E-book prices have soared due to an international agreement between publishers. But why are non-US customers being gouged even more?
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The most outrageous tech predictions for 2012
Lists of tech predictions for the year ahead are super abundant at this time of year, writes Charis Palmer, of Technology Spectator.
It’s war: Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to battle for tech prominence
The war will be long and intense. In coming years four tech giants will battle mercifully for prominence in markets such as smartphones, tablet PCs and social media, writes Farhad Manjoo.
Amazon’s strategy: sell ‘em cheap, pocket dosh from apps and ads
Amazon and Apple’s business strategies are diametrically opposed: Apple relies largely on hardware sales but Amazon is all about directing users to various forms of media, writes Frédéric Filloux.
Life in the Amazon: e-books outsell the printed word
Powerful bookseller Amazon announced that for the first time since it began selling e-books — and its succesful Kindle e-reader — four years ago, it now sells 105 e-books for every 100 printed book.
Bartholomeusz: an Amazonian effort
The common denominator in the Amazon and Google results was that the increase in revenues significantly outstripped the increase in earnings.
How I made a blank book an Amazon bestseller
Author Shed Simove desperately wanted a bestseller, but even he was surprised when his self-published blank book — titled What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex — sailed up the Amazon charts.
Amazon cuts ribbon for new cyber movie studio
Online giant Amazon have taken an unexpected detour into the movie biz with the recently launched Amazon Studios, an online user-based production company that aspires to create new distribution channels for filmmakers.
Amazon defend the sale of “pedosexual” e-book
Online giant Amazon.com is under fire for refusing to remove a pro-pedophilia e-book from their catalogue, arguing that pulling The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure from their cyber shelves would constitute unnecessary censorship.
Will America implement an internet sales tax?
Given the lingering effects of the GFC and the continued proliferation of largely untaxed e-commerce, a renewed movement of internet sales tax advocates is growing in Washington. Unsurprisingly, online retailers such as Amazon aren’t part of the club.
For sale on Amazon: uranium ore
For the low low price of US$29.95, visitors to Amazon can purchase their own tin of uranium ore. But wait, there’s more: the product is generating some very positive reviews.
The Kindle is alive and well
If you thought Apple’s iPad had seized control of the e-reader industry and obliterated the competition, think again. The Kindle is far from dead. According to new figures from Amazon, the digital reading device is actually more popular than ever.
Will Apple save or destroy the publishing industry?
With Amazon offering increasingly cut-price e-books, the publishing industry is looking to Apple’s iPad to kill the Kindle and save the book business. But is Steve Jobs really looking after the interests of publishers, or just his own legacy?
Former VP: How Microsoft lost its cool
Microsoft has truckloads of cash, employs some of the smartest people on Earth, and, until recently, completely dominated the computer industry. So how come it didn’t invent the iPad, iPod, BlackBerry or Kindle? Former VP Dick Brass explains.
must read The new economics of book publishing explained
For anyone confused by all the hype about e-readers and the “digital revolution” in the book publishing world, this article breaks it down perfectly: how Amazon makes money with the Kindle, how Apple will from the iPad, and why publishers are pissed off.
Destroying the Amazon
After Amazon last week pulled all the Macmillan published books from its online shelves following a dispute over pricing of e-books, Amazon has caved and raised the prices as per Macmillan’s wishes. Is this the first defeat in the Kindle vs. iPad war?
E-Day looms for book publishers
The power relationship between authors and publishers is set to change fundamentally with the coming e-publishing revolution, writes Michael R. James.
E-books: publishers need to get with the program
Book publishers been twiddling their thumbs on e-books for years, but the success of Amazon’s Kindle and the looming Apple Tablet is about to force their hands, writes Mark Davis.
How to write a best-seller: give it away free
The best-selling e-Books aren’t necessarily the ones penned by big-name authors or showered in awards: they’re the ones that don’t cost anything. Heaving bosoms and lusty vampires don’t hurt “sales”, either.
Amazon’s secret plan to invade the real world
Online retailer Amazon is planning to open a real, meat-world store in England, where customers can order products online, then pick them up in-store, according to local landlords.
The Kindle in Australia: the good, the bad and the crippling
Stubborn Mule is one the Australians who snapped up a Kindle as soon as it became available on our shores. It may be a whizz-bang bit of tech, but there are some pretty significant limitations placed on the Aussie version. So is it worth it?
US spies buy a stake in social media
America’s spy agencies are pumping money into a software firm that specialises in monitoring blogs and social media services like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. So what do they want with our tweets and twitpics?
2010: year of the e-reader
The world’s media pundits are predicting a huge Christmas boom in sales of e-readers — spurred by the release of the new Kindle. Will 2010 become known as the year the book died?
Book industry has to accept the Kindle: it may be a bumpy ride
Australian publishers may not like it, but e-books are not going away. And with the launch of the Kindle in Australia, the industry’s going to have to adapt.
Kindle not the book’s iPod moment
The release of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader in Australia has impatient early adopters crying “about time”. But don’t get too excited, says Matthia Dempsey: you may not actually be able to read anything on it.
