Apple is doing exactly what they said they would do–enforcing a new rule on the makers of content-driven apps that requires them to remove any links to purchasing content through the web that bypass Apple’s own purchasing systems (through which Apple gets a 30 percent commission). The move gained additional attention with respect to ebook apps over the weekend, as Kobo revised their iOS app to remove the purchasing link over the weekend: “Earlier today Apple instituted new rules which affect your experience on iPhone and iPad apps. The biggest change is the removal of the ability to shop within […]
eNews
AAP May eBook Sales Nudge Up As Print Sales Take Another Hit
eBook sales reported by 15 companies to the AAP comprised $73.4 million for May, and accounted for 18.5 percent of all net trade sales for the month, consistent with the prior two months. eBooks were the second-largest trade format again, behind trade paperbacks. Between the rise of ebooks and the decline of Borders, overall trade sales suffered their biggest monthly drop so far this year, though, with the steepest falls in adult hardcover and adult mass markets. Down $52.9 million even with the gain in ebooks, overall trade sales of $398.3 declined almost 12 percent in the month. Here are […]
Digital Numbers: Another iPad Record, and More Hires for BN Palo Alto
Apple reported another strong quarter of sales overall, including moving 9.25 million iPads in their third quarter. That’s the best quarter ever for iPad sales, well ahead of the previous high set in the period ending last Christmas, when they sold 7.33 million tablets. And it’s nearly double the second quarter iPad sales of 4.7 million units. In a separate release touting the downloading of 15 billion apps, Apple gives some special attention to Callaway Digital Arts, with ceo Nicholas Callawy exclaiming, “We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it […]
eDeals: Google + Pottermore; Cookstr eBooks; Princeton Review Adds eBooks; Lee Child’s eStory; Gollancz to Bring Thousands of Sci-Fi/Fantasy Titles Back as eBooks
Google announced that their Google Checkout will be the “preferred third-party payment platform” for Pottermore.com (which will also accept debit and credit cards). The site will use YouTube for global video broadcasts and the Harry Potter ebooks will work just fine via Google eBooks in the US. Google blog Cookstr is looking to monetize digital recipe collections with the launch via the iBookstore of recipe sets of varying sizes–offering 10 recipes for $.99; 50 recipes for $3.99; and 250 recipes for $9.99. Starting with Rozanne Gold’s 1-2-3 Collection, they have 31 different options on sale at once. The company says […]
Judge Chin Will Push Google Books Case to Trial If There’s No Settlement By September 15
It took Judge Denny Chin thirteen months to consider and reject the Google Books Settlement, but in court Tuesday he indicated that he will not let the case drag on forever. The parties have had only four months to start all over, but Chin expressed some pragmatism is noting, “I have a sense that we’ll come back here in September and you’ll just want more time,” noting that “Google has all but said they would not accept an opt-in deal.” (The company already has an opt-in program that exists outside of the settlement.) Absent being “resolved or close to resolved […]
eNews: BookLamp’s Recommendation Engine Enlists Publishers; UMich Press Serializes Novels on Facebook; and More
Book recommendation service BookLamp will reportedly launch in August after a lengthy development period, with more than 20,000 available books from Random House, Kensington and other publishers. The idea is to search through full-text books and analyze them in order to make reading recommendations. Ceo Tom Stanton told Mashable that he doesn’t anticipate selling books or advertising on the site. BookLamp’s efforts at text analysis and recommendations have been underway since 2008, focused on science fiction and fantasy books to start, and according to site postings have mostly lacked a sufficiently large database to search against and analyze. A video […]