GoodeReader.com posted the results of several polls conducted on eBook reader preferences. Some interesting statistics for a slow eBook Revolution news day.
Apr 13
$114 Kindle with Advertising
BBC News (and others) offers a story on Amazon’s launch of a cheaper, ad-subsidized Kindle eBook Reader. This device retails at $114, a full $25 cheaper than the current starter model. Advertisements for product and Amazon specials will be displayed under eBook pages and on the screen saver.
I think this (called the “Kindle with Special Offers”) would have been a MAJOR release if they’d priced it at $99 (or lower) because, come on, they aren’t sharing the ad revenue, and they aren’t delivering cheaper eBooks. For them to expect Kindle owners to share screen space with advertisements is a trifle presumptuous for a mere $25 savings. The $99 price (and lower) has to be right around the corner, if they want mainstream adoption.
I think it’s a stretch at that price.
Apr 12
Kobo makes push for European Market
PublishersWeekly says Kobo (eBook retailer, software vendor) will extend its reach into Europe by opening local content stores for German and Spanish customers. The May launch announcement comes to the London Book Fair, with the eBooks and service company hoping to add to its 3-million plus customers who already use Kobo for reading on personal computers and mobile devices via English eBook providers in the US, Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Apr 11
Enhanced eBooks and Apps Declared Dead
The Bookseller.com offers an interesting story from London Book Fair’s Digital Conference, where Evan Schnittman, Bloomsbury’s m.d. of sales and marketing, caused some debate by declaring enhanced eBooks and Apps dead. Even to the extent of showing a slide with a gravestone saying it: “Enhanced E-books and Apps: 2009 to 2011.”
While it was agreed that eBooks with extras (i.e. multimedia functions) work very well for children and educational eBooks, the enhanced eBook does not fit the narrative form of traditional, contemporary fiction.
I think the enhanced eBooks will find a home eventually, as some kind of narrative hybrid, but the eBook Revolution is still in its infancy, and the niche (and therefore the demand) has not been created.
Apr 09
Nook and Kindle owners protest high eBook Prices
Thanks Jorgen for a Cnet story about Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle owners protesting the high prices of eBooks by making their feelings known in the user reviews.
It happened in the early days of the eBook Revolution with Kindle owners protesting any eBook over $9.99. The publishers have got to stop trying to manipulate the market. Their pricing is only fueling eBook Piracy.
Apr 08
eBook Revolution favors the Indie Author
You know the eBook Revolution is going mainstream when ABC News admits there’s something to it.
Here is a fascinating article that should put traditional publishers on guard. Digital Publishing has changed the world for Indie authors, and gives a new weight to the term ‘self-published.’
Apr 07
Barnes and Noble sells Nook WiFi for $79 at eBay.
Mediabistro’s eBookNewser has pointed out that Barnes and Noble is handling the overstock of the Nook Wifi eBook Reader (refurbished) by selling the device on ebay for $79.00 – roughly half of the regular price.
Check it out. Might be the perfect opportunity to get into the eBook Revolution.
Apr 06
Amazon and Google Building a Super-Tablet?
Okay, all eBook Revolution news links aside, this is the first really exciting RUMOR we’ve had here in a long time!
VideoGamingPros ramps up the discussion around the rumored Android-Kindle Tablet, by suggesting its development could be a joint-venture between Amazon and Google.
All this from Amazon’s mysterious Lab 126 posting a notice “looking to hire” Android developers. (Lab 126 developed the Kindle…)
Apr 05
J.K. Rowling considering a move to digital.
The Hollywood Reporter says Harry Potter scribe J.K. Rowling is getting ready to sign onto the eBook Revolution. She has giving lots of reasons in the past for dragging her feet, and now eBooks have given her about 100,000,000 reasons to get aboard.
Now that post suggests Rowling’s involvement will change the eBook Revolution as we know it, even likening her move to the Beatles songbook moving to iTunes. Not sure that’s a level playing field, or that her involvement will be as transformative as the article suggests, but it will certainly get the kids reading eBooks.
If nothing else, it will be another reason for traditional publishers to keep their eBook prices too high. (Unless she’s going to Indie publish them and take 70% of the profits…) You can bet her publisher is keeping the lid on that bit of information.
Apr 04
Uphill Battle for eBooks in Public Libraries
Jorgen dropped in with a link to an Information Today Inc. story about the hurdles public libraries face at the dawn of the eBook Revolution. It looks like an uphill battle with restrictions on lending, device compatibility problems, proprietary systems, interface and privacy issues to name a few.
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