Amazon Tablet?
WSJ: Amazon plans to release a tablet computer by October, intensifying its rivalry with Apple; http://eicker.at/AmazonTablet
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Gerrit Eicker
Iriver Story HD
The iriver Story HD is the first eReader integrating the Google eBookstore; http://eicker.at/iriver
Gerrit Eicker
eReaders
Pew: 12% of American adults own an eReader (doubled between November and May!), 8% own a tablet computer; http://eicker.at/eReaders
Gerrit Eicker
Passive Experience
GlobalWebIndex: Open web turns to packaged internet, passive experience to rise; http://eicker.at/PassiveExperience (via @rww)
Gerrit Eicker
Time: “The dream of Web 2.0 may be over. If a new report on internet usage is to be believed, social media has turned the internet into more of a passive experience again. … The change, the report suggests, is that social media is more about content sharing than content creation, turning users into passive consumers – or, worse, distributors – of others’ work. … Instead of a shift back towards professional/audience mode, this feels more like a blip as the landscape gets used to its new tools than anything else to me, but what do you think?”
Gerrit Eicker
Reading Times
Online reading times are heavily changed by web tablets, the iPad in particular; http://eicker.at/ReadingTimes (via @NYTimes)
Gerrit Eicker
Kindle Lending Club
The Kindle Lending Club on Facebook: Borrowing requests and lending offers are on the wall; http://eicker.at/KindleLendingClub
Gerrit Eicker
Journalism: Syndication, Paywalls, eBooks
Niemann Journalism Lab Series: Predictions for Journalism 2011; http://eicker.at/Journalism2011
Gerrit Eicker
Global Media Consumption
AdAge: 10 trends that are shaping global media consumption; http://eicker.at/GobalMediaConsumption
Gerrit Eicker
Kindle Goes Web
Amazon launches Kindle for the Web soon: eBooks within browsers, books samples, sharing, embedding; http://eicker.at/KindleWeb
Gerrit Eicker
Google Editions: Ready to Launch?
WSJ: Google is in final stages of launching its eBook retailing venture, Google Editions; http://eicker.at/GoogleEditions
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Gerrit Eicker
WSJ: “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. … Google Editions hopes to upend the existing e-book market by offering an open, ‘read anywhere’ model that is different from many competitors. … 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. … 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. … 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. … 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.”
TC: “So it’s no surprise that Google is jumping into the fray with the long-awaited Google Editions service, set to launch by the end of the year in the U.S. and first quarter of 2011 internationally. But between Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and independent publishing services like Amazon’s DTP and the unfortunately-named Pubit, is there room for another player? Not that that’s ever stopped anyone from trying – but I think in this case it may be that Google brings something new to the table: decentralization. … The advantages of not having to go through, for instance, Amazon, when selling your book, are hard to quantify. But the notion that an author will be able to place a widget on their own page, and have the book-buying transaction be self-contained rather than being transferred to Amazon, is significant. … The Google Editions news comes on the heels of a major announcement by Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers, to the effect that they’ve worked out their long-running issues and will be cooperating on the service.”
VB: “Google is working on an affiliate program that will let website owners earn revenue by recommending ebooks on Editions, and it’s also partnering with independent booksellers to share revenue from their websites. It’s unclear how much revenue Google will share with affiliates or booksellers, but I suspect it will have to be more than the 10 percent Amazon offers its affiliates for Kindle ebook sales. … Google is positioning the ebook store as an extension of Google Books, its plan to scan the roughly 150 million books ever published worldwide. The book scanning project is currently about 10 percent complete, according to Google executives.”
TNW: “Several things excite me about Google getting into publishing. First is that they aren’t going to be tied to a physical ereader. They are starting off from the perspective of distributing content. Which is how it should be. But that independence might come at a price: adoption. … Here is the bottom line. I’ve always seen ebooks as a boon for authors and publishers who can adapt to them. I’m not saying paper books are going anywhere (though for me they keep going in drawers), I’m saying that ebooks allow authors to offer books to a large audience while keeping costs low with lower print runs. If the ebook sells better than the paper one, well don’t print as many of the paper ones. – Yes, not everyone will be able to take advantage of this and Google Editions might wind up like Google Wave and Buzz, but I think that in the last few months we’ve seen more interest in epublishing not less and I think this interest is going to turn into success for Google.”
GlobalWebIndex: “Social media has reached mass maturity. Today it’s no longer about massive growth but a shift of already active social consumers to ‘real-time’ technologies, such as status updates or tweets. The old view of text-based social media, defined by blogs and forums, is being surpassed, moving the impact of social media, from creating content and publishing to sharing other people’s content and ‘live’ opinions about real-world events. In short ‘real-time’ is re-orientating consumer from creator to distributor and moving the focus to traditional media and professional content. – The open browser-based web is losing out to packaged internet platforms such as mobile apps, internet connected TVs, tablets, e-readers, pc apps, gaming and video platforms. These packaged platforms are re-engineering the internet and destroying the notion of the internet being a singular entity. Crucially for the entertainment revolution, they provide professional media with the means to create sustainable internet business models, something the economics of the browser-based web totally failed to enable. – Professional ‘traditional style’ content is now a core part of the consumer online experience. Internet platforms, for hundreds of millions of consumers, are increasingly the entertainment platform of choice. This is due to continual growth of professional content in video sites (legal and illegal), the rise of ‘real-time’, and the growth of packaged platforms.”
RWW: “The report states that in the new era of social entertainment, traditional media holds the power – a change from the ‘web 2.0′ era, when the user ruled. The report argues that this will lead to a return to passive experiences by consumers. … ‘Professionals are back in the driving seat when it comes to content,’ states the report. This, it says, will lead to the Internet eventually becoming the primary mass entertainment and content delivery platform. – While that is undoubtedly true, it’s difficult to see how the author comes to this conclusion: ‘We as consumers are going back to traditional needs and demands and seeking a more passive experience.’ – The report explains that social entertainment is far more about content sharing, than creation. It goes on to suggest that this ‘light nature of interaction’ is moving the consumer back to the passive state they were in before the Internet came along. Further, that services like Facebook and Twitter turn consumers into ‘distributors.’“