As we’ve pointed out previously, Sony sells their Reader in more markets than Amazon’s Kindle, and has been equally reluctant to disclose any data about sales. In the flurry of stories following the announcement of their new model, president of their Digital Reading Business Steve Haber does tell the San Diego paper, “we’ve sold hundreds of thousands of Readers and millions of electronic books.” The paper says Haber “takes exception to recent published reports that said the Reader sales are only a fraction” of the wild guesses about Kindle sales. SD Union Tribune Speaking of Amazon, The Register notes that […]
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Amazon's UK POD Play
In April Amazon UK said they had “no plans” to bring BookSurge’s print-on-demand services to the UK, but they also hedged their bets by noting “we do not comment on future plans.” Now they have very concrete plans for a POD program, and the company says publishers who will participate include Harper UK, Cambridge University Press, Wiley, and Faber & Faber. Their ambition, according to vp of media Chris North, is “to bring hundreds of thousands of books to Amazon.co.uk’s customers that might never have otherwise been available.” The company has not disclosed their vendor for the printing, which will […]
Amazon Kindle Two?
The site Boy Genius Report has a number of photos asserted as prototypes of the next edition of Amazon’s Kindle (which Amazon officials have said would not be released until some time next year). If authentic, Amazon is staying with the “my brother-in-law designed it” template, and the changes are only incremental. They are improving the page forward/page back navigational flippes, and the flimsy back panel that falls off turns into a mostly metal back. The person who took the pictures reports that the new edition will charge via a USB cable (so no separate charger is required) and indicates […]
Vodafone UK Launches Mobile Books
Vodafone UK is launching a program to provide books on cellphones starting today in association with GoSpoken.com, run by Toby Lynch and author Andy McNab. The company says they have over 2,500 books available for download. Originally designed to play as audiobooks, the site says that they are adding the ability to read titles via the phone screen as well. Charges go directly to the user’s cellphone bill with a “one-click” purchase model. Titles are expected to cost between 5 pounds and 15 pounds each. A story in the Times says GoSpoken has “signed up every leading publisher in Britain, […]
Sony Announces Third Version of their Reader
Sony’s “third generation” of their Reader Digital Book was announced today, for release next month. The new version adds a touch screen, letting readers “flip pages with the slide of a finger.” You can also use fingers or a stylus to search, create notes and highlight text. The touch screen provides for a pop-up “virtual keyboard.” It also adds a built-in LED reading light to help in low-light situations. Sony promises to relaunch a better version of their online ebookstore this month as well. A Business Week blogger calls it Sony’s “best so far.” Head of the Sony Digital Reading […]
Editorial Skills for Digital Days
Pan Macmillan’s Nicholas Blake posts a presentation made at the Society of Young Publishers this week on the company’s Digitalist blog about, in which he looked at the role of the editor in a world adapting to digital processes and markets. “I argued that although editors in our part of the archipelago needed new knowledge and understanding, as they always have, they didn’t need new skills, and I outlined ten key islands of knowledge, five collaborative and five individual.” Those islands: 1. Get the rights. Penguin got 700 titles up for the Waterstone’s launch – then had to take 120 down […]