Apple reported on Tuesday that the company sold 7.33 million iPads in the quarter ending December 25, 2010. Separately, Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth has somehow conjured an estimate that Amazon sold 7.1 million Kindle devices in 2010 and will sell 12.3 million devices in 2011, “though our numbers may still be conservative.” Or they could be wrong. Going by the services that monitor the actual manufacturing and shipment of ereader components and devices (including one that we cited yesterday), those numbers are high and do not square with the manufacturer data. Anmuth estimates that Kindle revenues from devices and electronic content […]
People, Etc.: Poets & Writers Honorees Include Grisham, Galassi; Edgar Award Nominees; and More
John Grisham, Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Elizabeth Nunez will receive Poets & Writers 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and Jonathan Galassi will be honored with their Editor’s Award. Poets & Writers executive director Elliot Figman says of Galassi, “one can hardly imagine contemporary American literature without him.” The awards will be presented at their benefit dinner on March 2. Grisham is being recognized for having “done much to enrich the literary tradition of the American South. He was the publisher and principal investor in The Oxford American, and has endowed scholarships and writers’ residencies at the University […]
People: Mark Gompertz to Leave Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster evp and the company’s first “digital publisher” Mark Gompertz “has decided to leave” the company, as of March 15. CEO Carolyn Reidy writes that he “has decided it is time to use both his newly-acquired digital skills and his expertise in traditional publishing in a new arena” with “the requirements for digital publishing now incorporated into our day-to-day life here at S&S.” Gompertz joined the company in 1993, as publisher of Touchstone Fireside. Reidy notes that “under his leadership, the imprint doubled in size and expanded into hardcover publishing.” VP and publisher of Howard Books Jonathan Merkh will […]
People, Announcements, Etc.: Investment Answer Author Dies; RH Launches Online Book Club Videos
Gordon Murray, who attracted attention recently for self-publishing success with THE INVESTMENT ANSWER, a short book of investment advice he co-authored when he learned he had terminal brain cancer, died on Saturday. The 60-year-old suffered from glioblastoma. The book will be republished by Business Plus on January 25. Random House is working with Pulpwood Queens Book Club founder and author Kathy Patrick to start an online book club featuring interviews with RH authors. The first season has 12 episodes planned, featuring authors including Pat Conroy, Fannie Flagg, Lisa See, and Susan Vreeland. A new episode will be posted weekly at […]
Third Quarter US eReader Shipments Estimated At 2 Million Units
IDC released their quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker, estimating device shipments around the world, for the third quarter of 2010. They tabulate 2.7 million ereaders shipped to vendors in period, with the US comprising three-quarters of the market, or 2.025 million units. Their tablet count remains even higher, at 4.8 million units, up from 3.3 million units in the second quarter, with Apple still holding about 90 percent of that market. IDC says that Amazon comprised 1.1 million of those ereader units (a 41.5 percent market share worldwide), with Pandigital just barely taking second place with its line (which […]
Still More Cuts As Borders Lays Off Another 45 People; Laredo Hopes to Land BAM
This time Borders has eliminated another 40 jobs from their Ann Arbor headquarters, and another 5 jobs at their distribution centers, announced on Monday. Spokesperson Mary Davis told the Detroit Free Press, “The realignment at the store support center encompasses nearly all business areas, including IT, human resources, finance and merchandising. This decision is a result of Borders’ focus on reducing costs and readjusting its business model to improve profitability and cash flow.” In better bookstore news, lobbying from Laredo, TX to entice a major bookstore to the city following the closure of their last new bookstore of scal, a B. […]