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 […]
Financing/Start-Ups
eNews: PubIt Stats, BookRenter Funding, O’Reilly Stats
Barnes & Noble says that they have enrolled “more than 11,000 independent publishers and authors” in the self epublishing PubIt! program in four months, comprising 65,000 works. And they note that 35 PubIt! titles are currently among their top 200 ebooks. BN is also holding its first in-store event for PubIt! authors in their Santa Monica store (though the company never really leveraged their stores on behalf of iUniverse in the past).Release VCs still love online textbook rental companies. BookRenter has raised another $40 million in financing, a substantial boost on top of the $20 million raised previously. TechCrunch says […]
More on Google’s eBook Acquisition
There are a lot of stories out there with wild speculation about how Google might use the newly-acquired eBook Technologies to expand their ebook program. This piece at Kindle Review provides some good factual detail on ETI’s assets, including their existing ereader devices, and their patents (for such systems as advertisements in ebooks). Separately, a Google spokesperson provided us with a slightly expanded explanatory statement: “We believe that ETI can help us provide users with a richer digital reading experience on tablets and other emerging hand-held devices. For example, ETI’s Pub renderer supports pagination of complex layouts. We are excited […]
eNews: Google Buys eBook Technologies; More Stats on eBook Bestsellers in the US and UK; Roberts Passes Million; and More
Google has acquired eBook Technologies Inc., co-founded and run by president Garth Conboy and ceo Jon Rivlin, for undisclosed terms. The search giant comments very briefly, “Together, we hope to deliver richer reading experiences on tablets, electronic readers and other portable devices.” Conboy and Rivlin are longtime ebook pioneers, both having served in executive positions at SoftBook Press and then Gemstar in the first ebook bubble. Conboy currently serves as chairman of the board of the IDPF, and Conboy and Rivlin both are the inventors/co-inventors of many ebook-related patents, including cryptography and secure content distribution, eBook UI, resource/database dynamic conversion […]
Seth Godin Creates New Publisher, “Powered by Amazon”
In August author/marketing guru/entrepreneur Seth Godin announced on his popular blog that he would no longer “publish in a traditional way.” The basis thesis was that, now that Godin is in direct and meaningful contact with his core readership, “adding layers or faux scarcity doesn’t help me or you.” That post inspired ideas in multiple quarters, including at Amazon.com–which has worked with Godin on a variety of promotional initiatives over the course of his career. They crafted a new suite of services that is being called “Powered by Amazon,” which the release says “enables authors to use Amazon’s global distribution, […]
Kobo Helps Indigo Grow Sales But Lose Money; Will Seek More Digital Investment
At Canada’s retailing giant Indigo, sales rose 3.7 percent to $214.8 million (CA) in their second quarter, even as superstore comps fell 0.7 percent and smaller-store comps dropped 4.8 percent. The company swung to a net loss of $1.7 million, compared to a profit of $2.2 million a year ago, disappointing analysts, who were looking for the company to break even on somewhat higher sales. As with Barnes & Noble, the digital transition is adding costs, even as the company likes their prospects. CEO Heather Reisman says in the release, “we are pleased with our top line revenue growth, particularly […]