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 […]
eReaders
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 […]
Kobo Launches Bigger High-Res eReader; Scores Hosseini Exclusive in Brazil
Kobo still believes in eInk dedicated readers, reinforced in today’s announcement from the London Book Fair: Later this month they will release an oversized eInk reader with a 6.8-inch display (most other readers have screens that are 6 inches or smaller). They say the 265 dpi device “offers 30 percent more reading surface and the closest experience to print-on-paper,” and with a 1GHz processor they also say it’s “the fastest eReader on the market – 25 percent faster.” Called the Kobo Aura HD, Kobo’s evp and general manager of devices Wayne White calls it “the Porsche of eReaders…designed for those […]
Slim Sales, and Slim Margins, for Kobo Devices and eBooks at ABA Stores
Digital Book World has a long report on Kobo’s sales relationship with ABA stores in the US. Sales are said to be much better than what indies experienced through Google Books–but still, by most accounts are negligible, ranging from low dozens of ebooks sold since the initiative launched last November up to stores reporting sales of a few hundred ebooks. Booksellers says their margin on device sales if 5 percent, and “the margin on ebooks varies between books, depending on Kobo’s pricing and discounts, but it usually falls between 8 percent and 20 percent.” General manager of The Harvard Bookstore […]