Amazon is entering another new market with Kindle Textbook Rental, making available textbooks to students at up to 80 percent off list prices for a usage period of between 30 and 360 days (paying only for the time needed, with the option to extend the rental period or buy the textbook outright.) “Tens of thousands” of textbooks from Wiley, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis are available through the program, whose announcement would seem to anticipate Amazon’s long-rumored tablet plans for the fall. Release Meanwhile, it seems as if Sony has some explaining to do in-house, as the company denied VP […]
eReaders
Device/eReader News: Two Blasts From the Past (Blio for Mac and New Sony Readers) and Amazon Tablet Non-News
Blio Finally Adds iOS App–For Existing Customers Long after it was promised, Blio finally launched iOS apps in Apple’s App Store on Tuesday (announced in a press release that for some odd reason was embargoed until today). But it has an odd paradigm: the app is really for those hardy few who “already have a Blio account” who “can now read all their books on their iPad, iPhones or iPods by…entering their Blio account information.” So the app wants you to have an account already, and does not appear to let you create an account via the app. This may […]
IDC Says Nook Outpaced Kindle In First Quarter Shipments
IDC has released the latest teaser data from their quarterly analysis of the ereader and tablet supply chain, which estimates devices shipped from manufacturers to accounts. (So they are not looking at point-of-sale data to consumers; these are devices made rather than devices sold.) Also, it would be irresponsible not to underscore that we–like every other report out there that you will see–are “covering” only their press release, and not their full paid report. Furthermore, as you can see from our recap below, what IDC “reports” in their quarterly press releases is inconsistent, so each one may reveal different statistics. […]
eNews: Nook’s Designer, YA Author’s Social Clout, French eBooks At 1.8 Percent
BusinessWeek profiles Robert Brunner, the designer of Barnes & Noble’s Nook devices, who was approached by the company in 2008. He was also a consulting designer to Amazon in the development of the first “wedgie” Kindle and had a role in Apple’s Newton handheld as that company’s director of industrial design. When Barnes & Noble approached him, Brunner said, “the company knew ‘nothing’ about digital media, and wanted to know about how you would create a product and bring it to market.” Their shared goal was to keep the device simple and remove as many buttons as possible. “Books don’t […]
eNews: Google Affiliate Program; Success of Book Apps; and More
After launching the program in limited beta last December, Google eBooks’ affiliate program is seemingly ready for prime time. The program is only open to “Retailers, bloggers, book publishers and other website owners in the U.S.,” and no specific commission rates are cited, but they will have access to Google’s affiliate network and to APIs for more specifically targeted programs. Inside Google Books Blog The jury still seems to be out on the effectiveness of book apps, though two of them merited attention at Thursday’s Futurebook Innovation Workshop conference in London. UK studio Ustwo said its Nursery Rhymes With StoryTime […]
Tablets and Students’ eTextbook Resistance, and more eNews
A new study by the Pearson Foundation appears to show that students’ general resistance to etextbooks – documented in multiple reports from BISG – may be thawing somewhat. 55 percent of students still prefer print over digital textbooks, but among the 7 percent of students who own tablets devices such as iPads, 73 percent prefer digital textbooks. 70 percent of students surveyed say they are interested in owning a tablet (with 15 percent of those determined to buy one within the next six months) so no doubt the numbers will change by this time next year as more etextbook platforms […]