ImaginativePRO Blog

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

JUNO BABY RAISES $4.5 MILLION, WITH PLANS TO TAKE ON BABY EINSTEIN FOR A SHARE OF THE PRESCHOOL EDUTAINMENT MARKET

Taking on Baby Einstein’s DVD empire is a formidable task. But Juno, a precocious puppet with big googly eyes, pigtails and a red dress, is up for the job. Her strategy: Create original orchestral music for children, surround herself with a host of equally quirky characters (like Rai Rai, a toddler who wears nothing but a cape and diaper), and leverage mobile technology like no puppet has done before.

It won’t be easy. Baby Einstein is the 800-pound gorilla in the industry--it was bought by the Walt Disney Company back in 2001 and commands an estimated 90% of the infant media market. By contrast, Juno Baby (the startup that created Juno’s character) operates out of a small office in downtown San Francisco, where just 13 employees toil away on a line of DVDs, CDs, books, and iPad applications for tiny tots.

The market for babytainment is not only dominated by one mega-player, it’s also highly controversial. Just ask Baby Einstein, which has battled critics (including the American Academy of Pediatrics and child-advocacy groups, who say baby-specific programming could have a harmful effect on children’s development) for years.

Juno Baby started seven years ago, when pianist, Emmy Award-winning composer and new mom Belinda Takahashi went searching for classical music to play for her newborn daughter. “I was dismayed with everything that was out there,” says Takahashi. So she teamed up with her husband, a former financial analyst named Adam Adelman, to create Juno--a muppet (named after the couple’s daughter) who sings along to originally composed live music, not synthesized melodies.

After tinkering with the idea and putting up their own cash to shoot a pilot video they ended up hating, Takahashi and Adelman finally launched Juno Baby in 2009. They brought in a CEO, raised $4.5 million in funding and put together an impressive advisory board that includes the former COO and president of FAO Schwarz and a psychologist from Yale University who specializes in childhood development and electronic media.

Last August, Juno Baby launched its products in FAO Schwarz stores (the company also sells on Amazon.com and says it’s in the process of closing deals with several additional retailers). Despite a growing lineup of original CDs, DVDs and colorful books, their hottest seller so far is the Juno plush toy. A Juno television show is in the works, though the company won’t disclose which network will carry it. Juno Baby already has one app on the iTunes store (the Music Learning Adventure, which is available for free download) and plans to launch about 18 more over the next year, including slick interactive books and virtual musical instruments.

It’s even developing a distribution platform (think of it as iTunes for babytainment) and plans to white-label apps for other content creators. “It isn’t just Nickelodeon and Disney who dictate what children will consume anymore,” says Barrett Cohn, Juno Baby’s CEO.

The company relies on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to spread the word and is heavily focused on selling its increasing portfolio of apps over the iTunes store--which has relatively little barrier to entry. There is big opportunity in mobile and tablet applications for children. A recent Duracell Toy Report listed the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad as the most-requested holiday gifts among children. An estimated 50% of moms who have iPhones let their kids use their phones; 29% of those moms have kids under four years old.

 

Of course, Juno’s not the only kid-friendly app in the iTunes store (where every children’s brand, from Curious George to Fisher Price sells digital books and games). Last May, Baby Einstein also launched an iPhone app that sells for $3.99 and features music, videos, and a digital scrapbook.

But even though more children are using mobile devices more often, critics who believe babies shouldn’t watch any programming aren’t likely to think they should be playing with iPads either. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that older children (ages eight to 18) who are heavy media users report getting lower grades. And the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero television programming for children under two, regardless of whether it’s viewed on a TV, laptop, or mobile device.

“The reality is that there is screen time for babies,” says Liz West, a spokesperson for Disney’s Baby Einstein. “But there is no substitute for interaction with your baby.” Earlier this week, Baby Einstein launched Discovery Kits, boxed sets that include a DVD, CD and picture book or cards that it says will “give parents another way to interact with their babies.”

According to West, all Baby Einstein DVDs will now be sold as part of a kit. Juno Baby says it never makes claims that its products will make babies more intelligent. “We believe your baby is already smart,” says Takahashi, Juno Baby’s co-founder.

