At the Frankfurt Book Fair, German-based txtr (part owned by 3M) announced an ebook strategy that aims to both shake up and expand the market for eInk readers and ebook sales internationally. While telecoms and cable companies worldwide have been looking at ways of entering the ereader market, txtr has a proposition to make that happen now. “We want to unlock new groups of customers” and “liberate reading,” the company said. They are launching a nearly-free ereader–projected to sell for less than 10 euros–that is also the “world’s smallest” at five inches and what they say is the lightest reader as […]
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Pottermore Will Work With Other Brands As A Platform
Pottermore ceo Charlie Redmayne closed out the Publishers Launch Conference with a bang, indicating that “Pottermore is a digital publishing business” and part his roadmap for the next 12 months is to “work with other brands” from publishing and elsewhere. “We’ve started working brands, and indeed with publishers, trying to identify digital strategies that fulfill the sort of things” they have done for JK Rowling’s work. They are “already working with one other brand” in particular in a serious way (though Redmayne later told the Bookseller this first brand partner is a “non-book” property). “You can do a lot of […]
At Publishers Launch, Making a Customer Focus Work
We’ve had a rich and interesting day in Frankfurt so far at the Publishers Launch conference, which kicks off the pre-fair forums. A bookseller-focused post is listed separately, and we’ll have more reporting tomorrow, with additional reports coming in from paidContent and The Bookseller. The event starting with a look at the larger competitive landscape of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook to set context from UK analyst Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis. He reminded the audience that “Amazon is a mechanism for capturing the conversion of commerce to ecommerce. As each sector becomes susceptible to ecommerce it captures” that sector […]
BN Eyes “Digital Moms” and Content Channels for International Rollout; More Kobo Partnerships Imminent
At the Publishers Launch Frankfurt conference on Monday, new Barnes & Noble international executive Patrick Rouvillois emphasized that in their imminent UK launch that they will be focusing on “digital moms” and families, as they have in the US. He was joined by BN executives Theresa Horner and Jim Hilt, who emphasized that the new Microsoft strategic partnership will allow Nook to sell content to customers in many territories and languages around the world through the Windows 8 platform well before they formally launch local stores in other territories. “It removes hurdles to us setting up storefronts,” Horner said. “The Windows […]
Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Finalize Partnership, Now Called Nook Media
Barnes & Noble announced Thursday that it has formally closed its strategic partnership with Microsoft. The new BN subsidiary comprising the Nook and College business, is formally called Nook Media LLC (until now it was simply known by the placeholder NewCo). As originally specified, Microsoft now has an approximately 17.6 percent equity stake in Nook Media, valuing the subsidiary at $1.7 billion (but the stock market still gives Nook Media’s parent company Barnes & Noble a market capitalization of $800 million, even with a bump in shares today after realizing that the investment the market forget about had gone through.) […]
eNews: Self-Publishing Goes to Libraries, and Another Start-Up Buzz Network
Self-publishing technology company FastPencil has a new initiative to put their offers in front of patrons of libraries that work with services provider Auto-Graphics. (The company works with 5,500 libraries, but the program begins with “a select group” of those customers.) The new Library Management Platform lets self-publishing customers issue “their musings” from within the library and then work with the library to “add that book, whether digital or print, to the library’s offerings.” Boston start-up Libboo.com has announced a seed round of $1.1 million in financing, led by MassVentures. It’s another platform that aims to create a community of […]