Apple reported fiscal fourth quarter results after the close of the market on Monday, with a strong launch of the new iPhones moving over 39 million units and taking company sales to $42 billion for the quarter, up 12 percent compared to a year ago. iPad sales declined 13 percent in units, at 12.3 million devices for the period, but ceo Tim Cook called that a “speed bump” in the investor conference call. Apple has now sold approximately 239 million iPads since their launch in 2010. In the category we keep a close eye on — what they call iTunes/Software/Services […]
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Atavist Books to Close At the End of the Year
Atavist Books, the digital-first book publishing joint venture founded and funded by IAC and film producer Scott Rudin, will shut down operations on December 31 and no longer publish new works. The software and media enterprise The Atavist will continue, however, and will take over Atavist Books’ assets along with IAC — which has a minority stake in The Atavist. In fact, Atavist, Inc. just closed another $2 million debt/funding round in which IAC once again participated. Atavist Inc. ceo and founder Evan Ratliff told us, “While that partnership [with Atavist Books] won’t continue, Atavist itself is currently stronger than ever, and we’re […]
Simon & Schuster and Amazon Agree to Multi-Year Renewal, With Agency Restored
As the Hachette Book Group remains in a standoff over contract renewal terms with Amazon, Simon & Schuster has reached agreement on a multi-year deal for both ebooks and print books. The deal also covers S&S distribution clients. (Word of a renewal was first reported online briefly on Monday afternoon by the WSJ and Business Insider. We confirmed via our own source and posted thereafter; by the end of the day, S&S ceo Carolyn Reidy informed authors and agents through an emailed letter.) Most important within the trade is that Simon & Schuster looks to have become the first of the […]
Krugman Takes On Amazon
You probably don’t need us to tell you about Nobel Prize-winning economist and NYT op-ed columnist Paul Krugman’s latest piece: “Amazon.com, the giant online retailer, has too much power, and it uses that power in ways that hurt America.” Indirectly answering his NYT colleague Joe Nocera, who wrote, “Amazon plays rough, so what?” and noted “American antitrust law is simply not very concerned with the fate of competitors,” Krugman asserts that for now Amazon is monopsonist rather than a monopolist. “In economics jargon, Amazon is not, at least so far, acting like a monopolist, a dominant seller with the power to […]
Amazon, Hachette and Authors: The Complete Tamblyn Tweets
While admitting that “Amazon is a competitor” (whose quest for exclusivity is a particular competitive problem) and Hachette is an “important” supplier, Kobo President Michael Tamblyn took to the virtual podium on Twitter Friday morning to offer “32 Short Notes on Amazon-Hachette-IndyAuthors”: 1. Indie authors take note: Amazon is, among other things, a machine designed to optimize product prices in order to gain share and sales. 2. AMZN, like every retailer that reaches a certain size, turns to its suppliers to grow profitability by demanding more favourable terms. 3. The Hachette-Amazon fight is an especially public manifestation of that Big […]
Google Play Maintains Rapid Growth, and More
Google reported third quarter revenues after the close of the market on Thursday, and the company continues to show significant growth in the business segment that includes the Google Play Store. Called “other revenues” by the company (also including their hardware line and their Enterprise software business), the segment had sales of $1.84 billion in the quarter — up 50 percent from a year ago. Google said the segment growth came “mainly from the Play Store, but also complemented by an increase in licensing revenue.” In their investor call, they said: “Google Play’s growth continues to impress. It’s a linchpin […]