Juno may not have the power to raise your child’s IQ, but she sure is cute. And her songs--about eating broccoli or getting a haircut--have won national awards and captivated the short attention span of many infants and toddlers, as attested by online reviews and moms’ blogs. Of course, parents--the tall people with the pockets full of money and smartphones just waiting to be used as a cheap alternative to babysitters--are Juno’s real demographic. At the rate new media usage is growing among young children, Juno can expect to go up against even more competition in the near future, not just from Baby Einstein.

COMMENTARY:   Belinda and Adam have a great eye for what kids like.   Her Baby Juno characters are all very cute, although Baby Juno's huge eyes, something that you see in many of today's character's for kids, looks too much like Dora the Explorer.   All the characters have that round, plush and hugable appearance which is very much like Tele-Tubbies, but let's face it, imitation is the biggest form of flattery.  

Juno Baby is moving at breakneck speed, offering a wide range of products:  Juno Baby DVD's, music CD's, books, apparel and music downloads on Apple iTunes.  It's a strategy of building the Baby June brand quickly through rapid product distribution and a possible future TV kids program to boot.   

Belinda is definitely capitalizing on the Christmas shopping season, when parents purchase the most toys for their children, and it doesn't hurt having a former president and COO of FAO Schwarz as one of your advisors and distribution channel.

I think Juno Baby's timing could not be better and is entering the pre-school market at just the right time.  Baby Einstein's and Dora the Explorer are getting a bit dated and kids are always looking for something new.

I am very familiar with the preschool and children's entertainment markets very well.  The market for children's entertainment and educational products is very crowded and highly competitive. The children's book market has 7 to 10,000 new titles every year.  Although DVD's sales are down because so much content is moving online, children's DVD sales continue to be strong.    

Belinda Takahashi and husband Adam Adelman are up against some formidable odds, but are throwing caution to the wind, and not wasting any time. Entrepreneurism at its very best.   But, $4.5 million is not a lot of capital, and Juno Baby is going to quickly discover that in order to maintain this rapid rate of growth, that a second and third round will quickly become necessary, but they just might be able to pull it off.      

Courtesy of an article dated December 6, 2010 appearing in Fast Company

INFOGRAPHICS OF 'THE LITTLE BOOK OF SHOCKING ECO FACTS'

A preview of the book, out this fall.

A couple weeks ago, we brought you a sneak peak at The Little Book of Shocking Global Facts, a slim but striking volume filled with illustrations of unbelievable facts.

This October, the publisher, Fiell, is releasing a successor: The Little Book of Shocking Eco Facts, by Mark Crundwell and Cameron Dunn, with illustrations by Barnbrook Design. We've got an exclusive preview of what the book will look like; here's a taste:

Up top: In the mountain forests of the Colombian Andes, 1/3 of bird species have gone extinct in the last 80 years.

Raw rain forest, if it's simply stripped and converted to pasture, is worth about $150 per hectare per year. But if it's used instead for sustainable uses, that figure rises to $1175:

Singapore is a microcosm of ecological collapse: Since it was first colonized, it has lost 99.8% of its forest cover, and 26% of its natural species:

Light bulbs account for 25% of all the electricity we use; 75% of that could be saved by switching from incandescent bulbs to CFLs:

Methane concentration in the atmosphere has gone up by 148% since 1750, and methane, as a greenhouse gas, has been shown to be 21 times more harmful carbon dioxide:

11 of the 18 species of penguin are suffering population declines; seven are classified as vulnerable; and four are endangered:

The ocean absorbs massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. As a result, since 1800, the ocean's pH has dropped to from 8.2 to 8.1--and the ocean's life is extraordinarily fine tuned to water acidity. If current trends continue, the ocean's pH will be 7.8 by 2070:

You can pre-order the book for just $10 from Amazon now.

COMMENTARY:  Beautiful artwork.  I hope we can all appreciate just how beautiful our planet is.  It is everyone's responsibility to keep it clean.

Courtesy of an article dated December 1, 2010 appearing in Fast Company

 

GOOGLE SET TO LAUNCH GOOGLE EDITIONS, THE LONG AWAITED EBOOK VENTURE

Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold.

