Nov 09

More about the Nook

Thanks to Jorgen for this link to a story at the Wall Street Journal about the Nook‘s sudden popularity. Apparently, people are so excited about Barnes and Noble’s new eBook Reader that the demand is forcing the Nook’s ship date back to December 11.  Anxious consumers will have to pre-order and wait… Looks like B&N played it safe and didn’t count on the Nook flying off the shelves. That market misread is hard to understand. Especially since they’ve made such shrewd moves lately.

Hopefully they won’t suffer from the hesitation since any gap in the highly competitive marketplace will be contested by the many device manufacturers clambering for space.

Nov 07

The Nook’s Selling Points

Jorgen dropped in with a link to PCWorld and an early review of Barnes and Noble’s answer to Kindle, the Nook . Read the article here.

The B&N bricks and mortar locations are definitely going to give this eBook Reader an edge, yah?

Nov 06

Publishers + Writers + Internet = Retailer Troubles.

It’s easy to focus on the eBook Readers and eReading Devices. Their development is obviously going to have the biggest impact on how the eBook Revolution evolves, but this article at E-Reads illuminates another level to the struggle that promises to be more cutthroat and financially destructive to the traditional publishing industry.

Simply put: Until recently, publishers and writers have needed book distributors and retailers to sell their products, Amazon.com chief among them. And these are contentious relationships at the best of times as writer, publisher and retailer fight over dwindling profits. It’s been a struggle.

The new digital technology with an Internet or wireless delivery system allows publishers to sell directly to the reader, effectively cutting out the middleman.

This puts me in mind of a press release we received earlier about Indie author G. Wells Taylor selling his eBook titles directly to his readers. (No publisher. No retailer.) Without the middleman, additional costs are eliminated, and in this case the reader receives a full length novel for $1.99.  Taylor’s blog talks about his eBooks being available through the Sony Store and Barnes and Noble, at a slightly higher price which is suggestive of possible future compromises.

I think it comes back to what I’ve said before. The eBook Revolution is about content and readers. Everyone in between has to remain relevant or go extinct, yah?

Nov 05

The Nook Draws fire for Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Noble’s new eBook Reader “The Nook” is attracting headlines and now litigation. California-based company Spring Design claims the eBook retailer copied unique features and functions from their Alex dual-screen eBook reader (check it out at the link… Sweet looking ride.) and included them in the Nook. The link to the full story at The Telegraph.co.uk was dropped off by our friend Jorgen.

This ‘borrowing’ occurred as a result of a collaboration between the two companies as they co-developed a “Kindle Killer” eBook reader. Spring Design alleges B&N overlooked mentioning that they were working on their own eBook Reading device (the Nook), resulting in the “misappropriated trade secrets,” etc. and the violation of a non-disclosure agreement between the two parties.

Barnes and Noble quoted its policy of not commenting on litigation.

If nothing else, the lawsuit will get some much-deserved attention for the Alex, yah?

Nov 04

The future of eReaders is under $100…

If you can wait that long. I know I’m gearing up to buy something now. But patience is old-fashioned, like virtue, yah?

Chip maker Marvell is doing two things. They have developed a new ARM-based processor designed specifically for the eBook market. They plan to use it with their other components in low-priced, multi-functional eReaders with six-inch screens. Read the story at VentureBeat. The plan is to wickedly undercut Amazon’s Kindle (and eBook reading brethren) and sell eReaders for $100 or less. The new microprocessors will allow more functions on the devices while still delivering on the low price.  It’s not that far off in time either, with their projection of a first quarter of 2010 release.

Marvell is also delivering fantastic glimpses into this affordable eBook Reading future. Take some time to look around their site. You’ll see they’re swinging deals with other device designers like Plastic Logic, and that can only mean good things for the eBook Revloution. Considering how quickly all of this has developed, can universal adoption of eBook reading be far off?

Nov 03

When you’re finished that page I’ve got a call to make.

