Barnes & Noble is offering a free version of its Nook e-reader with an annual subscription to the digital edition of The New York Times. It is also doing a similar deal on the Nook edition of People magazine.
The promotion, which runs for two months, is designed to get readers associating the device with newspapers and magazines as well as books. Read More
You’ve already heard my views on the subtle ways that realtime media, user-generated content and networks are fundamentally changing the world of journalism. As digital technology weaves its way into every part of our lives, it’s also starting to drastically change consumer behaviour – and with it, the industries and products around us.
The publishing industry has seen some dramatic changes over the past year, and that shows few signs of slowing down in 2012. A few years ago, it was simple – books were published by publishing houses, we bought them from bookshops or online retailers such as Amazon and the author was paid a small royalty for every sale. It was a formula that worked on a basic level.
So I just came across this collection of iPhone 4 cases from CollabCubed which feature a life-sized print of an ear. When you hold it up to your ear, it looks like, er, an ear. Read More
I remember an editorial in Word magazine by editor David Hepworth when eBooks first came out, saying that one of the potential downsides is that you wouldn’t be able to see what other people were reading in public. Your choice of reading matter sends out all those deliberate and unintended insights into your tastes and personality in ways that a tablet never can.
Now that sales of eBook readers have really taken off, it’s fascinating to see that this ‘hidden’ element is shaping our purchases. Read More
The new Kindle 3G ebook reader has become’s Amazon’s best-selling product ever. They haven’t released the figures yet but say it has overtaken Harry Potter and the Deathly Halllows, which saw 1 million pre-orders when it was released in 2007.
First going on sale at the end of August 2010, the Kindle 3G should make sales of 8 million by the end of the year, a figure which will not go unnoticed by Apple, whose iPad has sold 12 million since its release back in March.
If you got one for Christmas you’ve probably been discussing its merits with relatives and friends.
Half of them will be impressed by the opportunity to store up to 3,500 books in one small tablet and read them on a screen without straining your eyes; the other half will wave a well-thumbed novel in your face and shout about the death of publishing and say there’s nowt wrong with a real book with pages you can turn with your fingers. Read More
News International has finally released some numbers for how well its paid content strategy is doing. While encouraging in some areas (apps) the overall number of those who have paid something since July is just 105,000 for The Times and Sunday Times, which includes sales for the iPad and Kindle.
Around half of that 105,000 figure are monthly subscribers, but what they subscribe to is not broken out, with the rest buying daily or weekly passes. Read More
This could be interesting, Amazon says that in an update to its Kindle e-reader device it is going to allow readers to share their ebooks.
That is so cool. That’s what real book are all about and what (at the moment) ebooks lack – they lack lendability. Read More
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, described The Times paywall as a “foolish experiment” that “would not last” and predicted that Rupert Murdoch would be forced to give up on the idea. Read More
The ebook price war has begun in the US. Amazon has cut the price if its Kindle from $259 to $189 (£128) and Barnes & Noble’s wi-fi-only version of the Nook will sell for just $149 (just £100). Read More
Google is set to enter the e-book market with the launch of Google Editions, an open-software digital storefront which will sell e-books that can be viewed from web browsers or a variety of handheld devices. Read More
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