The long-delayed venture—Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer—recently has cleared several technical and legal hurdles, people close to the company say. It is set to debut in the U.S. by the end of the year and internationally in the first quarter of next year, said Scott Dougall, a Google product management director.

In recent weeks, independent booksellers, which are expected to play a big role in Google Editions, began receiving contracts from their trade group. Several publishers said they were exchanging files with Google—a sign that it is close to launch, publishers say.

"Because of the complexity of this project, we didn't want to come out with something that wasn't thorough," Mr. Dougall said.

Google Editions hopes to upend the existing e-book market by offering an open, "read anywhere" model that is different from many competitors. Users will be able to buy books directly from Google or from multiple online retailers—including independent bookstores—and add them to an online library tied to a Google account. They will be able to access their Google accounts on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets.

That's a different approach from Amazon.com Inc., which is estimated to have as much as 65% of the market. Users of its proprietary Kindle device can purchase books only from an Amazon store, although they can read them on dozens of different devices that run Kindle software and can access free books from other sources.

Key details of Google's e-book project remain unanswered. Foremost is what percentage of revenue Google will share with independent bookstores and other retailers. It also isn't clear how many bookselling partners it has lined up and who they are. More than 200 independent booksellers in the U.S. could sign up, according to the American Booksellers Association.

Because of Google's reach—its search engine attracts 190 million U.S. Internet users per month, according to comScore Inc.— many believe Google Editions has the potential to transform the burgeoning e-book market. Digital book sales are expected to more than triple to $966 million this year, according to Forrester Research, from $301 million in 2009.

Google says it is on a mission to reach all Internet users, not just those with tablets, through a program in which websites refer their users to Google Editions. For example, a surfing-related blog could recommend a surfing book, point readers to Google Editions to purchase it, and share revenue with Google. Through another program, booksellers could sell Google Editions e-books from their websites and share revenue with Google.

"Google is going to turn every Internet space that talks about a book into a place where you can buy that book," says Dominique Raccah, publisher and owner of Sourcebooks Inc., an independent publisher based in Naperville, Ill. "The Google model is going to drive a lot of sales. We think they could get 20% of the e-book market very fast."

The strategy of not having its own e-reader device could actually give Google a competitive advantage, says Brian Murray, CEO of News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers Inc. As the number of mobile reading devices—including tablets and smartphones—proliferates, Google Editions will benefit "because their technology may be the least dependent on specific devices," he says. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

Google has signed deals with many major book publishers, and is expected to offer hundreds of thousands of titles for purchase, and millions more for free.

The majority of titles that currently are available in other e-bookstores would be available on Google Editions, "at launch or shortly after," said James Crawford, an engineering director at Google. Retail prices will be similar to those at Amazon and Barnes & Noble Inc.

But Google is also facing considerable hurdles due to its late start and different model.

Many digital book buyers have long-established retail loyalties based on proven shopping experiences. Google's retail experience has been largely limited to selling ads.

The company is already facing resistance from some major booksellers who say they don't need its services. "I don't see the advantage in pushing their content, especially since it may be small in terms of total revenue," says Michael Edwards, chief executive of Borders Group Inc.'s bookselling unit, which sells e-books through an agreement with Toronto-based Kobo Inc.

Nevertheless, some independent booksellers that can't afford to open their own e-bookstores believe that Google Editions could be their gateway into the digital marketplace. The independents will install Google technology on their websites so they can sell e-books and receive a percentage of revenue.

"If I don't change with what is going on, I am going to be behind," says Liz Murphy, owner of the Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio, who is eager to see what Google will enable. "People are getting e-books but they aren't getting them from me."

The e-books store is an extension of Google's ambitious—and sometimes controversial—plan to scan the world's 150 million or so books and make them accessible to users of Google's Web-search engine. Thanks to several book-scanning centers located near major libraries, Google executives say the project, dubbed Google Books, is 10% complete.

Google's launch, which publishers cautioned has been delayed before and could be delayed again, comes at a pivotal moment in the digital books transformation.

