Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
UK bookstore chain Waterstones is partnering with Amazon to sell the Kindle in its 294 stores starting this fall. The deal is bad news for Barnes & Noble. But it may not be so great for Waterstones, either. Here’s why. Read more at paidContent »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Next Jump, the firm that managed Borders’ Perks program and was then sued by the bookseller, is fighting back. Two weeks ago, Borders sued N… Read more at paidContent »
With Borders on its way out, the Alabama-based Books-A-Million has taken its place the second-largest bookstore chain in the United States.… Read more at paidContent »
Borders was e-reading company Kobo’s first — and, so far, only — U.S. bookstore partner. And when it became clear in recent months that Bo… Read more at paidContent »
Next Jump, the company that Borders sued for contacting Borders Rewards customers and redirecting them to its own site, has agreed to take t… Read more at paidContent »
Nicolas Rapp, who just started as the director of infographics for Fortune magazine has put together this awesome chart that highlights the efficiency of the online distribution model. Amazon and Netflix are two of the most visible examples of companies that are ascendant. Read more »
While Amazon and Apple have been the big beneficiaries of the wave of interest in e-books, a smaller player has also been growing rapidly: Kobo, which has its own e-reader and online bookstore, has close to 4 million registered customers, and growth continues to accelerate. Read more »
B&N’s strategic decision to build its own online business was critical, and the same can be said for its decision to create its own e-reader, the Nook. But the retail giant must do more in the e-book world by becoming, essentially, the entire value chain itself. Read more »
With Borders in danger of insolvency, what happens if its e-book storefront simply vanishes? Right now it’s unclear, and this question is complicated by the arrival of the agency pricing model, which places more responsibility on the shoulders of the publisher. Read more »
The definition of a “book” is becoming more fluid, thanks to efforts like Borders’ new self-publishing service powered by Bookbrewer, and the recently launched Amazon Kindle Singles program, both of which are designed to bring shorter pieces of writing to e-readers like the iPad and Kindle. Read more »
Retail giant Staples will play a role in heating up the e-reader war as it will start selling Amazon’s Kindles in its retail stores. This move, coupled with price drops, shows how competitive the e-book business has become. Borders dropped prices on two of its e-readers. Read more »
Barnes & Noble is pushing the Nook brand with the release of a new reader app for the Android platform. There are already versions of its reader app for other platforms, and those will be rebranded to reflect the Nook brand. Read more »
The opening of the Borders e-book store completes the collection of big booksellers now selling e-books. Consumers have a choice for purchasing e-books, so it makes sense to do a little comparison shopping to see which stores have the most bestsellers in stock. Read more »
Borders today launched its digital e-book store and debuted software readers for both BlackBerry and Android devices. While Amazon has the early lead in this market, Borders is taking an Amazon-like approach with a “buy once, read anywhere” mantra. Will such a strategy work? Read more »
