Kobo starts selling e-readers directly through its website again
Kobo is now selling its e-readers directly through its website in the U.S. and Canada. Previously, customers had to go to third-party retailers to buy the devices. Read more »
Around the world, no set rules for ebook pricing or digital reading
photo: Shutterstock / Thomas Bethge
Ebook pricing and device trends that hold in North American countries don’t necessarily work for less developed market. Executives from Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google, France’s FNAC and India’s Indiaplaza discussed similarities and differences between digital reading cultures Wednesday afternoon at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Read more »
HMV’s next digital idea: click-to-collect plastic music
As the market for music on discs shrinks, struggling retailer HMV will try blurring online and in-store to beef up plastic. But is the initiative just designed to defend a fast-diminishing old business? Read more »
Ebook sales way up in 2011; overall trade book sales roughly flat
Print books still dominate, but a new report reveals that in 2011, ebooks made up 15 percent of all trade book sales. In addition, digital is now the most popular format for adult fiction. Despite the massive growth of digital, though, bricks-and-mortar stores are still the largest sales channel for publishers. Read more »
Sainsbury supermarket buys HMV’s aNobii stake to enter e-books
photo: Corbis
Social book discovery startup was left divorced from its intended book retail partner after HMV jettisoned Waterstones. Now its future lays with a supermarket, not a traditional book store. Read more »
Russia’s Fast Lane flips again with Shopping Live sale
Russian web incubator Fast Lane Ventures is developing a reputation for building big businesses fast, with the sale TV channel Shopping Live — its second significant exit inside a couple of months. Read more at GigaOM »