E-book readers have become much more affordable. When Amazon launched its Kindle reader in 2007, the device cost $399. Today, new e-readers can be found for $150 and less, pushing them into the mass market. Spurred on by the launch of Apple Inc.'s iPad last April, more than 15 million e-readers and tablets will be sold by the end of 2010 in the U.S., compared with an estimated 2.8 million e-readers sold in 2009, Forrester predicts.

COMMENTARY:  Supposedly Google has been scanning out-of-print books for years now, and the last time I looked they had digitized close to 3 million books, although I could be off a bit.  Google began this project with the vision of becoming the source for ebooks, and that goal appears to be coming into fruition.   

Google has many flops, from Buzz to the Nexus One smartphone, and recently launched Google TV to a lot of fanfare, but they could not convince the Big Three networks (ABC,NBC and CBS) and HULU to provide them their content.   Although Google TV does combine TV, Internet and mobile app access under one viewing platform, the overall design of Google TV, when compared to Apple TV is a total suck job.  Poorly designed, planned and executed.   Hopefully Google has learned from past failures and launches Google Edition the right way.

Amazon.com, Borders and Barnes & Noble, the Big Three in digitized books have to be shitting bricks with Google's Edition announcement.  Amazon.com the market leader in digitized books and their Kindle eBook reader, has 65% of the eBook market, but they have the advantage of longstanding relationships with the book publishers.  It will be interesting how this whole thing pans out.

If eBook readers is a major driver for eBook sales, then Apple, with it's "magical" iPad, looks to be a major force in eBook sales.   

In June, 2010, at a WWDC meeting, Steve Jobs made the claim that, according to Apple’s publishing partners, iBooks clocked in at 22% of all eBook sales in its first two months. Brad Stone over at the NY Times dissects this claim pretty thoroughly, but being the curious type, I decided to run a few numbers.

First off, to calculate a “market share” – which is what Jobs is claiming with that 22% number – you need a few ingredients to “make the pie” (or pie chart, if you will):

• First off, you need the total market size (i.e.how many eBooks are sold).
• Second, total books sold (rather than just downloaded) through iBooks/Apple.
• Third, an estimate of the average book price from iBooks to get eBook revenue associated with Apple.

First: market size. While it’s too soon to know what actual eBook sales are marketwide for Q2, we know US publishers had eBook sales of approximately $91 million in Q1. Now, we know the number is going to be bigger in Q2 – I’d venture to say much bigger – but let’s be conservative and assume 50% growth. Crazy-conservative, I know, given the iPad and rising awareness of eBooks in general, but for Jobsy’s sake, we’ll err on the side of convervative.

So, that puts us at $135 million in eBooks sales for Q2. Now, remember, that’s U.S. only. We don’t really have a good worldwide number, so we’ll again make an adjustment for Jobs and assume he meant that market share number refers to the U.S. market.

Apple does not report eBook revenues separately, so it is difficult to estimate how many eBooks have been sold through iBooks, but if the above estimate is close, then Apple is kicking butt.

Courtesy of an article dated December 1, 2010 appearing in The Wall Street Journal

BARNES & NOBLE UNVEILS THE NOOKCOLOR™ EBOOK READER, A REAL THREAT TO THE IPAD AND KINDLE

NEW YORK-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced the launch of NOOKcolor by Barnes & Noble, the ultimate reading experience – the first full-color touch Reader’s Tablet that delivers digital books, magazines, newspapers and children’s books in immersive, gorgeous color, and all in one beautiful, thin and highly portable device.

NOOKcolor is now available for $249 for pre-order at www.NOOKcolor.com and at Barnes & Noble stores tomorrow, and will begin shipping on or about November 19. Touch the future of reading at a NOOK™ Boutique or display at your favorite Barnes & Noble bookstore, as well as at Best Buy, Walmart and Books-A-Million starting late November.

The first full-color touch device dedicated to reading everything and built on Android™, NOOKcolor opens up a whole new world of digital reading materials of all kinds, in addition to providing access to the largest bookstore with an unprecedented selection of over two million digital titles a single search away. Digital content – from bestsellers to favorite magazines in full color, and interactive children’s picture books and enhanced cookbooks – has never looked better than on NOOKcolor’s stunning 7-inch VividView™ Color Touchscreen.

