PBT Consulting

APPLE'S PLAN TO REMAKE EDUCATION WITH THE IPAD AND E-BOOKS INSTEAD OF TEXTBOOKS, AND APPS FOR TEACHERS & AUTHORS

Apple on Thursday lifted the veil on its plans to remake the educational landscape in a way that centers on its best-selling tablet computer, the iPad.

Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

"Education is deep in Apple's DNA and iPad may be our most exciting education product yet." 

At a press conference in New York, the company announced three products that aim to get students and teachers to use the iPad's touch-screen interface to read, write, plan classes and communicate with each other.

 

First, a free app called iBooks Author lets anyone create a digital, interactive textbook.  In a demo at the event, an Apple employee created an e-book with the app in about five minutes, according to live blogs.

 

Apple iBooks Author

View more documents from turk5555.

 

 Second, an update to a piece of software called iTunes U lets teachers plan their curriculum and communicate with their students over the iPad.

 

Apple iTunes-U

View more documents from turk5555.

 

The new iTunes U, which also is free and available on Thursday, will "allow anyone, anywhere, at any time to take courses for free," Schiller said, according to Fortune.com's Philip Elmer-DeWitt, who was live blogging from the event. Fortune is a partner site of CNN.com.

Apple's website said Thursday.

"If you're an educator at a university, college, or K-12 school, now you have an easy way to design and distribute complete courses featuring audio, video, books, and other content.  And students and lifelong learners can experience your courses for free through a powerful new app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch."

Finally, a new textbook store called iBooks 2, also a free app, will feature digital e-books for schools.

Apple said it is partnering with several major textbook companies -- including Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who will make e-books for the store, according to Fortune.

High school textbooks start at $14.99, the company said.

In another demo, Apple's Roger Rosner showed off textbooks for the iPad that allow students to zoom in on pictures of cells, dissect digital frogs and make notes and highlights on the e-book pages.

Rosner said, according to Fortune. 

"I don't think there's ever been a textbook that made it this easy to be a good student." 

All of these moves are part of Apple's larger strategy to remake the textbook industry. The company reportedly has been courting schools to make use of its popular tablet computer.

At the press conference, Schiller mocked paper textbooks, saying,

"They're not portable, not durable, not interactive, not searchable."

Books on the iPad are all of those things, he said, according to live blogs covering the event.

Some educators seem to be excited about the changes.

Jed Macosko, an associate professor at Wake Forest University, said in a statement.

"Apple has recognized that learning for students is not a one-way street." 

Macosko, the author of an interactive biology textbook said.

"Until now, most traditional e-textbooks have focused on linear content delivery, which is not the way people learn. Research shows that we learn by asking questions." 

Others questioned whether the move could give Apple too much control over educational content.

Mathew Ingram, a senior writer for the blog GigaOm, posted on Twitter after the event.

"(It's) not clear so far whether Apple's new textbooks will be open formats (ePub etc.) or only in Apple format." 

Or they mocked the fact that Apple is trying to take such a big role in education.

User @irasocol wrote on Twitter.

"For a small upcharge, Apple will put a huge logo on your school and tattoo an Apple on each (student's) forearm." 

COMMENTARY:   Apple has deep roots in school education since the creation of the Apple II, Apple III and MacIntosh.   Steve Jobs knew that if he could ween children at an early age on Apple products, they would become loyal evangelists and future customers, and this has certainly been the case.  

Apple sees a future without hardcover books, as more hardcover books are published in digital or e-book form for today's broad range of mobile devices from laptops to the iPad.  Apple is leveraging its roots in education and loyal evangelist base to ween the current generation of young school children into future Apple evangelists and loyal customers.   It's a very smart move.

If Apple can convince school educators to replace their hardcover textbooks with the iPad and e-books, and provide some slick 100% free apps to teachers for planning their school courses and book writers for authoring new ebooks, then the company will be able to sell even more iPads and e-books.  This is about dominating the tablet and ebook markets, and fits very well within Steve Jobs original Digital Hub Theory.

My major concern is that all schools are not created equal, and that the parents of children attending public and private schools in affluent neighborhoods will be able to afford an iPad and eBooks, but poor parents and their children, who attend impoverished and lower performing schools will be left out in the cold.  

If Apple wants to sell iPads and ebooks to the schools, they should provide them at a discount prices to the schools.  I noticed that the last time I wrote about the use of iPads by some schools in the U.S. and U.K., most of those iPads were priced at well over $600 each.  

With so many public schools, both in affluent and poor neighborhoods, having their budgets cut, teachers laidoff and hardly any money to replace their wornout textbooks, very few schools will be able to afford iPads or ebooks.  Apple can contribute to the public good by donating as many iPads and ebooks to those schools who cannot afford them.  They are a major corporation with nearly $80 billion in the bank, so could easily afford to subsidize poorer schools, and should take the leadership in helping the schools.  

Courtesy of an article dated January 19, 2012 appearing in CNN.COM

FACEBOOK DEACTIVATES SALMAN RUSHDIE'S PROFILE, MAKES HIM USE REAL FIRST NAME 'AHMED', SO HE MOVES TO TWITTER

After Salman Rushdie’s profile was mistakenly deactivated, he called Facebook a ‘bunch of morons.’ Then the author threatened a Twitter defection after being forced to go by ‘Ahmed.’ Brian Ries on who won out.

For a few hours on Monday morning, Salman Rushdie had just about had it with Facebook.

The social media site had detected a profile over the weekend—his Facebook profile—that it had mistakenly determined was fraudulent. So, without warning, Facebook flipped its switch, digitally executing Rushdie’s profile and removing it from the site. To get it reactivated, he was told, he would have to send a photograph of his passport, thereby proving his identity as the real Salman Rushdie, the Indian-British author of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses, and not a fraud. But when he did as instructed, his profile emerged from its Facebook purgatory with a problem.

Click Image To View Salman "Ahmed" Rushdie's Facebook Profile

He explained on the site. 

“Facebook deactivated my account because they thought I wasn’t me.  Now they insist I call myself by the first name I have never used. What a bunch of morons.”

That rarely used first name, Ahmed, is what’s printed on his passport. Salman, technically speaking, is his middle name. And a post about “name standards” on Facebook’s Help Center—which the company on Monday acknowledged is a bit dated and then quickly updated after a query by The Daily Beast—suggested that middle names simply aren’t allowed.

It said:  

“Facebook is a community where people use their real identities. We require everyone to provide their real first and last names so you always know who you’re connecting with.” 

 

But what, Rushdie took to Twitter to wonder, if the one you’re connecting with isn’t known by their first name at all?

He tweeted

“Dear #Facebook, forcing me to change my FB name from Salman to Ahmed Rushdie is like forcing J. Edgar to become John Hoover.” 

He went on:

“Or, if F. Scott Fitzgerald was on #Facebook, would they force him to be Francis Fitzgerald? What about F. Murray Abraham?”

Salman Rushdie's Twitter page:

Click Above Image To Visit Salman Rushdie's Twitter Page

Others agreed.  The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal wondered. 

“What is the point of forcing Salman Rushdie to go by Ahmed Rushdie? How does this benefit the social web?”

When reached Monday afternoon, a company spokesperson told The Daily Beast it does permit users to identify by their middle and last names. Rushdie’s profile suspension, and resulting name change, was all a mistake.

