Apple has begun selling spiffy iBookstore gift cards at its retail stores and at retail partners like Target, where iTunes gift cards have long been available,reports MacRumors. The cards are available in $25 and $50 denominations. Clearly Apple is hoping to cash in on the holiday gift-giving season with its newest e-commerce venture. Apple Now [...]
With Wal-Mart offering free shipping through the holidays, it’s clear that retailers are trying to remove potential impediments to online shopping this holiday season. Both Borders and Barnes & Noble will also provide free two-day shipping, but through ShopRunner. The new membership program charges consumers an annual fee of $79, equal to Amazon Prime, and [...]
After announcing plans to start carrying Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader, Walmart is now adding another digital reader and will begin selling the Kobo wireless e-reader next week at 2,500 U.S. Walmart stores. Kobo CEO Mike Serbinis said the Kobo reader has already been selling through Walmart Canada and the device (which sells for $140 [...]
Amazon posted its usual big jump in top line sales, with the third quarter revenue increasing 38.7%, to $7.56 billion, while net income rose 16%, to $231 million. The largest gains came in its electronics and other general merchandise segment where sales rose 68% overall and 80% in North America. The segment, which benefited from [...]
Apple sold 4.19 million iPads in the quarter ended September 30, the company said yesterday, bringing the total sold to just under 7.5 million since the device was released in April. During the conference call discussing results, Apple CEO Steve Jobs criticized what he called the forthcoming avalanche of new tablet devices, saying the 7 [...]
Lots of excitement surrounded the launch of Apple’s iBook this past April–it was Apple, after all, so how could the iBookstore be anything but awesome? Well, over at TUAW, blogger David Winograd says that after six months, he’s convinced iBooks is “a dismal failure.” He cites a bunch of reasons, including iBooks’ extremely poor selection when compared [...]
As a senior vice president of product and platform development at Amazon.com, David Risher was well aware of the potential of ebooks. But it wasn’t until he left the company in 2008 that he discovered just how powerful ebooks really can be. Today, his non-profit venture, Worldreader.org, is undertaking an ambitious goal – to bring [...]
Just a decade ago, bookstores could add sidelines, events, and a cafe with a decent cup of coffee, maybe beer and wine, to boost sales. But with the economy limping along and e-book sales steadily rising, that’s not necessarily enough any more. At this year’s fall conference for the New England Independent Booksellers Association, three [...]
Amazon and Target are now selling the Apple iPad. Previously, the device had only been available from Apple’s online and retail stores, as well as from Best Buy. The move into other outlets heats up the competition between iPad and the E-Ink Big Three, Sony, Kindle, and Nook, all of which are available in various retail [...]
Beginning in the first quarter of 2011, Xerox will move into print-on-demand publishing in a bigger way through an expanded relationship with On Demand Books, creator of the Espresso Book Machine. While the Xerox 4112 will continue to serve as printer for the EBM, the Fortune 500 company will now market, sell, lease, and service [...]
After closing hundreds of stores over the last year, Borders Group announced Tuesday morning that it is jumping on one of retailing’s hottest trends—pop-up stores. Borders will open 25 seasonal Borders Express stores nationwide beginning October 25 and will operate them through January 31. A majority of the stores will be in malls where Borders [...]
Barnes & Noble shareholders reelected Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio and his slate to the board of the directors, rejecting financier Ron Burkle’s efforts to gain seats on the board. Shareholders also rejected a proposal put forth by Burkle’s Yucaipa Company to amend the poison pill “anti-takeover” provisions in the stockholder rights agreement. The [...]
Ingram Content Group announced plans to open a networked Lightning Source print-on-demand book production facility in Australia. The new Australian POD facility will manufacture both paperback and hardcover black and white interior books and should begin operation in June 2011. The new full-scale POD Australian plant gives Ingram strategic placement in the Asia-Pacific book market [...]
After increasing by “only” 118% in June, e-book sales jumped 150.2% to $40.8 million at the 14 publishers that report e-book sales in July. Sales for the first seven months of the year were up 191%, to $219.5 million. The $40.8 million in e-book sales generated in July came within $20 million of the July [...]