Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio was the keynote speaker at this morning’s annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), his first appearance there in 11 years, when he was excited about the possibilities the Rocket eBook held for his company and the industry at large. “Think of all that could have happened had we all led tje digital age together instead of following it,” Riggio said. His primary message was that “too many of us see bookselling as a zero sum game–that there’s a limit to how many books people will buy and how many books people […]
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iPad 2 Ships March 11 in US; Random House’s 17K Titles In iBookstore
The slimmer, thinner, camera-laden iPad 2 was unveiled yesterday with typical Apple fanfare, releasing March 11 in the US and March 25 in 25 other countries. The surprise was the appearance of Steve Jobs who presented expected news: now that Random House has adopted the agency model, their full electronic list of 17,000 is available through the iBookstore in the US. (Random House Canada indicated that they will not be joining the iBookstore for now, as their “digital terms of sale remain unchanged at this time.”) Apple bragged that over 100 million e-books have been downloaded–not sold–worldwide since the iBookstore’s […]
Apple Rejects Sony’s Reader App
Here is the actual news: a year late to the game, Sony finally developed a Reader app for the iOS platform, and that app has been rejected by Apple. On their web site, Sony says “with little notice, Apple changed the way it enforces its rules…. We opened a dialog with Apple to see if we can come up with an equitable resolution but reached an impasse at this time. We’re exploring other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices.” Sony’s Steve Haber gave the NYT the impression that “Apple told Sony that from now on, all […]
Amazon’s Grandinetti: “This Change Is Happening Faster than You Think”
Amazon’s vp, Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti addressed Digital Book World on Wednesday on “how we together can keep growing this business at a such a termendous rate.” Echoing other speakers from the conference, part of Grandinetti’s focus was on the potentially vast market for English-language ebooks in countries around the world. “I hope publishers think about this as the kind of opportunity that we do,” reminding people that Kindle is “available” in over 100 countries. Grandinetti also declared of the ebook market in general, “however fast you think this change is happening, its probably happening faster than you think.” He […]
Analysts See Low Profits from eBooks for Amazon and BN
A Digital Book World panel on Tuesday presenting how Wall Street views bookselling and the future of bricks and mortar brought an outside dose of reality via Goldman Sachs analyst Matt Fassler and Susquehanna Financial Group’s Marianne Wold. Fassler covers Barnes & Noble’s stock (and used to cover Borders when they were big enough to be worth following), but is down on their prospects: “There are no safe investments, but publishers and booksellers are something to avoid” in his assessment, because they don’t control their own destiny. He believes that, while the retailer’s investment in Nook was necessary and prudent, […]
eNews: Amazon Buys LoveFilm; BDMI Leads Big Investment in Flat World; and More
Today a number of deals-in-progress mentioned previously have been confirmed. Amazon makes its accquisition of all remaining shares of LoveFilm, the “Netflix of Europe,” in which it already held a significant minority stake, official.Release Samsung has confirmed its acquisition of display technology firm Liquavista.Release Flat World Knowledge has received a big endorsement for their open-source textbook model, garnering more than $15 million in Series B Funding led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments and Bessemer Venture Partners. Also joining the round are returning investors Valhalla Partners, GSA Venture Partners (formerly Greenhill SAVP), High Peaks Venture Partners, and several angel investors. FT […]