The spokesperson said in an official announcement. 

“This action was taken in error and Mr. Rushdie’s account has been reactivated with the correct name.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

That inconvenience was almost Facebook’s—Rushdie nearly took his presence elsewhere. He wrote in a post earlier in the day, before inviting readers to follow him on Twitter—Facebook’s on-again-off-again competitor. 

“As I don’t and will never recognize myself as ‘Ahmed Rushdie’ I will be reducing FB activities to just about zero and cutting back my list of friends to actual friends or at least acquaintances, just to keep in touch.  I’m done.”

But later Monday, once Facebook had reinstated the profile as “Salman Rushdie,” the author made a triumphant return.  He posted on his profile. 

“Victory!  Goodbye Ahmed, get back into the passport where you belong. Salman returns.”

And with that return, a confirmation: Facebook users, middle names are A-OK in Zuckerville.

COMMENTARY:   It's most unfortunate to see Facebook make an ass of themselves over your name.  Everybody knows who Salman Rushdie is.  Zuck should personally apologize to Salman for treating him with such outrageous disrespect.  A lot of celebrities use different names.  Lady Gaga has a real name.  So by Facebook's rules she should be asked to change her Facebook name to  Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta.

Twenty years ago, novelist Salman Rushdie was a wanted man with a million pound bounty on his head. His novel, The Satanic Verses, had sparked riots across the Muslim world. The ailing religious leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, had invoked a little-known religious opinion - a fatwa - and effectively sentenced Rushdie to death. Never before had a novel created an international diplomatic crisis on such a scale, and never before had a foreign Government publicly called for the killing of a private citizen of another country.

The following film documentary looks back on the extraordinary events which followed the publication of the book and the ten year campaign to get the fatwa lifted. Interviews with Rushdie's friends and family and testimony from leaders of Britain's Muslim community and the Government reveal the inside story of the affair. Rushdie himself was forced into hiding for nearly ten years.

 

British columnist Christopher Hitchens discusses Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' and the famous fatwa.

 

Here's an interview with Salman Rushdie and his response to the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa:

Anybody with the balls to imply that the Prophet Mohammed is evil or even Satanic, then have the Ayatollah Khomeini personally call a 'fatwa' for his assassination, can be my Twitter friend anytime.  You should've been knighted by the Queen.  

In conclusion, I would like to say:

Dear Mr. Salmen Rushdie.  

Fuck Facebook.  Welcome to Twitter.  The only true democratic social network.  I hope that we can follow each other.  Here's my Twitter page.  Yours truly,

@turk5555.  

Courtesy of an article dated November 14, 2011 appearing in The Daily Beast 

 

 

CEO OF BLURB, THE ONLINE DO-IT-YOURSELF BOOK PUBLISHING SERVICE, TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF BOOK PUBLISHING

On-demand paper book self-publishing service Blurb isn’t scared of the current boom in e-books. The company has announced record growth in its 2009 results and has expanded into e-book publishing.

Based in San Francisco and London, Blurb offers downloadable book-making software from which users can order as many, or as few, copies of their creation as they wish.

Blurb says it has created and shipped more than 1.2 million books in 2009 – more volume than the company had shipped in total since its launch in 2006.  In 2009, Blurb reported 50% year-over-year revenue growth in sales of more than $45 million.  Figures for the UK were particularly strong, with year-on-year growth of 152% meaning that 40% of the business is now outside of the US.

The record growth came in a year that saw the company expand beyond the consumer market by appealing to creative professionals with its PDF to Book workflow, aimed at photographers, graphic designers and advertising/marketing agencies.

According to Blurb CEO Eileen Gittins, the company will continue its grow in 2010 through innovation, partnerships with “Brands that matter” and an expansion into more markets around the world.

 

 

Blurb CEO Eileen Gittins talks about the Genesis behind the idea for her company:

 

A short tutorial demonstrating Blurb's BookSmart applications software:

 

Eileen Gittins, the CEO of Blurb , talks e-books, new publishing models and the iPad with StrategyEye.  

>What will the book industry look like in 10 years?

It will be a lot smaller. There are two varieties of books: books you want to keep and books you want to consume. For consuming, people will go digital. Within five years, 50% of books will be digital. Then there are other books that you want to keep. They are objects of beauty. They might be reference pieces like a cookbook, or gifts, and you can't give digital. Because of the economy, there will be fewer books in bookstores and fewer bookstores themselves. They won't go away, but they will become more social places. They'll become more like a coffee house, a social place where you meet up with other people for book signings and events.

>How are you doing well when traditional publishing is struggling?

Traditional publishers are suffering from a legacy business model. This is often the case when there is a big disruption in the industry. We are a very direct model where there aren't any of those people on the food chain. We are an internet company. We didn't have all those legacy relationships. We don't pay agents, we don't pay advances and we don't take the risk like big publishers.

The point of this company is not that we're selling 20 books, each of which sell 30,000 copies, but we're doing 30,000 books each of which sells 20 copies. Penguin or Knopf or HarperCollins can't put in a lot of money these days. What they have to do now is put some marketing behind a well-known author that has a big audience. It's really becoming a blockbuster business. The big publishers can't afford to take on the rest of us that may be delighted to sell 20 copies or 2,000 copies. They just don't have the finances to do it. So Blurb becomes a really great outlet for those people who are trying to either break in to build an audience or are publishing because of personal passion and if they sell 50 copies they are thrilled.

>How does your business work?

Our market is split into three segments.

• First, personal book makers: people making family books, holiday books, etc, with no intention of selling them for profit. That's about 40% of our business. 
• Then 30% of our books are promotional marketing tools. Lexus does books with us, Ducati, Honda, Google and Microsoft. Each run will be a few hundred copies. Recently we've seen a spate of company books celebrating some kind of product launch or event. They're not for sale.
• The final 30% are absolutely for-profit books. One of the beauties of our online bookstore is that because we make our money on the printing side, you can retain 100% of whatever mark-up you've put on the book over and above your cost.

>Are the big publishers right to keep e-book prices high?

Information wants to be free on the internet so this arbitrary notion that ‘I'm not going to make that same content available from the start in digital form as hardback' is ridiculous and consumers will not stand for that. Publishers need to figure out how to right-size their organisations to fit today's model and how to jettison the things that aren't working. They need to learn to be more efficient in terms of physical distribution and how to do a better job at spotting the big talent that they can put big money behind.

>How are you approaching e-publishing?

We are making investments in e-publishing and outputting to the various e-readers: Nook, Kindle, etc, as well as HTML5 for the iPad. We have one of every e-reader at Blurb and we've hacked books on to everything. This will move forward for two reasons. Firstly, our platform supports it. Secondly, all we do is business online. We have such an investment in communities, online marketing, this is what we know, this is what we do, this is where we live.

Very soon you will see output to e-book standards so that you can make your book available on Google or wherever and will be able to read your book on an e-reader as well as an iPad. The reason why this isn't already available from Blurb is up until pretty recently it was all e-readers. Now it's on the iPad as well, it is 10% of our business. Now that colour is in the world it makes things way more interesting. In addition to printing copies of their book, many of our authors have iPad versions.

