By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Somebody call the cops -- eh, antitrust authorities. Apple's subscription plan is here, and it's as bad for many, if not most, publishers as rumored. The first of several key sentences from Apple's press announcement: "Publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a website, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app." That means you Amazon Kindle; before the announcement, all Kindle transactions took place outside the app in a web browser. This change applies to any content, but it's nestled in the subscriptions announcement.Another piece of nastiness: "Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app." That rule conceptually would prevent some publishers from extending to existing customers the benefits of a free iPad subscription."So, Apple doesn't prohibit publishers from selling subscriptions outside the app -- how could it and get anyone to offer content? But the company does fix prices. So if publisher A charges 50 bucks a year and wants to offer a holiday or school graduation promotion from its website, the deal must be offered for app subscriptions, too. Remember, Apple collects 30 percent from publishers.No one should misunderstand other terms, as stated in Apple's press release:... Continue reading at 'Betanews'
[ Betanews | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
Barnes & Noble wants you to take your e-reader to bed. The latest iteration of the Nook, revealed by the book retailer Thursday, is a black-and-white device with a softly glowing backlit screen. It is designed to solve a common problem that co ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble is strengthening its relations with UK publishers and app developers in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While Americans have more than one way to consume those e-ink verses, those in the old country are largely stuck with Amazon's still-expanding Kindle family or e-reader hardware lacking the clout of a publisher. But Europeans may get the chance to pick up a Nook in the future, following news... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble has said it will expand its digital business internationally but will not... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's hard not to make a series of reductive comparisons between the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire. After all, it's the conflict between Barnes & Noble and Amazon that frames these two 7-inch tablet / e-reader hybrids. This one is $50 more expensive, but is technically more impressive: you... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Did you take umbrage with Barnes & Noble's efforts to hoard all your Nook Tablet storage for its own content? Well, the book seller has made good on its promise to reassign a portion of your 16GB hard drive, opening up 8GB for personal content and leaving 5.5GB for Nook Shop content. As we... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A bit buried in last week’s iPad 3 excitement was the news that Apple, along with five major American book publishers, was given notice by the Justice Department that it’s about to be sued for colluding to raise prices. A tech giant can afford to shrug off something as petty as an anti-trust... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2012-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Before his death in October of last year, one of Steve Jobs' last big moves was Apple's foray into electronic books. The company announced the platform in March 2010, but the method in which Apple handled its deals with publishers has caught the eye of regulators. The Justice Department plans to... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BuzzFeed, the meme-centric social news site known for its reserves of offbeat content and silly cat photos, is stockpiling journalists—serious ones. Last week, it announced the hire of award-winning Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings, adding to an impressive roster of reporters that include... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2012-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dark Horse Comics has penciled a contract with Barnes & Noble (it'll be sent off to be inked and colored next week*) to get the former's content onto the latter's Tablet and Color e-readers. Available in the Nook Comic store, you'll be able to pick up a mix of the publisher's licensed titles... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It remains to be seen if it's a full-on change of policy, but it looks like Amazon is at least shifting it stance when it comes to where some of the ebooks put out by its Amazon Publishing division are sold. As you may recall, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers recently pulled print... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With iPad 3 rumored to be on the way—possibly boasting a sharper screen and talking personal assistant Siri—Apple CEO Tim Cook may drop the price of the iPad 2 so he can go after the cheaper tablet market now dominated by Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Analysts figure a $200 to... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are you one of the many infuriated with Barnes & Noble over how it partitioned the storage on the Nook Tablet -- leaving you just 1GB for you own files? Well, it looks like the company has learned from its mistakes. While only about 5GB is free to load with apps and media on the new 8GB... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble is fighting fire with fire. The book retailer Tuesday morning debuted a new version of its Nook tablet that matches Amazon's Kindle Fire in price and memory. The new device is identical in form to its predecessor, except with 8 gigabytes of storage and a $199 price tag. Barnes... Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble has grown its international content team, as the US bookseller seeks to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Barnes & Noble fights for its future, the publishing industry is holding its breath. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Panarea Digital is an ebook, app, and mobile technology developer with a focus on education. The firm has produced interactive ebooks for Barnes & Noble and other companies, but Panarea Digital is now focused on Nearpod, a mobile learning platform that uses the iPad and other mobile devices... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble has undergone lots of changes since Len Riggio first took over the bookstore chain in 1965, and it is heading toward what could be its most dramatic makeover since Riggio bought the B. Dalton chain. Although it is far from certain what will happen, B&N is in the early... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble Inc. has put its Sterling Publishing business up for sale, say people familiar with the situation, signaling a likely end to its decades-long involvement in the publishing of its own books. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2012-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A few days after Amazon announced that the Steve Jobs biography was its top-selling book of 2011 (combined print and ebook sales), the book debuted on bestseller charts around the world, including the three countries highlighted this month. Steve Jobs was #3 in France and the Netherlands, and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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