Amazon announced Monday that it will issue a “new” edition of its wi-fi Kindle priced at $114, $25 less than the going rate for the current wireless edition. The catch–or hook, depending on your vantage point–is that this edition, which ships starting on May 3, will feature Special Offers, the retailer’s preferred name for ads that will run on the e-reader’s home page and screen savers. Among the deals on offer for the first few weeks include discounted Amazon gift cards, discounts on other Amazon products like jeans and swimsuits, and free gifts for signing up for an Amazon Rewards […]
eReaders
BKS Stock Rises on Rumored Private Equity Interest; 3 Million Nook Colors Reportedly Shipped
Barnes & Noble‘s plummeting stock price of the past week or so – no doubt helped by a report that the company’s sale prospects appear to be dimming — reversed course yesterday, as shares rose 5 percent to 9.71 on renewed rumors the company might be taken over by private equity. Supply chain sources also indicate that BN has made and/or shipped approximately 3 million Nook Color units, with sales topping 1m in North America for the fourth quarter of 2010 and between 600,000 and 700,000 units between January and the end of February this year. The same sources also […]
eNews: Analysts Estimate iPad 2 Sold Out Within A Day
Based on phone calls to stores and interviews with people in line, two different analysts concluded that Apple sold out their inventory of iPad 2s in just over a day. Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray guesstimates that Apple sold 400,000 to 500,000 units, up from the 300,000 iPads sold over the launch weekend a year ago. In their customer interviews, 70 percent of the buyers were new iPad buyers, and 24 percent of those buyers already own a Kindle. Deutsche Bank also called about 100 stores and said, “Our checks pointed to a shocking 100% stock out rate across Apple/authorized […]
eNews: 6 Million Readers in Fourth Quarter; GoodReads Acquires Rcommendation Service
IDC has released the headline data from their fourth quarter tracking of shipments (not consumer sales) of media tablets and ereaders. They say that over 6 million ereaders shipped during the holiday quarter, over the twice the volume from the end of 2009, with a tabulation of 12.8 million ereaders shipped worldwide in 2010. IDC gives Kindle a 48 percent share for both the quarter and the year, comprising about 2.9 million units in the final quarter and 6.15 million units for 2010. Pandigital “edged out Barnes and Noble for the number 2 spot” in the last quarter, “although the […]
Briefs: National Festival Expands, Bristol Palin Writes, Kindle Gets Page Numbers, and More
The National Book Festival, held annually on Washington, DC’s National Mall, will expand to a two-day event this year, convening September 24 and 25. The Library of Congress says “the added day will let us plan for at least 90 authors over the entire weekend.” The media found a preliminary metadata posting on Amazon for a memoir by Bristol Palin, set for publication by William Morrow on June 21. It was listed as a $25 hardcover. Amazon removed the listing, but the cached version is still viewable (for now). In separate Amazon-related news, the famously customer-centric is finally giving in […]
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 […]