I think the iPad has changed people's relationship to technology in a very intimate way. Your access to technology is not about producing, it is now about consuming media. Before, if your laptop or mobile phone was your consumption device, you had limitations. But on the iPad, if you want to consume video games, a book, or look at television, it's brilliant. I think it's going to change the distribution of print media and it's going to change people's fundamental relationship to technology.

>How does the rest of the publishing industry see your business?

Two years ago, they'd probably wish we'd go away. That's not true now. We're being approached now, with publishers for partnerships because there are some book titles that are not economical for them, but they would still like to maintain the relationship with the author. People who go into publishing have a great love for books and it pains them when they're just not set up to get something out. It may be skewed, but those are the ones we are seeing.

COMMENTARY:    Blurb makes it very easy for anybody to publish their own books.   The process is very simple:  

1. Select the desired type of book: photobooks, text and photo books, and PDF books.
2. Select the desired book size.
3. Select desired book page layout.
4. Add content, namely photos and text.
5. Publish.

Blurb offers three options for publishing a book:

• Bookify Online - A user-friendly online application for publishing photobooks.
• Blurb BookSmart - An online application for publishing books containing both photos and text.  First you must register online in order to download a free copy of Blurb's BookSmart software for your PC or Mac, then install the software on your PC, and you're off and running.
• PDF-to-Book - PDF to Book gives professional users full creative reign over the bookmaking process. Blurb offers blank Adobe® InDesign® templates tailored for use with all of their book sizes, papers, and cover types.  Or use their detailed specifications to create PDFs using your favorite layout tool. Once your page and cover PDFs are ready, simply upload and order your book.

Blurb pricing is based on the following factors:

• Size of the book.
• Type of cover (soft or hard cover)
• Quality of the paper (lustre or matte finish)
• Custom logo.
• Page count.
• Quantity of books ordered.

A soft cover book can cost as little as $12.95.  A hardcover as little as $24.95.   The more books you order the lower the price per unit.   The pricing is quite reasonable when compared to hiring a traditional book publisher.   

Blurb also operates an online bookstore to assist authors in selling their books.    

This is one cool idea and something I am definitely interested in using for my Entrepreneurship Series for New Technology Ventures.  

Courtesy of an article dated July 12, 2010 appearing in StrategyEye

EBOOK RETAIL PRICES ON THE INCREASE, NEW PRICING MODEL DESIGNED TO GENERATE FATTER PROFITS FOR THE PUBLISHERS

Even as readers grow more comfortable with digital books, some continue to question why so many of the most popular new e-books are priced so high.

Michael Connelly's recent legal thriller, "The Fifth Witness," has more one-star reviews on Amazon than five-star reviews in part because some angry reviewers focused on the e-book's $14.99 price.

As physical book sales fall, publishers' fixed costs are becoming more cumbersome. One area major publishers can cushion the blow is by keeping e-book prices higher.  A New York publishing executive, who asked not to be identified said. 

"If e-book prices land at 99 cents in the future we're not going to be in good shape." 

Indeed, e-book prices on many new national best sellers are higher today than they were at the start of last year. That's because the six major publishers have adopted a new pricing model, known as "agency pricing," championed by Apple Inc. Publishers, worried about the deeply discounted $9.99 digital best-sellers promoted by Amazon.com Inc., agreed to set the consumer prices of their digital titles. Under this model, retailers act as the agent for each sale and take 30%, returning 70% to the publisher.

The major significance of agency pricing was that it made it impossible for a retailer to discount the price without the approval of the publisher. The impact was immediate. Amazon had built its market share in part on aggressive price discounting in which it actually lost money on the sale of many of the book industry's most popular titles.

For example, if a new hardcover book was priced at $26, the digital wholesale price was often $13. If Amazon sold the book for $9.99, it lost $3.01 per sale.

Although many books continue to be sold at $9.99 or less, the wild days of using the country's most popular titles in digital form as loss leaders are mostly over. For example, Stephen King's coming thriller "11/22/63" is priced at $35 in the hardcover format and $16.99 as a digital book.

Publishers argue it's impossible to break out a profit per title that includes a percentage of all their costs because all books have unique one-time costs which are broken out over an unknown number of copies. It's also hard to apply corporate overhead costs against the sales of individual titles. Assigning a fixed overhead percentage is an accountant's convenience, not a fact, says Mike Shatzkin, chief executive of the Idea Logical Co., a New York-based publishing consultancy.

[Click Image To Enlarge]

But a back-of-the-envelope calculation of a new e-book priced at $12.99 on Amazon or through Barnes & Noble Inc. under the 70%-30% agency pricing model suggests a return of $9.09 to the publisher in the form of sales. The publisher then typically has to pay the author 25% of net sales in the form of a royalty, or $2.27. This leaves a gross of $6.82. Subtract 90 cents for digital rights management, digital warehousing, production, and distribution, and that leaves $5.92.

By comparison, a hardcover book priced at $26 and sold under the traditional wholesale model will return $13 to a publisher. Subtract 15% for the author royalty, or $3.90, and that leaves a gross of $9.10, says publishing executives. Mr. Shatzkin says that it's appropriate to then deduct about $3.25 per copy for shipping, warehousing and production, leaving a gross per unit sold of $5.85, from which publishers must pay for returns and inventory. The fact that digital books don't have returns and inventory reduces some of the publisher's risk and makes digital an attractive format, says Dominique Raccah, chief executive of Sourcebooks Inc.

Neither of these examples includes possible deductions for unearned advances or marketing.

It's unclear that lower e-book prices always result in revenue gains from additional sales. But publishers are likely to face more pricing pressure down the road.

But "over time there's bound to be pricing pressure because there will be more and more self publishing efforts at lower efforts offering a wider range of choices at lower prices," says Mr. Shatzkin.

COMMENTARY:  I just looked it up, and as of today, Amazon.com has 15.3 million books in their catalog, of which 6.7 million are hardcover books.  There are also 552,500 eBooks for their prized Kindle book reader.  Somehow, I expect this those numbers to change drastically over the next five years.

In a blog post dated July 19, 2011, I profiled the demise of Borders Books.  Here is some of the data for ebook readers and ebook content.    

E-Book Reading Devices and E-Book Content Sales

Sales of e-book reading devices and digital books or e-books have taken a tremendous toll on the sale or hardcover books.  Between 2008 and 2010, as the number of ebook reading devices increased, sales of e-book content increased, and hardcover book sales decreased three straight years.   

eBook Reading Device Unit Sales

There are three major "pure" e-book reader manufacturers:

• Sony - In September 2006, Sony introduced the Sony Reader PRS 500.  Borders Books was the first book retailer to sell it.  Sony has since introduced eight newer models.  
• Amazon.com - In November 2007, Amazon.com introduced the Kindle ebook reader.  Amazon has since introduced three newer models.  
• Barnes & Noble - In October 2009, Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook.  In November 2010, the Nook was replaced by the B&N Nook Color.  In June 2011, the Simple Touch Reader, a touchscreen e-book reader was introduced. 

According to Caris & Co, Amazon.com sold 4.75 million Kindles in 2010, and projects 8.01 billion will be sold by 2012.  According to Caris, combined Kindle readers and eBook revenues were $3.3 billion in 2010, will increase to $5.4 billion by 2011, then reach $8 billion in 2012.  

