kobo eBook reader devices in Australia before Christmas, as well as an expansion in its eBook line-up that will see several major publishers add their titles to its library.

Best-selling Australian author Garth Nix hopes that the advent of more legitimate e-books may stem the flood of pirated books on the internet.

Borders Australia is aiming to counter the belief that buying books from the US line is cheaper than buying them locally, promising to beat amazon.com's price every time.