Kobo has partnered with South African retailer Pick n Pay to launch their devices and ebookstore there, offering books in both English and Afrikaans. There’s further news on Brazil’s leading bookseller Saraiva, whose stock jumped earlier in the month on reports that they might be in acquisition talks with Amazon. The updated Reuters account says Saraiva is looking to sell their online business only, while retaining their 102 bookstores and publishing operation. That goal would seem to fit quite well with Amazon’s continuing aspirations to launch operations, and Kindle in particular, in Brazil–though it could also appeal to other international […]
eNews
BN Faces Credit Card Suit; Readies HD Releases
The first customer lawsuit has been filed against Barnes & Noble over the comprising of customer credit card data following the PIN pad scam acknowledged by the company earlier this month. Chicago customer Elizabeth Nowak filed suit in Federal Court, seeking class action status, alleging “breach of an implied contract to protect that information and violation of Illinois consumer fraud laws.” The customer seeks unspecified damages and three years of free credit card monitoring for affected patrons. Her suit claims that “Barnes & Noble’s security failures enabled the skimmers to steal financial data from within Barnes & Noble’s stores and subsequently […]
Briefs: Two Bidders Remain For McGraw-Hill Education; Nook Opens in the UK As Promised, Pairs with Asda
Citing “people familiar with the situation,” the WSJ reported late last week that Apax Partners (which owns a majority stake in Cengage) and Apollo Global Management are “leading contenders” to buy McGraw-Hill Education, both having done “serious due diligence” on the division. Bids on the ongoing auction were due last Thursday though “after McGraw-Hill decides on a preferred bidder, the two sides will have to reach agreement.” That’s all a polite way of confirming that there are only two bidders still interested in the unit, and the offering prices are likely still below what McGraw-Hill said they were looking for. The […]
eNews: Kindle Japan Store Opens on October 25, with Paperwhite and Fire Devices Set to Ship on November 19
Amazon is finally opening its Japan Kindle store on October 25, which includes more than 50,000 Japanese-language Kindle books from publishers such as Bungeishunju, Gentosha, Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shinchosha, Shogakukan and Shueisha, and includes 15,000 manga titles within that total. The Japanese Kindle store outpost will also sell the Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi and 3G for ¥8,480 ($106.31) and ¥12,980 ($162.72), and the Kindle Fire and Fire HD for ¥12,800 ($160.50) and ¥15,800 (USD $198), respectively. The Paperwhite devices will ship from Amazon.co.jp starting November 19 while the Fire devices will be available a month later, on December 19. Retailers K’s Holdings, […]
iPad Mini Starts At $329
As expected, Apple unveiled the new iPad Mini at their event in San Francisco on Tuesday morning. With a 7.9-inch screen, they claim it offers significantly more live display area than competitors like Google’s Nexus 7. Apple will start taking pre-orders on Friday, October 26 and will start shipping wifi models–which start at $329–next week and cellular models two weeks later. Though some erroneous rumors indicated the mini would be significantly stripped down in features, models start at 16GB of memory and it includes a 5MP camera, and the option of full LTE wireless connections. The iPad Mini weighs 0.68 […]
eNews: iBooks Expected to Add Countries; CoreSource Adds Retailers; Pew Data Should Be Viewed Carefully; and More
With confirmation expected to this afternoon’s Apple presentation (which starts at 1:00 Eastern), there are reports on various blogs and websites that 18 more countries are listed as “pending” to sell iBooks–including New Zealand, Brazil, and Mexico, along with 16 other countries in Latin America, South America. After 10 months of posturing, French newspapers Les Echos reports that the European Commission has issued a stern warning to France over their lowered 7 percent VAT on ebooks. If the rate isn’t lifted in a month, the EC might go to the European Court of Justice. As the Bookseller points out, the […]