Apple released the iPad tablet computer in April 2010, and sold 3 million of the devices in 80 days. In 2010, Apple sold 14.8 million iPads worldwide.  The iPad is a full-fledged multi-media device, allowing users to read e-books, surf the Internet, watch videos and listen to music.  In March 2011, Apple introduced the iPad 2, a thinner and more powerful replacement for the original iPad. In July 19, 2011, Apple announced that it had sold 9 million iPad's during the Q2 2011, more than all other tablet PCs combined.  For the year 2011, it is expected to sell 27 million iPads, and take 83 percent of the tablet computing market share in the United States.  Below are the projected 2010      e-book unit sales for Sony, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Apple and miscellaneous Chinese e-book reader manufacturers. 

eBook Reading Device Revenues

Sales of eBook readers began to takeoff in 2009.  According to Yankee Group, $1.273 billion (at wholesale) in eBook readers were sold in 2010, and sales of eBook readers are expected to generate $2.5 billion by 2013.

eBook Content Sales

According to Yankee Group forecasts, U.S. consumers will purchase 381 million e-books by 2013, roughly four times the amount they purchased in 2010.

E-books will bring in substantial revenues. Over the next three years alone, e-book sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 72 percent to reach nearly U.S.$2.7 billion by 2013. In 2011, e-book content sales will be about $1.4 billion, Yankee Group estimates.

Average selling prices of e-books will plummet. In 2010, consumers saw e-book prices fall 50 cents. This trend will continue. By 2013, the average e-book retail price will fall to $7, down from an average of more than $9 in 2009. 

Courtesy of an article dated September 12, 2011 appearing in The Wall Street Journal Technology 

BORDERS BOOKS, A VICTIM OF THE DECLINE IN HARDCOVER BOOKS, SHIFT TO E-BOOKS, AND STATE OF THE BOOK RETAIL INDUSTRY

Borders Group Inc. said it would liquidate after the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain failed to receive any offers to save it.

Borders, which employs about 10,700 people, scrapped a bankruptcy-court auction scheduled for Tuesday amid the dearth of bids. It said it would ask a judge Thursday to approve a sale to liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group.

The company said liquidation of its remaining 399 stores could start as soon as Friday, and it is expected to go out of business for good by the end of September.

Borders filed for bankruptcy-court protection in February. It has since continued to bleed cash and has had trouble persuading publishers to ship merchandise to it on normal terms that allowed the chain to pay bills later, instead of right away.

Borders President Mike Edwards said.

"Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development.  We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the head winds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, [electronic reader] revolution and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now."

Borders's best chance for survival fell apart last week when talks with private-equity investor Jahm Najafi to buy the company collapsed. Borders scrambled unsuccessfully over the weekend to find other potential buyers who would keep the chain alive.

The chain's demise could speed the decline in sales of hardcover and paperback books as consumers increasingly turn to downloading electronic books or having physical books mailed to their doorsteps.

David Young, chief executive of Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group, which Borders owed $36.9 million at the time of its bankruptcy filing said. 

"When you lose literally miles of bookshelves, it's going to have an impact.  I hope other retailers will now step up and make offers for what they consider to be the prime sites.  It's a tragedy Borders didn't make it through."

The loss of Borders may also make it more difficult for new writers to be discovered.

Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, a unit of MarketResearch.com said. 

"The liquidation of Borders is an irreplaceable loss of a big part of the book-discovery ecosystem. Thousans of people whose job consisted of talking up and selling books will eventually be doing something else, and that's bad for authors, agents, and everyone associated with the value chain in books."

Mr. Norris said other booksellers, including Barnes & Noble Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., will go after the shoppers who formerly considered themselves Borders customers.

"They won't be able to pick up everyone," he added. "If shopping at your local Borders is part of your weekly routine, and then Borders is gone, you may end up doing something other than buying books."

COMMENTARY:    I've been covering the book industry for some time now, and it's difficult to find any positive news. To make a long story short, hardcover books have fallen victim to disruptive technology and more cost-effective distribution channels.  These forces have affected all forms of media:  film, video, music, magazines and newspapers, not just hardcover books.  The damage has been huge.  

Let's look at the dynamics of the hardcover book industry: How do books reach the reading consumer, who's reading books, where do consumers buy their books, the emergence of digital books, who are the major players in hardcover book sales, 

Book Value Chain 

The book value chain Includes book authors, literary or author's agents, book publishing companies, book printers, distributors, wholesalers, book sellers and retailers and ebooks and consumers. 

Who Reads Books

Book readership among Americans varies by age group.  83% of Americans 25 to 44 years of age and 78% of Americans 45 to 64 years of age represent the largest group of book readers.  Young Americans are simply not reading--only 17% of Americans 14 to 18 years of age and 30% of Americans 18 to 24 years of age read books. 

Where Americans Buy Books

American's purchase their books from a wide variety of retail channels and retailers.  Today almost 93.4% of American's say they purchase their books through Amazon.com.  Fewer Americans are buying their books from large book retailers--only 18.9% said they purchased their books from Barnes & Noble, while only 8.9% said they purchased their books from Borders Books & Music stores.        

eCommerce Versus Brick-and-Mortar Book Retailers

More Americans prefer to buy their books online, primarily through Amazon.com instead of large brick-and-mortar book retailers like Barnes & Noble and Borders Books.  Although B&N and Borders also sell their books online, Amazon.com is winning the war for the book reading consumers wallet. The evidence is clear:  Amazon.com books sales increased from $2 billion in 2002 to $7 billion in 2010.   

Breaking Down The Book Publishing Sales Pie

Book sales are split as follows: 39.5% is spent on designing, producing, printing, book royalties and marketing costs, 10% goes to the book wholesalers and distributors and 45% goes to the book retailers.  The book publisher only makes 5.5%.   It's  a very tough business, and the book publishers makes the least and takes on most of the risk.

Book Industry Revenues 

According to the US Censur Bureau, book industry sales for the year ending 2010 were $15.662 billion. Book industry sales peaked in 2007 when sales hit $17.184 billion.  Prior to 2007, book sales had increased for four straight years beginning in 2002.   Since 2007, book sales have declined three straight years, and 2010 sales ($15.662 billion) now approach 2002 sales of $15.450 billion.

The Association of American Publishers provides statistics on wholesale hardcover book and e-book sales figures. The latest report includes information for all of 2010.  According to the AAP, total book sales for the year 2010 were $11.67 billion, an increase of 3.6 percent over 2009's $11.25 billion. 

According to the AAP, E-book sales for the year 2010 were $441.3 million, an increase of 164.4 percent over 2009's 166.9 million. E-book sales represented 8.32 percent of the trade book market in 2010 vs 3.20 percent the previous year. A chart tracking nine years of E-book sales is included below.

E-Book Reading Devices and E-Book Content Sales

Sales of e-book reading devices and digital books or e-books have taken a tremendous toll on the sale or hardcover books.  Between 2008 and 2010, as the number of ebook reading devices increased, sales of e-book content increased, and hardcover book sales decreased three straight years.   

eBook Reading Device Unit Sales

There are three major "pure" e-book reader manufacturers:

• Sony - In September 2006, Sony introduced the Sony Reader PRS 500.  Borders Books was the first book retailer to sell it.  Sony has since introduced eight newer models.  
• Amazon.com - In November 2007, Amazon.com introduced the Kindle ebook reader.  Amazon has since introduced three newer models.  
• Barnes & Noble - In October 2009, Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook.  In November 2010, the Nook was replaced by the B&N Nook Color.  In June 2011, the Simple Touch Reader, a touchscreen e-book reader was introduced. 

