Barnes & Noble has started fulfilling preorders for the new Nook Color a few days ahead of schedule with units starting to arrive today. Demonstration devices and “very limited quantities of devices available for purchase” will start showing up in Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Walmart and Books-A-Million stores “beginning this week.” At least a few review units have been distributed, with tech sites posting their appraisals this morning. So far the write-ups are generally quite positive. Engadget calls it “definitely a major step forward,” saying “the Nook Color is an elegantly, thoughtfully designed piece of technology.” On the basics […]
eNews
A New Look at the Monthly eBook Percentage: Adult eBooks Are Roughly 9.5 Percent
The AAP reported their monthly industry sales statistics for September, including ebook sales compiled from 12 publishers (including the big six). They show ebook sales for the month of $39.9 million, ahead of August’s $39 million, but behind July’s $40.8 million. (We repeat our warning that insiders have told us not to make too much of the monthly precision on these numbers, based on how data is accumulated by publishers). With total trade print sales of $489.5 million for September, that makes ebooks 7.5 percent of sales overall for the month. The total of $304.6 million in ebooks for the […]
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 […]
Chegg Signs with the Available Partner, Borders
With Barnes & Noble College already in the textbook rental business, along with the other big college bookstore operator Follett–which partnered with BookRenter.com–Chegg.com has turned to Borders for an “exclusive partnership.” While Borders does less business with college students, the company did launch an online Textbook Marketplace powered by Alibris in July. The Chegg textbook rentals will be featured in that marketplace. Chegg raised another $75 million in financing in September (making over $160 million in venture capital, and another $55 million in debt poured into the company) and Tech Crunch says they are estimated to have $130 million in […]
eNews: Kno’s Pricing; Grisham’s eBook Makes Up for Hardcover Shortfall; Amazon Said to Negotiate German eBooks; E Ink’s Triton
Kno, the tablet maker focused on the higher education textbook market, has announced pricing for their forthcoming devices. Their giant dual-screen, 14.1-inch tablet will sell for $899, and the single-screen model will list for $599. Their pitch is that “when you do the math, it actually pays for itself and still saves $1,300 in digital textbook costs.” They are taking “limited” pre-orders for first shipments before the end of the year, targeting 10 US college campuses to start. CEO Osman Rashid tells the WSJ that in beta testing they “found that 85 percent of those using the single screen wanted […]
Kids Color eReader Announced, with Houghton As Partner
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a partnership with a local start-up Isabella Products, which is launching a tabletish color ereader targeted at children in mid-2011. Called the Fable, the seven-inch touchscreen device will use the Android operating system and is expected to sell for between $149 and $179 (plus cellular connection fees). “Several” HMH books will be pre-loaded on the device, and Isabella ceo Matthew Growley says they “have right now four other publishers signed up,” though he would not name them. (That implies, but does not state, that the company is thinking of a proprietary store and/or format. The device […]