 

Building on Barnes & Noble’s nearly 40 years of bookselling and publishing expertise, the company quickly became a leader in the digital arena following the introduction of its award-winning, bestselling NOOK devices, popular free software and expansive digital bookstore last year. This newest addition to the NOOK device family was designed for people who love to read every kind of content imaginable – and features 8GB of space, plus expandable memory, to store it all. NOOKcolor enables quick and easy shopping and book downloads in seconds over Wi-Fi^®. NOOKcolor is also the most social reading device ever built – with Barnes & Noble’s new NOOKfriends™ technology, you’re only touches away from sharing with friends via Facebook^®, Twitter^® and email.

“With NOOKcolor, we’ve combined the functionality and convenience of a 7-inch portable wireless tablet with the reader-centricity of a dedicated eReader, and employed a breakthrough color screen technology that will wow customers,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. Added Lynch, “NOOKcolor enables Web browsing over Wi-Fi, music, games and much more, but reading anything and everything in brilliant color is the killer app and squarely the product’s focus. At $249, NOOKcolor offers a tremendous value, particularly in comparison to the many other 7-inch tablets coming to market at twice the cost and often requiring expensive data plans. Most importantly, NOOKcolor is designed for and differentiated by what Barnes & Noble knows best: reading.”

NOOKcolor’s Vast Array of Digital Content

NOOKcolor offers all the content you love, at your fingertips, experienced like never before, through Barnes & Noble’s newly expanded NOOKbook™ Store.

• Shop over two million titles: NOOKcolor provides access to the most expansive digital catalog available so you can browse more than two million books, enhanced books, newspapers and magazines, engaging children’s books, and other interactive content in a single search. Find classics, new releases and bestsellers, including 194 of 205 current New York Times Bestsellers. Sample NOOKbook titles for free and download all content wirelessly in seconds. Since the launch of PubIt!™, Barnes & Noble has also added thousands of titles from independent publishers and self-publishing authors.
• NOOKnewsstand™ – periodicals in vivid color: From The Wall Street Journal,The New York Times and USA TODAY to Rolling Stone, Esquire, US Weekly,National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living, Cosmopolitan and Elle, NOOKcolor customers will find an impressive and growing list of the best daily, weekly and monthly periodicals, all optimized for the device in rich color. Magazine reading is easy and engaging with full-color pages and Barnes & Noble’s exclusive ArticleView™ puts the focus on the content, customized to your favorite reading style. Periodicals, available by subscription and single copy, will continue to become even more interactive next year.
• NOOK kids™ experience: For the first time ever, enjoy the largest collection of popular children’s picture and chapter books in an engaging digital form through the new NOOK kids offering. Through exclusive AliveTouch™ technology, your child can interact with words and pictures, easily find a favorite story, and even have some read aloud to them. Enjoy a broad and growing selection of more than 130 digital picture books – an unprecedented offering that will double before year’s end – and nearly 12,000 chapter books for children, plus exciting enhancements coming soon. Learn more at www.NOOKkids.com.
• Enhanced and engaging titles: Coming soon, NOOKcolor customers will also enjoy a growing collection of multimedia titles offering instructive video and audio to learn about travel, cooking, music and more.
• Great reads, great prices: The vast majority of titles in the Barnes & Noble NOOKbook Store are $9.99 or less, including most current New York TimesBestsellers. In any Barnes & Noble store, read NOOKbooks for free through the company’s innovative Read In Store™ program. On any given day, peruse as many books as you wish, for one hour per title. And enjoy more than one million free classics and even more free reading by checking out additional titles from public libraries.

eReading Gets (More) Social

NOOKcolor makes it simple and reflexive to get social about reading. In another industry first for Barnes & Noble, the new LendMe™ App enables NOOKcolor users to view LendMe books in their friends’ NOOKcolor digital libraries and request to borrow a title they’ve been meaning to read. Customers have the ability to easily lend their favorite NOOKbooks with friends through Facebook and email, even using their imported Google^® Gmail™ contacts, and recommend a title, share reading status or a quote via Facebook, Twitter and email.