According to Caris & Co, Amazon.com sold 4.75 million Kindles in 2010, and projects 8.01 billion will be sold by 2012.  According to Caris, combined Kindle readers and eBook revenues were $3.3 billion in 2010, will increase to $5.4 billion by 2011, then reach $8 billion in 2012.  

Apple released the iPad tablet computer in April 2010, and sold 3 million of the devices in 80 days. In 2010, Apple sold 14.8 million iPads worldwide.  The iPad is a full-fledged multi-media device, allowing users to read e-books, surf the Internet, watch videos and listen to music.  In March 2011, Apple introduced the iPad 2, a thinner and more powerful replacement for the original iPad. In July 19, 2011, Apple announced that it had sold 9 million iPad's during the Q2 2011, more than all other tablet PCs combined.  For the year 2011, it is expected to sell 27 million iPads, and take 83 percent of the tablet computing market share in the United States.  Below are the projected 2010      e-book unit sales for Sony, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Apple and miscellaneous Chinese e-book reader manufacturers. 

eBook Reading Device Revenues

Sales of eBook readers began to takeoff in 2009.  According to Yankee Group, $1.273 billion (at wholesale) in eBook readers were sold in 2010, and sales of eBook readers are expected to generate $2.5 billion by 2013.

eBook Content Sales

According to Yankee Group forecasts, U.S. consumers will purchase 381 million e-books by 2013, roughly four times the amount they purchased in 2010.

E-books will bring in substantial revenues. Over the next three years alone, e-book sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 72 percent to reach nearly U.S.$2.7 billion by 2013. In 2011, e-book content sales will be about $1.4 billion, Yankee Group estimates.

Average selling prices of e-books will plummet. In 2010, consumers saw e-book prices fall 50 cents. This trend will continue. By 2013, the average e-book retail price will fall to $7, down from an average of more than $9 in 2009. 

The Major Book Retailers

2010 revenues of the top four retail book retailers:

 

Book Industry Outlook

Marking a major inflection point, the book publishing industry has entered a period of long-term decline because of the rising sales of e-book readers, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.

---

Book revenue for U.S. publishers, including both e-books and paper books, will decrease at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to IHS. This marks a shift from the previous period of 2005 to 2010, when revenue grew slightly, the firm said. 

The overall weakening will be spurred by a 5 percent decrease in the CAGR of physical book sales from 2010 to 2014, according to IHS. While e-book sales will soar by 40 percent during the same period, such an increase won’t be sufficient to compensate for the contraction of the larger physical book market, the firm said.

Total book revenue will fall to $22.7 billion in 2014, down from $25. billion in 2010, according to the HIS forecast.

Steve Mather, IHS principal analyst for wireless products says. 

“For the traditional book publishing industry, the implications of the rise of the e-book and e-book reader markets are frightening given the decline in paper book printing, distribution and sales,” “The industry has entered a phase of disruption that will be as significant as the major changes impacting the music and movie businesses.” 

In 2014, e-books will represent 13 percent of total U.S. book publishing revenue, up from 3 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011, according to IHS. However, average selling prices for e-books typically are 40 percent lower than those of paper copies, driving the deterioration in price, the firm said.

IHS analysts expect these trends to spread throughout the world as non-U.S. sales of e-readers increase.

Shipments of e-book readers, also known as e-readers, are expected to more than triple during the period of 2010 to 2014, according to IHS research. Global unit shipments of e-book readers will rise to 30 million units in 2014, up from 9.7 million in 2010, according to the firm.

The IHS iSuppli forecast is lower than the consensus outlook of 43.4 million units in 2014. Because of competitive and pricing factors, e-book reader shipments are unlikely to achieve some of the more optimistic forecasts, the firm said.

Mather said. 

"Dedicated e-reader shipments will fall short of some expectations partly because of encroachment from media tablets, which many consumers will use to view e-books.  Furthermore, price declines for e-book readers will be less than many expect, since makers of such devices already have cut prices to the point where they earn near-zero margins."

 

From 2007 to 2009, e-book readers had generated healthy profit margins averaging 35 percent. However, margins collapsed when Apple Inc.’s iPad was introduced in April 2010, according to IHS.

To achieve higher profits, e-reader makers must move beyond e-books and offer other items including magazines, enhanced books, and Amazon Singles—or very short books introduced by the online retail giant—as well as games such as Sudoku and Scrabble, and news subscriptions, according to IHS.

Courtesy of an article dated July 19, 2011 appearing in The Wall Street Journal, an article dated April 29, 2011 appearing in EE Times, Association of American Publishers and Book Sales Statistics by Foner Books

THE 'DONALD TRUMP' BRAND, BEHAVING BADLY, HAVING A BIG EGO AND ACTING ARROGANT PAYS OFF, ONLY IN AMERICA

Donald John Trump wasn’t always a brand.

In fact, he was almost a movie director—until, he once said, he “decided real estate was a much better business.” That was 1964. Young Trump set off for Wharton and then chose to take Manhattan. He did some deals, built some buildings, decided they looked better with his name on them. You know the rest: Trump Tower, Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal casino, et al.

But somewhere along the line, The Donald crossed into that magical world where only the likes of Oprah get to go: His name became a brand. “A brand unto himself,” offers one marketer. “Only a brand, with no substance underneath it,” jabs another.

The Billion dollar question:  How? This model of American success has paid for visits to bankruptcy court. His popularity ratings are “as bad as they’ve always been--they've never been otherwise," says Q scores president Steven Levitt.  "Four-and-a-halftimes more people are turned off by him than turned on."  Yet that hasn't stopped Trump from affixing his name to condos, casinos, books, golf clubs, an airline, a furniture collection, a mens wear label, boxed chocolate, loose tea, and bottled water.  It hasn't stopped him from getting a TV show, nor for dabbling —three times—with a run for the Oval Office, nor being unapologetically, unrelentingly Donald Trump. So let's just ask : Does he actually see himself as a kind of living brand?? "Absolutely says one of his spokespersons.

Witness one of the miracles of the American mise-en-scène: Trump has fed us so much Trump that we’ve come to accept what he stands for—luxury, success, fearlessness—even if we don’t quite cotton to the man. Says Gregg Lipman of marketing consultancy CBX: “Much like Ralph Lipshitz—uh, Ralph Lauren—Trump has effectively created a brand that stands for something more than himself.”

Brand Trump has been decades in the making. 

The Towers Trump

No story of Trump’s branding exploits would be complete without a nod to where it all started—in the ground. “All he did back then was build,” remembers Hayes Roth, CMO of global brand consulting company Landor. And boy, did he build. It started in 1983 when thegold-tinted Trump Tower opened at 721 Fifth Ave., and it never really stopped. Not counting the casinos, there are 29 buildings carrying the Trump name today, by our tally (Tower appears on seven structures currently, along with two Plazas, two Parks, and a Palace)—in addition to 11 golf clubs. Roth adds that Trump raised the I-beams first, then began a building of another kind entirely: “his character.”

