Although Nook stopped making its own tablets several years ago when they partnered with Samsung — and has failed to sell those co-branded Samsung tablets in any meaningful quantities — leaked documents indicate the company is working on a new tablet to be marketed and sold under its own brand name. FCC documents obtained by various gadget blogs indicate the new device, called the Nook Tablet 7″ BNTV450, is manufactured by Chinese company Shenzhen Jingwah. It appears to be a cheap seven-inch screen Android model that could ostensibly try to compete with Amazon’s $50 Fire tablet. The new Nook Tablet 7 has the […]
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As Amazon Investigates, Kindle Unlimited Page Reads Drop In September
Amazon announced their retroactive payment pool for Kindle Unlimited authors for September, set at $15.9 million — up $100,000 from August — paying $0.00497397. As we noted last week, many of those authors have been very concerned about sudden drops in page reads (and some have reported notable declines in Amazon ebook sales as well). The complaints were significant enough that Amazon responded three times with official messages. The first acknowledged that “we uncovered one timing-based reporting issue affecting less than 0.2% of pages read which we fixed on 9/28.” A day later, they reported, “We regularly monitor pages-read systems for […]
Amazon Adds “Prime Reading”
Amazon has launched a modest “Prime Reading” initiative that fits alongside the company’s far more expansive Prime Video and Prime Music in allowing their Prime subscription members to access a small catalog of ebooks and magazines to read for free. It offers “a rotating selection of books, magazines, comics and more,” comprising about 1,000 ebooks — many of them house-published. Unlike the awkwardly-named (and tricky to use) Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, Prime Reading allows users to “borrow” up to 10 titles at a time, and they can be read across the line of Kindle apps and are not restricted to Amazon […]
Source Says Amazon In Preliminary Settlement Talks In EU eBook Antitrust Case
With the European Commission looking to flex some regulatory muscle over American-based technology giants including Apple, Google and Amazon, at least one source reported to Reuters on Tuesday that “Amazon is in talks to settle the e-book case” under investigation by the EC “but it is too early to say whether it will reach an agreement.” At about the same time, Bloomberg ran a story citing “people familiar with the case” saying that Amazon is in settlement talks with European regulators. The European Commission brought “a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books” in June […]
Google Adds Discover Feature to Books App; Sainsbury’s Gives Up On eBooks
On Monday Google Play added a “discover” feature to their app (only on Android for now; iOS is coming later), calling it “a new way to find books by browsing the latest reviews, news, lists, videos and more.” The feature combines original book-focused content — author interviews, essays and more — along with aggregated book stories from the web. “A smart experience with personalized stories for you — Google’s algorithms and data surface just the right stories based on the books you read on Play Books. When you’re reading an article or watching a video, Discover automatically pulls out the books […]
Penguin Random House Provides Free Digital Reads to NYC Subway Riders
For the next eight weeks, New York City subway riders can download free short stories and 175 book excerpts offered by Penguin Random House. It’s part of PRH’s “Subway Reads” promotion, in partnership with the MTA, “celebrating the installation of free wireless connectivity in more than 175 underground subway stations.” The NYT notes that, “Transit officials approached Penguin Random House…because it had run a similar e-book promotion in the London Underground last year, celebrating Penguin’s 80th anniversary. Transit officials said they were open to other platforms from publishers, and platforms for more than books — anything to draw passengers to the Wi-Fi […]