Your Reading Experience, Your Way

Barnes & Noble recognizes the uniquely personal nature of reading and designed NOOKcolor to be flexible and highly customizable, so each customer can truly make it his or her own.

• Simply more than a touch of fun: Everything you want to do is simple and intuitive. Shopping for new content, finding and reading titles in your library and customizing the way you view your content are all a touch or two away. With a simple tap of the screen or swipe left or right, book pages turn in a flash.
• Personalized reading experience: Experience the flexibility and fun of completely customizing your reading experience. Choose what titles will appear on your home page and Daily Shelf™, organize and view your library your way, find the right text type, size and color theme that’s right for you, and read in portrait or landscape.
• All your content at your fingertips: Your entire library is always a touch away with 8GB of memory. That’s approximately 6,000 NOOKbooks or a combination that might include 1,000 books, 25 full-color magazines, 10 newspapers, 50 kids’ books, 500 songs and 150 photos. Plus, NOOKcolor has expandable memory using a microSD™ card. And with Barnes & Noble’s Lifetime Library™, existing customers of NOOK products and software-enabled devices will instantly be able to access their personal Barnes & Noble digital libraries on NOOKcolor. With this digital library advantage, Barnes & Noble ensures that your content always goes wherever you go and is always protected and accessible on a variety of devices, as well as BN.com.
• NOOKbook Personal Shopping™: Barnes & Noble offers exclusive, personalized book recommendations from its expert booksellers, based on the genres, authors and subjects you like.
• Continuous reading experience: Read NOOKbooks seamlessly across your NOOKcolor, NOOK 3G and Wi-Fi devices (following a NOOK firmware update in late November), third-party eBook Readers powered by the Barnes & Noble NOOKbook Store, and your favorite mobile and computing devices enabled with free NOOK software. These include iPad™, iPhone^®, iPod touch^®, Android™ smartphones, and Windows-based PCs, laptops or netbooks. NOOKcolor syncs last page read, highlights, notes and bookmarks. For more information on free NOOK software, please visit www.bn.com/NOOKapps.
• View your personal files: Transfer and view personal PDF and ePub files to NOOKcolor, as well as JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP files, and use personal photos for wallpaper. With Quickoffice^® software, view Microsoft^® Office files including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Punctuate your style: Read in style with a full line of exclusive NOOKcolor accessories from Barnes & Noble, including covers with rich Italian leathers, European broad cloth and more from leading designers kate spade new york, JACK SPADE and Jonathan Adler coming soon.

Attractive Design & Features

To create the most exquisitely designed dedicated eReading device on the market, Barnes & Noble worked with award-winning industrial designer Yves Behar at fuseproject. NOOKcolor’s elegantly simple design in classic graphite features an angled lower corner that evokes a turned page, along with a beaded border and lustrous, soft-touch back that make holding NOOKcolor comfortable and pleasurable. No other full-color touch reading device is thinner or more beautiful.

• VividView Color Touchscreen: NOOKcolor features a best-in-class 7-inch color touch display like nothing you’ve ever seen before, particularly on a dedicated reading device. The screen displays more than 16 million colors and offers a wide viewing angle for personal or shared reading. The special design provides enhanced color tuning, gradation and reduction of glare to reduce distracting reflections.
• Wi-Fi connectivity: Easily connect to personal and public Wi-Fi hotspots as well as free Wi-Fi in Barnes & Noble stores to shop the Barnes & Noble NOOKbook Store and download content in seconds, surf the Web, stream music and more.
• Lightweight and portable: The compact device fits easily into your purse, jacket or bag at 8.1 inches (height) by 5 inches (width) by 0.48 inches (depth) and 15.8 ounces.

And Even More Extras

NOOKcolor offers many extras with fun and useful additions to the reading experience.

