In a rather startling conference call with investors on Tuesday, Barnes & Noble’s current ranking executive Michael Huseby executed another turnabout on the company’s strategy for color devices, while blaming others for misunderstanding rather than simply admitting another change in direction. Huseby insisted that when BN said on June 25 that going forward their color devices would be produced by others, “many people interpreted [the] comments incorrectly,” but their statement stated sounded pretty clear: “The company plans to significantly reduce losses in the Nook segment by limiting risks associated with manufacturing. Going forward, the company intends to continue to design […]
eReaders
eNews: Feeding Book Buzz; Apple Touts School iPad Sales; Kobo Self-Publishing Stats
BuzzFeed.com added a books section, Poynter discovered. Managing editorial director Summer Anne Burton is the “point person” for the feature, and she indicates, “We’re running it kind of informally because we already had a ton of book content on BuzzFeed and now it’s just the space for that to live.” Burton says that librarians and YA fans are already viewing the section in discernible numbers. Apple reported third quarter results after the close of the market on Tuesday, moving another 14.6 million iPads in the period — lower than sales of 17 million tablets a year ago (though iPhone sales were […]
Briefs: Banks and Perseus Funds Sue Frank Pearl’s Estate; German Publisher Is Rowling Winner; And More
The estate of financier and Perseus Books founder Frank Pearl, who died in May 2012, is being sued by Bank of America, TD Bank, Eagle Bank and even Perseus Funds for more than $50 million, according to the Washington Post, alleging he “sought to avoid payment to creditors by fraudulently moving $59 million in life insurance proceeds and other assets from his estate into Perseus Trust, which he had created for his wife” after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in November 2011. Bank of America seeks $22 million; TD Bank and Eagle Bank are asking for more than $16 million […]
Briefs: Court Hears Google Authors Guild Appeal, and More
For avid court watchers, this morning the Federal Court of Appeals was scheduled to hear oral arguments in the fight over whether to certify the author class in the long-running suit brought by the Authors Guild over Google‘s book scanning. Last year Judge Denny Chin approved certification of the class, and Google appealed that decision. We’re going to spare you further details until the court rules. Sony, which has sold its Reader devices in Australia for some time, has finally opened a Reader ebookstore there to go along with those devices. Price cuts on a variety of Nook devices — […]
Nook Adds Google Apps; Has Sold 10 Million Devices
After more disappointing device sales over the 2012 holidays, Barnes & Noble ceo William Lynch promised investors “we’re not going to continue doing what we’re doing; we’re doing to adjust quickly.” At the time, Lynch also noted the company had concluded that “larger technology brands have more resonance in that multifunction tablet world than we do.” So the company has announced a linkage with another big technology brand — Google — which lets the Nook HD tablets serve as Google tablets, too. Through apps they are adding the Google Play media experience, as well as “popular Google services like the […]
Digital Briefs: iPad Sales, and txtr Expansion
Apple reported second quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, saying they sold another 19.5 million iPads (in all sizes) during the quarter. That’s only slightly lower than the 22.9 million iPads sold in the previous holiday quarter–for a total of 143.4 million iPads sold worldwide since the device launched just over 3 years ago. Berlin-based txtr says they have rolled out local ebookstores across the world English landscape, adding new storefronts recently in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Canada. The company has started selling their Beagle ereader directly to consumers in Europe online for […]