ENTRIES TAGGED "ereader"

Publishing News: B&N is at a “fork in the road”

B&N's dismal earnings call, fine-tuning paywalls, and German booksellers launch an ereader.

B&N, analysts respond to Nook losses

Nook_DigitalShopHeadline news this week was the dismal Nook news from Barnes & Noble’s earnings call on Thursday. The news wasn’t unexpected — Leslie Kaufman reported at the New York Times on Sunday that B&N warned it expected “losses in its Nook Media division” and she quoted a source “familiar with Barnes & Noble’s strategy” as saying, “They are not completely getting out of the hardware business, but they are going to lean a lot more on the comprehensive digital catalog of content.” A B&N spokesperson assured John Cook at GeekWire, “To be clear, we have no plans to discontinue our award-winning line of Nook products.”

Cyrus Farivar reported at ArsTechnica that, on Monday, Leonard Riggio, B&N’s largest shareholder, offered to buy the company — minus the Nook and college bookstore divisions — and take it private, causing B&N’s stock price to rise 11% that day.

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O’Reilly’s journey to EPUB 3

Upgrading to EPUB 3 is not a trivial undertaking

We at O’Reilly are very pleased to announce that we have officially upgraded to EPUB 3, and ebook bundles purchased from oreilly.com will now include EPUB 3 files, in addition to Mobi and PDF files. All O’Reilly ebooks released in 2013 are now available in EPUB 3 format, and in the coming weeks, we will be updating and rereleasing our backlist ebooks in EPUB 3 as well.

But while we’re excited to share this news, this article is not merely a press release. The decision of when and how to upgrade to EPUB 3 has been challenging for many in the publishing community, and it has been a long journey for O’Reilly as well. I’d like to talk more about why we chose to take this step now, what additional value we believe EPUB 3 provides to our customers, and the challenges and tradeoffs we’ve tackled in making our EPUBs backward compatible with EPUB 2 platforms.

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Where are the apps for ereaders?

Developers and ereader vendors are missing an app opportunity

I read on my GlowLight NOOK much more frequently than I read on my Asus Transformer tablet. I’d say there’s at least a 10:1 differential, so for every hour I read on my tablet I read at least 10 hours on my Glowlight Nook. I’ll bet I’m not alone and people who own both an E Ink device and a tablet probably do much more reading on the former. So why is the apps ecosystem limited to tablets? Why are there no add-on apps for E Ink devices in general?

In a recent TOC newsletter we asked readers “What do you wish your ereader could do?” We received quite a few replies, but one of the more interesting ones came from a person who said they’d like to have apps like Flipboard, Zite and Pulse on their E Ink device. I found that interesting because those are the apps (along with News360) I use almost every day on my tablet. If there were Nook E Ink versions, that 10:1 ratio noted earlier would probably become 50:1 as there would be less reason for me to switch to my tablet for reading.

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Why I can't shake my ereader

Battery life and device weight keep E Ink devices on wish lists.

Ereaders are now commodities — improvements are incremental at best — but the fundamental qualities of these devices still make them compelling.

B&N and Microsoft: The potential beyond digital

Thoughts on how Microsoft could play a role in Barnes & Noble's stores.

Joe Wikert: Microsoft should use its investment in B&N's digital business to create an end-to-end consumer experience that rivals Apple's.

ValoBox wants to reward content creators and consumers

ValoBox wants to reward content creators and consumers

ValoBox looks to combine access to content, analytics and conversion.

ValoBox, a publishing startup we covered earlier this year, has launched. In this interview, co-founder Oliver Brooks describes the platform, its development, and how its social retail system works.

Kindle Fire: Three pros, five cons

Kindle Fire: Three pros, five cons

The good: Form factor and content. The bad: Lock in, auto updates and the Silk browser.

Joe Wikert says the Kindle Fire gets good marks for form factor and meeting basic consumer needs, but its lock in, auto updates and lack of a killer app are detriments.

Kindle 2012: Wish-list features for the next model

Kindle 2012: Wish-list features for the next model

Here's a handful of ways Amazon could revolutionize the Kindle.

Amazon is positioned to advance the Kindle platform much faster and further than they have in any 6-12 month period. Joe Wikert outlines new features he'd like to see.

Device Update: New companies enter the ereader market

Device Update: New companies enter the ereader market

E FUn, bModo and BenQ are jumping on the tablet bandwagon.

In this edition of Device Update: New manufacturers enter the ereader market in time for the holidays; shifting perspectives on the breadth of ebook piracy.