PocketGamer.biz reports on a recent survey that September sales of eBooks and reading applications at the Apple App Store beat game sales for the first time. Read the story here.

You know as the eBook Revolution goes into high gear, I’m hearing from more and more eBook readers who have been reading the classics on their phones for years. Interesting, because a major delay in the development of eBook Readers was the concern that people wouldn’t want to read on a screen. Seems the earliest adopters have proven those concerns unfounded yah?

Nov 02

COOL GADGET! But will it help with gas mileage?

I won’t go on too much about this, check it out on Crave at Cnetnews. I just love the scifi lines on this ride. Bridgestone, the tire maker (surprised?), is developing a flexible eReading device. We talked about a reader from Bridgestone before, but this one looks quite different from the eReader in that article. I wonder if it’s related to this development we dug up over at Bridgestone about Electronic Paper. A challenger for E Ink’s market supremacy?

Nov 01

Will eBooks hurt ‘bricks and mortar’ bookstores?

TopNews.net thinks they will… Read the article, here.

It can’t be any more doom and gloom than what these bookstores have been going through already, as traditional publishing collapses around them, destroyed by short-term corporate thinking: as publishing giants abandoned selection for bestsellers.

It’s just the evolution part of the eBook Revolution. Bricks and mortar bookstores will have to evolve to survive, but did they think bookstores would never change? The smart ones will be embracing the idea of eBooks, and building opportunities around the idea that their bookshelves now extend infinitely onto the Internet. They can offer every book ever written.

They’ve just got to stop resisting it and adapt, yah?

Oct 31

HORROR AUTHOR TERRIFIES PUBLISHERS THIS HALLOWEEN WITH FAIR eBOOK PRICES!

This one’s fun for the end of October… I just put up the whole press release because I like his thinking, yah?

There’s a contest for a FREE SONY eBOOK READER too! Here’s the link.

TORONTO, ONTARIO – (Oct. 31/09) Horror author G. Wells Taylor hopes to shake things up in the exploding eBook marketplace by offering his list of full length novels for $1.99 each to celebrate the Halloween release of his new novel BENT STEEPLE.

bent_steeplet_cover_6x9_front_4_5_low_resAnd it isn’t just a promotion. “I’m selling content here. There’s a royalty to cover and a few expenses but we’re not paying for printing and shipping. $1.99 for an eBook is fair.” The Indie writer’s decade online laid the groundwork for creating a user-friendly web presence and platform for his Reader-direct pricing. “The old publishers wanted the status quo to continue because they had all the money and control, but the ‘status quo’ didn’t feed many writers.”

He describes his horror novel as a disturbing tale that would scare the glitter off a modern vampire’s cheeks. BENT STEEPLE has teeth.

Something is in the trees. In BENT STEEPLE a blizzard isolates a remote northern village that was stricken by a fatal and unknown disease thirty years before. Some survivors believed a vampire stalked the frozen forests, but their suspicions sounded like insanity. Now their secrets have drawn them back for vengeance, salvation and for blood.

On top of the new book and low prices, visitors to BentSteeple.com get a chance to win a SONY eBOOK READER TOUCH EDITION with BENT STEEPLE installed. Visit BentSteeple.com for your chance to win. (No purchase necessary. See web site for contest details.)

Oct 29

$149 eBook Reader from ECTACO

Bookseller.com has a story about a new eBook Reader that’s hitting the eBook Revolution at $149 (US). It’s maker, ECTACO, is declaring it the cheapest eReading machine on the market. The jetBook-Lite uses four AA batteries and promises 23 hours of continuous reading. On top of that it works with Barnes and Noble eBook store, and runs various formats including PDF. Read about it here.

More on the story including pictures and video at engadget.com.

Early critics point out that it doesn’t have the various functions offered by the industry leaders, but that’s kind of a given, considering its price.

So, before you hate this thing right away, take a look at it at least. Its designers know that we need a cheaper eBook Reader to allow the universal adoption of the device.

Especially if publishers are trying to legislate HIGH eBook prices, yah?