2010 is wrapping up like a 77-0 football game. Many experts are sifting through endless spreadsheets, looking for patterns in the numbers which will help justify their relevance to both the publishing and computer industries. Others are checking their offshore accounts. Still others are drafting wills. The Association of American Publishers has reported e-book sales […]
The Riggio family continues their war to remain in control of the Barnes & Noble empire built by Leonard S. Riggio after purchasing the flagship store on 18th and Fifth Avenue in 1971. Despite a brief win last Tuesday, stockholders are unhappy, employees are underpaid, and the company remains unable to execute a compelling eBook […]
Once, in 1994, I found myself in a car with some well-known literary intelligentsia traveling to a poetry conference. It was a seminar on a topic once considered very important. Like everything, what was once popular buzz eventually becomes trivia. This is something all artists should keep in mind, but I digress, as usual. I was […]
As the summer draws to a close, we see Amazon.com dropping prices of Kindle e-readers faster than wet bikinis in a Minnesota February. In its Microsoft-like frenzy for market domination, we’ve seen Team Bezos do everything from sell e-books at loss to multiple revisions of their kludgey hardware. Now, following the Kindle’s move into Target […]
Publishers I’ve spoken to are wary of many aspects of their business model in light of the transition the industry is undergoing. As dead tree books are replaced by their digital equivalents, a very practical question arises. As one old friend who wishes to remain nameless confided, “how do I know if Amazon or Apple […]
There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord. Similarly, there is timing in the Way of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this. —Miyamoto Musashi Depending which […]
Amazon’s latest push into the e-reader market are two new versions of Kindle. As with previous versions, the PR muscle is hard behind these models, set to ship 27 August. Priced a dollar short of $140 and $190, it seems Amazon is competing with Apple’s iPad in the only space they can: price. These models are […]
Today’s lesson is, if you ever perversely doubted it, not all top management is infallible. In a bizarre four-way race with British Petroleum, AT&T and Sarah Palin to see who can deny reality the longest, Apple made my prediction come true regarding the giving away of free “bumpers” for the iPhone 4 in order to […]
Much has happened in the world of e-books this past month. In the face of iPad juggernaut, Amazon.com has been forced to accept reality. The Kindle’s price has been brought more in line with it’s abilities compared to the full-functionality of the iPad. With the Kindle down to $189 from $259, and the Wi-Fi-only version […]
Borders announced they’re entering the electronic book market with a low-priced piece of hardware called Kobo. At a hair under $150.00, Kobo is part of a two-pronged attack to not only get inexpensive hardware in readers’ hands, but to tout their own eBook store, which promises to allow consumers to read titles across a variety […]