• Game on: Enjoy fun and free games on NOOKcolor, including crossword puzzles, Sudoku, chess and many more to come.
• Listen to music while reading: Stream tunes from your favorite artists over Wi-Fi with Pandora^® internet radio’s free, personalized music service. And load your MP3 and AAC songs to enjoy music while reading anywhere using the built in 3.5mm headphone jack or speakers.
• Surf the Web: Over Wi-Fi, use a full browser to visit your favorite Web sites, check email, and more.
• Fun and free in-store features: In Barnes & Noble stores, connect to free Wi-Fi to browse and read the content of complete NOOKbooks for free through Read In Store, which features enhanced performance for NOOKcolor, including instantaneous page turns. And download exclusive content from bestselling authors and enjoy special promotions and discounts through the More In Store™ program.
• More extras coming: Get ready to discover more engaging content and applications in the coming months. Barnes & Noble invites content providers and application developers to create innovative reading-centric experiences through the just-announced NOOKdeveloper™ program. More information is available atwww.bn.com/NOOKdeveloper.

NOOKcolor Availability

NOOKcolor is available for pre-order for $249 and is expected to begin shipping on or about November 19, making it the perfect holiday gift for people who love to read everything. Experience NOOKcolor today at www.NOOKcolor.com or at the NOOK Boutiques and displays in one of Barnes & Noble’s more than 700 bookstores beginning in late November. Barnes & Noble’s 45,000 knowledgeable booksellers will provide walkthroughs of the entire family of NOOK eReading products and free software. NOOKcolor, along with NOOK 3G and NOOK Wi-Fi, will also be available at Best Buy, www.bestbuy.com, Walmart and www.walmart.com, and Books-A-Million in late November.

Major NOOK 3G and Wi-Fi Firmware Update Next Month

For book lovers who crave a paper-like reading experience, NOOK continues to be the most full-featured dedicated E-Ink^® device on the market at a great value, starting at $149. Following the launch of NOOK 3G a year ago, and NOOK Wi-Fi last summer, Barnes & Noble continues to enhance the overall reading experience and performance of its award-winning, best-selling NOOK E-Ink devices. A major update coming in November will dramatically increase the page-turn speed, and deliver the most-requested features and performance enhancements from NOOK customers, including improved search functionality, customized Barnes & Noble Library organization, password protection and continuous reading across all NOOK devices and software. NOOK version 1.5 software will be available at no cost next month for all current and new NOOK owners via Wi-Fi or manual download atwww.NOOK.com/support.

“Our large installed base of more than a million NOOK customers will get our biggest enhancement release yet, all based on their most-requested features and inclusive of performance enhancements like even faster page turns,” added Lynch. “With our software updates and product enhancements, we’re continuing the Barnes & Noble commitment of relentless customer service to the legion of existing NOOK owners who have so faithfully contributed to our success and growth in digital reading.”

About NOOK™ from Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble’s NOOK brand of eReading products makes it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOKbook™ Store of more than two million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices. NOOK products are the most full-featured, dedicated eReading devices on the market. NOOKcolor ($249), the first full-color touch Reader’s Tablet, provides the ultimate reading experience with a stunning 7-inch VividView™ Color Touchscreen to read all of the content you love. For book lovers, NOOK 3G ($199) and NOOK Wi-Fi® ($149) offer a paper-like reading experience with a color touch screen for navigation. In Barnes & Noble stores, NOOK owners can access free Wi-Fi connectivity, enjoy the Read In Store™ feature to read NOOKbooks for free, and the More In Store™ program, which offers free, exclusive content and special promotions. Barnes & Noble was the first company to offer digital lending for a wide selection of books through its LendMe™ technology, available through NOOK eReading products. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.NOOK.com, as well as at Best Buy, Walmart and Books-A-Million.

In addition to NOOK devices, Barnes & Noble makes it easy for customers to enjoy any book, anytime, anywhere with its free line of NOOK software, available atwww.bn.com/NOOKapps. Customers can use Barnes & Noble’s free eReading software to access and read books from their personal Barnes & Noble digital library on devices including iPad™, iPhone^®, iPod touch^®, Android™, BlackBerry^® and other smartphones, PC, and Mac^®. Lifetime Library™ helps ensure that Barnes & Noble customers will always be able to access their digital libraries on NOOK products and software-enabled devices and BN.com. Barnes & Noble also offers NOOKstudy™ (www.NOOKstudy.com), an innovative study platform and software solution for higher education and NOOK kids™ (www.NOOKkids.com), a collection of digital picture and chapter books for children.