The Bossman

Television is cool because it lets you watch terrifying things from a safe distance: tsunamis, state coups, and, uh, working for Donald Trump. After all, has anyone imbued “You’re fired!” with more dread? While Trump Card aired for only a year and viewership of Trump’s Miss Universe pageant has faded, The Apprentice (and its guest-tyrant offshoot The Celebrity Apprentice) has probably put brand Trump in more American living rooms than anything else he’s done. The possible exception would be Trump’s noisemaking about Obama’s birth certificate, which may have actually cost him viewers. The April 3 episode of The Celebrity Apprentice reportedly garnered 9.7 million people, an audience that shrunk to 7.6 million by April 17. We still don’t know if Trump will run for president, but thanks to the show, we at least know what he looks like angry, in a big leather chair.

Books by Trump

You’ve got to admire the gumption: Just as Trump was hitting a personal low in 1990 (heading toward bankruptcy with the casinos and in the dog house with Ivana), bookstores took delivery of hisSurviving at the Top. Perhaps the author didn’t get all the advice giving out of his system. Beginning with The Art of the Deal in 1988, Trump has graced bookshelves with a slew of not-so-subtle titles including Trump 101: The Way to Success, Think Like a Champion,Think Big and Kick Ass, Never Give Up, Think Like a Billionaire,How to Get Rich, and The Way to the Top. (Are you detecting a theme yet?) It’s too bad that books don’t make the margins that real estate speculation does, but Trump’s authorship is clearly an integral cog in his marketing machinery. “He’s selling an idea,” notes Brett Gerstenblatt, principal of marketing consultancy Sequel Studio. “He’s constantly professing the notion of success.”

Drinking the Donald

 
Just in case it’s not enough to live at a Trump address, Trump has made it possible to wear him, eat him, drink him, and even (forgive us) sit on him, too. We speak of the Trump Signature Collection, Trump Steaks (and chocolate), Trump Tea (and vodka and water), and Trump Home, a furniture line—to name but a few of his brands. “The Trump name speaks to indulgence and a luxurious lifestyle,” says a Trump rep. But don’t all these licensing romps violate the basic marketing rule that you can’t play in every category? “Trump’s actually done a good job endorsing products that fit his [luxury] positioning,” says CBX’s Lipman. Others aren’t so sure. “They claim that his name is known for quality,” Landor’s Roth says. “It’s known for being over-the-top! I don’t know about quality.” In fairness: DeBrand makes his chocolates and Talbott makes his teas, and neither is what you’d call shabby.

President Trump?

To run for president, you have to be at least 35 and a U.S. citizen. Trump should know. He gave Obama hell over not releasing his birth certificate, then claimed credit when he did. ( Obama, by implication, referred to Trump as a “carnival barker.”) Perversely, the birther issue has also served as Trump’s political platform, along with a promise to “make this country great again.” By what means? Well, that apparently depends. The first time Trump toyed with high office in 1988, he criticized the GOP and called for nationalized healthcare. In 2000, he courted the Reform Party and advocated a tax on the wealthy. With an announcement of his intent looming in May, he’s now tacked hard right. Not everyone on the right is impressed (Karl Rove has called Trump’s political aspirations “a joke”). Still, Trump has won cheers from the Tea Party. Hey, did we mention Trump has a brand of tea?

I thought I would add this lovely video taken at The White House Annual News Correspondents Dinner:  

 

The Donald Trump Life Time Line:

COMMENTARY:    Trump has such a huge ego and is so arrogant that he actually makes me feel good about my ego and arrogance.  

I truly believe he is comfortable within himself, because he doesn't know any better.  I used to admire him, but after I watched the "The Apprentice", his reality TV series about a bunch of entrepreneur types who vie to work for him.  Could you imagine that shit.  Actually, several did win and worked for him, but heavens only knows how many actually work for him today.  

He is a prick extraordinaire, with no class, uses the F word often, and apparently has no values. This makes him the perfect Republican.  He thinks nothing about declaring bankruptcy to keep from paying his debts, and has been married four times, at last count, and has kids from three different spouses: 

Melania Trump	(22 January 2005 - present) 1 child
Marla Maples	(19 December 1993 - 8 June 1999) (divorced) 1 child
Ivana Trump	(9 April 1977 - 22 March 1992) (divorced) 3 children

Unlike most business executives, he doesn't carry a briefcase and possesses a morbid fear of shaking hands.   That's creepy.  Could you imagine a President Trump?  It may go something like this:  "Dear President Trump, can I shake your hands, sir".   Would love to see him standing in a White hOUSE procession line shaking hands.  Sort of reminds me of the Howard Hughes Syndrome.   

His affiliation and support of the Tea Party is just too extreme. It's the last straw for me.    

In 2007, he was awarded a Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.  He has published six books, all of them made it to the New York Times Best Seller list.

Personal Quotes

"You know, it really doesn't matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."  

"It doesn't hurt to get more education."

"All of the women on "The Apprentice" (2004) flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected."

"Watch somebody sell their used car and not wash it. You can spend $10 washing the car and get another $200 for the car."

"A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation."

"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game."

"Show me someone without an ego, and I'll show you a loser."

"Well, yes, I've fired a lot of people. Generally I like other people to fire, because it's always a lousy task. But I have fired many people."

On his catchphrase "You're fired!" from "The Apprentice" (2004): "I mean, there's no arguing. There is no anything. There is no beating around the bush. 'You're fired' is a very strong term."

"It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate."

I will be totally honest, because that's the way I am, but I don't like Donald Trump, or even admire his business successes.  Money is not the measure of a man.  His character, and the way he treats and shows respect for other people are the right measurement.

I don't understand the infatuation that Americans have about bad and stupid people.  Think Martha Stewart.   As a brand, marketer's are right, Trump is a brand, but brands go out of favor. His ride will will end when he is buried six feet deep like we all eventually end up.

Courtesy of an article dated May 2, 2011 appearing in Ad Week  

APPLE FINALLY ANNOUNCES THEIR NEW IPAD SUBSCRIPTION POLICY FOR MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS, APPLE GETS ITS WAY

Some Concessions, but Device-Maker Will Take Customary 30% and Control Subscriber Data on App Store Sub

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- When Apple introduced its iPad last spring, some of the first apps were iPad editions of magazines such as Time, Men's Health and Popular Science. But something was missing: the ability to sell subscriptions to those apps.

Now that's changed. Apple announced today that it would enable subscriptions, a key business model for all types of media, including magazines, newspapers, music services, video and games. But as is typical for Apple, its plan includes tight controls on pricing and customer data, as well as its customary 30% cut of revenue.

In some regards the plan appears to meet many publishers' key demands. They can sell iPad subscriptions on their own websites, keeping 100% of the revenue and collecting all the customer data they want. And they can elect to give existing customers free access to the iPad app, an ability that Time Inc.'s People magazine was able to secure but more magazines have not. But when a subscription originates within the App Store, where a huge proportion of sales will naturally occur, this plan may still leave publishers wanting.

Netflix and Hulu Plus, for example, are currently on the iPad with apps that authenticate subscriptions sold elsewhere, subscriptions on which Netflix and Hulu Plus keep all the revenue and subscriber data. But any new subscribers who sign up through the App Store will give Apple the opportunity to take 30% and a direct relationship with the customer.

