Is Pottermore just JK Rowling’s e-book store?

JK Rowling's latest Harry Potter venture, the highly-anticipated website Pottermore, has been unveiled - but there has been criticism from some quarters that the interactive online world amounts to little more than a glorified e-book store.
 
The site will launch on July 31, the birthday of the fictional wizard, but only 1 million fans will have access to it. Those that do will be chosen through an online treasure hunt.
 
After two months of testing, Pottermore will launch to the rest of the world in October, when the seven Harry Potter books will also go on sale.
 
Rowling, who is already a multi-millionaire, still owns the digital rights to the novels and by publishing them through her own website is being tipped to make more than £100m.
 
But the site consists of more than just the e-books. It will also include interactive gaming and social networking aspects, and Rowling is publishing thousands of words of background material on much-loved characters like Dumbledore.
 
Users of the site are asked to choose a wizard name and are sorted into different houses at Hogwarts. They can travel through a virtual world that recreates the Harry Potter books. It is also possible to interact with other members of the site, and there are games, challenges and interactive attractions including a virtual train carriage that takes them to Hogwarts.
 
The new website was launched at the Victoria & Albert museum in London and Rowling said that she had been working on it for two years. She described the site as a "way to give something back to Harry Potter fans who made the books such in incredible success".
 
But not everyone was impressed. BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan Jones, who was annoyed at not being allowed to send updates on his phone from the launch, later tweeted: "Pottermore is an interactive website with some nice touches - but main aim seems to be platform to sell e-books".
 
Robert Muchamore was even less impressed: "#pottermore has fans bouncing with excitement for days only to release a crummy e-book reader. In more exciting news, I got a haircut today."
 
While inthefade warned her 1 million followers: "Here's a big surprise announcement. #pottermore is just a way to keep the JK Rowling money machine oiled." ·