For more information on NOOK devices and eReading software, updates, new NOOKbook releases, Free Friday™ NOOKbooks and more, follow us onwww.twitter.com/eBooksBN and www.facebook.com/NOOKBN.

COMMENTARY:  I love the new Barnes & Noble Nook Color eBook reader.   This feature-packed full-color tablet computer kicks butt, and at $249.00 is definitely going to offer Barnes & Noble a competitive advantage in the growing and highly competitive tablet computer space.  Watchout Apple, Amazon.com and Borders.  

Courtesy of an article dated October 26, 2010 appearing in SmartBrief  

 

APPLE IS GEARING UP TO SELL 45 MILLION IPADS IN 2011 SAYS WALL STREET ANALYST

Still don't think the iPad is an absolutely earth-shaking blockbuster hit? 

Apple is gearing up to sell 45 million of them next year, says Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White who just chatted with supply-chain vendors in China and Taiwan (via Elizabeth Woyke at Forbes).

A couple of months ago, we mentioned that hedge-fund manager Jeff Matthews expected Apple to eventually sell 50 million iPads a year--a forecast that, in some corners, was greeted with howls of derision.  Based on this latest news, it seems like the 50-million year may come sooner than expected.

45 million iPads, by the way, is about $30 billion of revenue. To put that in perspective, that's almost as much revenue as the entire company generated in 2008. Not bad for a product that didn't exist six months ago.

And, of course, the iPad's explosive launch isn't just turbocharging Apple. It's shaking the foundations of the entire global PC industry.

Goldman Sachs, which has been bullish on Microsoft for most of the 25 years since it took the company public, just pulled the plug on the stock.

One reason for this?

iPad cannibalization.

COMMENTARY:    I would first like to know how many of them suckers Apple is going to sell in 2010.  Apparently Apple is getting ready to announce some pretty impressive iPad sales numbers, rumored to be at a 4.5 million per quarter clip.   Whether they will hit Steve Jobs goal of 10 million units sold for 2010 still remains to be seen.   More power to him, if he can hit that number.

Bernstein Research puts iPad unit sales for the 3rd quarter 2010 at 4.5 million units.  Apple claimed they sold 3+ million iPads in the 2nd quarter, so year-to-date, 7.5 million have been sold according to Bernstein.   If they continue at the 4 to 4.5 million unit run rate for the 4th quarter, Bernstein believes that Apple will sell about 11.7 million units in 2010.   First, let's wait for the official numbers from Apple.   

These predictions that Apple will sell 45 million iPads in 2011 are difficult to believe.   Just how many consumers will buy a new iPad and iPhone when the consumer electronics industry is coming out with new HD 3D televisions and a ton of new tablet PC's from Samsung, Microsoft, RIM Blackberry and others.   $30 billion in revenues for a single product is hard to believe.   Makes you wonder if the tablet PC is "the" device and just how large the total market for tablet pc's will be when you combine total tablet pc revenues.  Is it 100 million?   It's just crazy. 

Steve apparently believes that the iPad is ready for the mainstream market, or the "middle market" that represents roughly 70% of total buyers for a new product.  The iPad and iPod are both being sold by Target, and its rumored that the iPad will be available at Wal-Mart.  However, I am a bit skeptical whether distributing the iPad through mass retail discounters is going to work out in the end.  I don't see any evidence that prices for Apple's stuff is being discounted, something you expect from a chain like Target, and most especially from Wal-Mart (when they get the iPad).  The lowest price iPad at Target is going for $599 (I assume this is the WIFI version) and the G4 model is $899.  This is at the very high-end of the price range for the typical Target store customer.

Before we takes these lofty sales predictions made by these overzealous "experts" from Wall Street too seriously, let's first find out if the iPad is really ready for prime time.  There is a huge difference between buying an Apple product at an Apple Store and your typical Target store.  The day I was there, there was only one clerk manning the counter.  Not your Apple Store sales experience we read about.  This leaves me wondering about execution.  Poor distribution execution can often doom an excellent product.   Google's Nexus One is a very good example.          

Courtesy of an article dated October 7, 2010 appearing in the Silicon Alley Business Insider