Apple doesn't automatically pass on any information on subscribers who sign up inside iTunes, nor on what they watch or read within the app. Apple will allow publishers to ask subscribers to share information such as their name and ZIP code voluntarily. Last week a magazine executive said that approach wouldn't satisfy some publishers. "It depends on whether you're optimistic on the opt-ins or pessimistic," the executive said. "Some people would say that's a good start. Others would say nobody is going to opt in."

"Our philosophy is simple -- when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30% share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100% and Apple earns nothing," Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said in a statement.

There are other caveats that will give some media owners pause. For starters, Apple requires that publishers offer their subscriptions through iTunes at the same price or lower than elsewhere, even though Apple's 30% cut renders those subscriptions less profitable. Publishers are getting much more generous terms from Google, for example, which sees the content as necessary to drive adoption of Android.

Apple's announcement today doesn't mention any publishers participating in the plan beyond Rupert Murdoch's tablet newspaper, The Daily, which went on sale earlier this month. The Daily sells for 99 cents a week or $40 a year on the iPad. Other tablet editions are coming later this year. The app prompts subscribers: "Share your information? The publisher would like your name, email, and ZIP code so they can send you messages about related products in accordance with their privacy policy." Subscribers then must choose between "Allow" and "Don't Allow."

While the plan continues Apple's standard revenue sharing for anything sold through iTunes, the arrangement is still far from standard for publishers, which have long enjoyed direct billing relationships with their subscribers. "The only person standing between us and our subscribers was the mailman," one publishing executive said recently.

Data on subscribers is one of publishers' most valuable assets, a trove of information that they both use to pitch additional products to their subscribers and sell to other marketers that want to do the same thing.

Time Inc. executives last week said they were continuing talks with Apple and were "confident" they would be able to reach an agreement to sell subscriptions through iTunes. Is this it? For the moment, Time Inc. execs aren't talking. A spokeswoman declined to comment, as did executives at other magazine companies.

Publishers say privately that terms are going to vary widely among online distributors, depending, of course, on their leverage and the amount of production and back-end work they agree to undertake.

"Subscriptions across digital bundles and print bundles will not be a one-size-fits-all solution," Time Inc. Chief Digital Officer Randall Rothenberg said last week. "Walmart has a different way of retailing than Duane Reade has. We're still in early days of the evolution. It's only been nine months for the world to learn a new form of retailing."

COMMENTARY:   Shortly after the iPad was released, but before iPad's magazine subscription announcement, magazines were selling digital issues for the iPad, but according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, which tracks magazine circulation numbers, magazine sales plummed significantly by the end of 2010.  Many experts had predicted the decline, because digital magazine prices tend to be higher than the real magazines at the newstand.  

Print is slowly going out of favor, not only for magazines, but hardcover books and newspapers. Publisher's are converting their publications to digital format before the day of reckoning arrives. Amazon.com already sells more digital books than hardcover books, and Borders, the nationwide bookseller, had their day of reckoning as sales of hardcover books declined so much that they had to file for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, February 16, 2010.

It is somewhat troubling that magazine publisher's are tredging ahead, and developing magazine apps for the iPad and Android devices.  There are several reasons for this:

• Digital magazines reduce their distribution costs.  Some magazine distributors can take as much as 40%-50% of newstand sales. 
• Magazine publisher's do not have to take back or recycle unsold newstand magazines for credit. 
• Digital magazines greatly reduces their printing costs, which continue to skyrocket, as the cost of labor, paper and ink increase.
• Digital magazines provide a better reading experience than their hardcover counterparts. You can add video and audio, something you cannot do with print.
• Digital advertisements are easier to produce insert in digital format than they are for printed magazines.  Publishing management software brings a lot of efficiencies in cost and time, speeding up add placement within a magazine, so that the ads are uniformly placed.
• An iPad user can click on a digital magazine ad, and be able to immediately obtain additional information about offer, and order online if they wish.  This is something you cannot do with printed magazines.

In spite of the 30% cut that Apple takes if they sell the subscription, a magazine publisher will make money, stead of lose money as many of them are with their newstand sales.  It appears to be a win-win, but mostly for Apple, which has sticked to its guns and controls the data from the subscriptions they sell.

Courtesy of an article dated February 15, 2011 appearing in Advertising Age

U.S. EBOOK SALES TO REACH $2.7 BILLION BY 2013 SAYS THE YANKEE GROUP

 

Falling prices and new business models will help U.S. e-book unit sales to grow from an estimated $313 million in 2009 to $2.7 billion in 2013, according to a new Yankee Group forecast. The research firm predicts that e-book downloads will outpace those of paid mobile apps during the period, growing at an annual rate of 83% compared to 72%.

A separate Gartner forecast last week predicted that mobile app sales worldwide will triple to $15.1 billion in 2011 from $5.2 billion last year.

In addition to wider adoption of e-book readers -- the Kindle has become Amazon's best-selling product ever -- the growing affordability of digital titles will be a key factor driving sales. By 2013, the typical e-book retail price will fall to $7, down from an average of more than $9 in 2009, according to Yankee Group. With a third of consumers on the fence about embracing e-books, lower prices could help make the difference.

New ways of selling e-books and new formats will also help expand the market. Emerging models include e-book rentals from companies like Chegg and Skoobit, which allow students to rent textbooks at discounted prices for a given period. Given the high cost of print textbooks, the study noted that a quarter of students express high interest in e-books, making college campuses a ripe market.

Other business approaches expected to gain steam in 2011 include ad-supported e-books, micropayments for book chapters and shorter works and annual subscriptions. Sesame Street's online store, for instance, offers 100 e-books for $40 a year.

The Yankee report also points to a growing range of tools for discovering e-books, including predictive analytics engines such as Reader and WhatShouldReadNext. Google's integration of e-books into search results and book-based social networks like HarperCollins' Authonomy.com and Inkpop will also play a role in boosting sales.

New e-book formats -- such as platforms from Vook and Sideways that enable authors to embed audio and video into their text -- will provide additional incentives for people to make the switch from print. Amazon nearly doubled its e-book library from 450,000 to 810,000 titles in December.

While projecting that e-book revenue will top app sales in the next few years, the study nevertheless highlights the importance of apps and smartphones to the e-book market. Barnes & Noble's e-book apps for the iPhone hit 1 million downloads in three months. "Exposure to e-books through smartphone apps has led nearly a third of smartphone owners to consider digital formats," states the report.

Given that, Apple's reported rejection of Sony's iPhone app for buying e-books from the Sony Reader Store could be a troubling signal. What impact that move could have on companies like Amazon, which offer free mobile apps and sell e-readers competing with the iPad, isn't clear. The online retailer also offers apps on other smartphone platforms including Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7. The company last month said Kindle e-books now outsell paperback books on Amazon.com.

COMMENTARY:    I love the feel, texture and aroma of ink and paper of real books, thumbing through the pages, and feeling the cool breeze touch my face.  I love the laughter of young children in the background as I walk the aisles of book stores and public libraries.  I love the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the grinding sound of those frappucinno machines at the Starbucks located in B&N book stores.  Screw eBooks. 

