For months, Barnes & Noble has promised investors and the press that a new digital strategy was in the works as its Nook operations continued to decline in revenues and lose money. That strategy, announced Thursday, is a partnership with Samsung to create co-branded Galaxy 4 tablets powered by Nook software. The 7-inch tablet is expected to be available for sale in August and will be sold at BN’s stores, where they will be “prominently displayed” alongside the e-Ink Nook Glowlight. BN ceo Michael Huseby said in a statement that working with Samsung on the tablet “will allow [Barnes & Noble] to reduce its […]
Tablets
Pew Survey Rise In Digital Reading, But Print Remains Robust
Pew’s latest survey on digital reading habits in America, released Thursday, points to a rise in e-reading but not necessarily at the expense of print. Surveying 1005 adults over a three-day period earlier this month, Pew found that 28 percent of respondents had read an ebook in 2013, up from 23 percent the previous year. Of those surveyed, 76 percent of American adults ages 18 and older said that they read at least one book in the past year. (The average number was 12 books annually; the mean was 5 books.) Interestingly, Pew found that the highest percentage of those […]
Amazon Sells Subscription Package of Kids Books, Videos and Apps
Amazon’s latest announcement has two interesting aspects: They are bundling digital children’s content across media into a combined “library” or subscription, and they are broadly selling that subscription to all customers, not just Prime “members.” Called Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, the all-in-one subscription service works on any Kindle Fire device and will be available as part of an automatic OS software update “in the coming weeks.” The package features books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows focused on children ages 3-8. Amazon Prime members get preferred pricing–$2.99/month per individual child (or $6.99 per family)–but others can subscribe for $4.99/month (or $9.99 […]
BN Faces Credit Card Suit; Readies HD Releases
The first customer lawsuit has been filed against Barnes & Noble over the comprising of customer credit card data following the PIN pad scam acknowledged by the company earlier this month. Chicago customer Elizabeth Nowak filed suit in Federal Court, seeking class action status, alleging “breach of an implied contract to protect that information and violation of Illinois consumer fraud laws.” The customer seeks unspecified damages and three years of free credit card monitoring for affected patrons. Her suit claims that “Barnes & Noble’s security failures enabled the skimmers to steal financial data from within Barnes & Noble’s stores and subsequently […]
Microsoft Tablet Announcement Expected Today; Nook’s Role Is Unclear
Microsoft is convening “a major announcement” in Los Angeles at 3:30 local time (or 6:30 Eastern) at a location that will not be unveiled to invited press until some time this morning. (Preliminary invitations went out only last Thursday.) They are expected to announce a Windows tablet of some kind, and presumably the LA-venue is telling for a strong emphasis on entertainment. Barnes & Noble’s Nook–in which Microsoft now owns a minority stake–will undoubtedly have at least a presence on a Microsoft tablet. From there the extent of the involvement is currently unconfirmed, with some rumors indicating the new tablet […]
eNews: Kobo Formally Launches in the Netherlands; Survey Says Tablet Market “Not Set In Stone”; and More
After soft-launch in Holland late last year, Kobo’s will formally roll out their ebookstore there on January 30 with “thousands of Dutch titles,” while Dutch retailer Libris Blz will sell the Kobo Touch for €129. “Through our new partnership with Libris Blz, we’re confident our expansion into the Netherlands will be a huge success,” Kobo ceo Michael Serbinis said in a statement. “Kobo’s focus has always been to bring e-reading and e-books to people everywhere around the world. By launching in the Netherlands, and bringing e-reading to the passionate Dutch reading community — we are one more country closer to […]