Courtesy of an article dated February 1, 2011 appearing in MediaPost Publicaons Online Media Daily

A FUTURE APPLE EVANGELIST IN THE MAKING, WATCHING KIDS PLAY WITH AN IPAD, THANKS TO DAD

These two youngsters are having a lot of fun playing Fishball on an iPad.  In case you didn't know, the Fishball game allows you to sling balls of "food" onto a stick as fast as you can.  Could come in handy for working a kibob joint.   Anyway, Fishball runs on your iPhone, iPod and iPad and is available at the iTunes store for only 99 cents.

 

A dad gives his 2-1/2 year old daughter a new "toy", a $600 iPad, so she can learn her ABC's while playing with the Cat game of some sort.  This cute little girl has apparently played with her iPad toy before, judging the way she navigates from one app to the next.  

 

This cute poney-tailed little darling is Eleanor and her daddy is letting her use his iPad to draw lines, color Woody, the cowboy in Toy Story, learn her ABC's,  feed the fish and stick little stars on dad's magical device.   From the looks of things, Eleanor is a pro with the iPad.  

 

These two adorable little girls are learning how to draw and apply little faces of animal characters on some kind of iPad game and play tic-tac-toe (notice they only used x's).   Dad teaches them to leaf through the pages of an children's story ebook.   A lot of finger pointing going on here.  The iPad is ideally suited for the little fingers of small kids.

 

Daddy teaches his 2-year old son how to play the piano using the iPad.  A future Liberace?  From the looks of things, this little Asian boy has every toy imaginable.   An only child no doubt, and bi-lingual too.   Could be a candidate for my iPad World Throwing Championship.

 

Another cute little Asian firl is only 17 months old and still suckling a milk bottle.  Daddy introduces her to the iPad.  A lot of finger pointing.  This little girl is picking up the game of pool real quick.  Anything requiring finger pointing is popular with this little one.

 

This little boy's name is Richard and he is two years old.  Dad teaches him how to draw using the iPad.  Too bad, no Dolphin to draw.  I guess a Tyrannasaurus Rex is better.  This little guy knows how to find game icons with the speed of light.  It is obvious that Richard is a hands-on iPad master, and a future Apple evangelist, thanks to dad.     

 

COMMENTARY:    The iPad will create a new generation of tech savvy children that will make us adults seem like Neanderthal Man.  I did notice that all these kids were introduced to the iPad by Dad.  Where is Mom?  Just something I noticed.  Will Facebook for Kids be next?  Zuck, are you listening?

Courtesy of "Kids Using an Ipad" thanks to YouTube

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW EBOOKSTORE OFFERING 3 MILLION EBOOKS, AND ON A DIRECT COLLISION WITH AMAZON.COM

Previously thought to be called "Google Editions", the "Google eBookstore" is live and offering hundreds of thousands of titles for purchase. As opposed to other e-book providers, Google's e-books are entirely cloud-based.

"Google eBooks stores your library in the digital cloud," writes the company, "so you can read all of your favorite books using just about any device with an Internet connection."

For those of you worried about reading your books on the go or up in the air, where there might be no Internet connection, Google says that "once you open your book using our mobile reader apps, your book will sync to your device and you can continue reading it online or offline."

You can read Google eBooks on the Web with any browser with Javascript enabled, Android phones, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and any e-book reader that supports the Adobe ebook platform, including the Barnes & Noble Nook™ and Reader™ from Sony.  A complete listing of Adobe eBook devices it supports can be found HERE.  With just a few steps, you can start reading over 3 million Google eBooks on the go.  

Web brower eBook reader details:

• Unlimited storage of ebooks
• 2-page reading mode
• Search within book
• Adjust text size, typeface, line space, justification
• Free samples of books
• Information about book
• Worry-free archive

Google eBooks is available in the United States and is compatible with phones running Android 2.1 (Eclair) or later.  You can download the free Android app to start reading over 3 million ebooks on the go. 

Android app details:

• Stores up to 16,000 ebooks on average (based on 32GB capacity supported by micro SD)
• Mobile eBookstore
• Adjust text size, typeface, line space, justification
• Night-reading mode
• Free samples of books
• Information about book
• Offline reading
• Worry-free archive

Google eBooks is available in the United States and is compatible with Apple devices, namely iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 3.0 or later. You can download the free Apple app to start reading over 3 million ebooks on the go.

iPhone / iPod touch app details:

• Stores up to 8,000 titles on average (based on 16GB model)
• Recommended for iPhones with 256MB memory or above
• Mobile eBookstore
• Search within book
• Adjust text size, typeface, line space
• Night-reading mode
• Free samples of books
• Information about book
• Offline reading
• Worry-free archive

iPad app details:

• Stores up to 16,000 titles on average (based on 32GB model)
• Native iPad interface app for optimal reading experience
• Mobile eBookstore
• Search within book
• Adjust text size, typeface, line space
• Night-reading mode
• Free samples of books
• Information about book
• Offline reading
• Worry-free archive

Google eBooks does NOT support Amazon's Kindle or RIM Blackberry phones, and no information is available as to whether it will support those devices in the future. 

Google's e-book initiative was first expected to launch last summer, but it has been held up by several legal and technical hurdles. Now, it looks like it got here just in time for the holidays, although there is no readily apparent way to buy a Google e-book as a gift.  This is a feature that just came to Amazon's Kindle, after all, so it might not be available at launch. For now, Google's e-books will be available through its online store, mobile apps, and through Powell's Books, Albiris and participating members of the American Booksellers Association.

A common speculation is that Google's device-agnostic entry into the e-book market is going to be disruptive and take a chunk of users and revenue from Amazon. What do you think? Will features like e-ink be enough to stave off the Big G or is a cloud-based, device-agnostic offering going to change e-books forever?

COMMENTARY:   Google has been working on digitizing approximately 3 million books that are out-of-print for what seems eons, and it is about time that they were all available in one convenient online store, together with books presently in print and today's best sellers. 

Many of the today's top selling book titles are listed on in the Google eBookstore, including a Top 10 Listing that also includes former president George W. Bush's book  "Decision Points", I'm sorry to say, and the very popular "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest".  

There is a long-standing feud between Google (Eric, Larry and Sergey) and Amazon.com's Bezzo, so it comes as no surprise that Google eBookstore does not support the Kindle.  Google eBookstore also does not support RIM Blackberry, and I am  not sure if it will support the upcoming tablet PC, but it might be because RIM Blackberry offers an app for Amazon.com.  The latter is conjecture on my part.  Boy, these feuds run deep.   If anybody knows otherwise, please post a comment.

Google's eBookstore is hardly a thing of beauty.  In fact, it is just plain ugly and boring.  I much prefer to buy my books through Amazon.com's, and have done so for years, and will continue to do so.  I like real books, books with real covers.  I love sifting through the pages, the texture of the paper and the the smell of ink and paper.  eBooks just don't do it for me. Besides, I read somewhere that reading retention using a eBook reader is 30% than reading from a real book.  I also like reading real magazines and newspapers, but you probably figured that out already.

Somehow, I have a feeling that I will be receiving a promotional email from Google informing me about the eBookstore.  Unfortunately, I do not use Gmail, something I have sworn not to do, and it is probably sitting in my mailbox as I write this.  Feuds run deep between me and Google, the company that "Does no evil",  too.

Courtesy of an article dated  December 6, 2010 appearing in ReadWriteWeb