News from DBW

· (1/16/13) Searchable content provided by Inkling: By chunking their content into “cards,” ebook startup Inkling can sell their content piecemeal for very cheap. They have a proprietary CMS which allows content to be searched using a browser and Google Search.

· (1/16/13) Kids Reading Ebooks Doubles—according to Scholastic, the number of kids reading ebooks has doubled in the last two years. Kids who read ebooks are reading more, especially boys.

· (1/5/13) The real reason Barnes and Noble is failing: It’s because the world has more non-Americans than Americans, and Barnes & Noble has always been curiously hostile to the non-American. This is an interesting comment about the international digital book buyer

. Teleread

· (1/10/13) From TechRadar: Kindle Panel View now available on the Paperwhite and Touch devices.

Amazon has released a new software update for the Kindle Touch, giving it a new lease of life after it was usurped by hot young upstart, the Kindle Paperwhite.
New features include a revamped user interface in which your archived books and mags will be stored under the heading Cloud, some enhanced parental controls, book cover view in your library and store, recommendations and better ability to handle graphic novels and comics by letting you read panel-by-panel.

· (1/23/13) Apple Sells 22.9m iPads and 47.8m iPhones in this quarter. In other news, Apple shares tanked 10% (huge) in after-hours trading, due to Mac and iPod sales slipping. Oops.

· (1/30/13) Speaking of profit and loss, Amazon posted its fourth-quarter earnings: $21 billion in revenue, which is actually is a loss of $39 million on the year. Its stock went UP in after-market trading by at least 10%. I like this perspective from Quartz. The Kindle Fire HD tablet was the most popular item in 2012, and Amazon’s tablets and e-readers take the top four spot of worldwide best-sellers around the world. Bloomberg

· (2/1/13) More bad news from Barnes & Noble: sales of the Nook tablet fell considerably short of expectations over the holiday, leading some analysts to question the Nook’s long-term viability in the increasing crowded tablet marketplace.

Blogs/RSS we love:

especially this:

· (12/27/12) Tablets and other mobile devices have a huge Christmas: Flurry, a mobile analytics company that tracks use of mobile apps, says 17.4 million new iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas day. Flurry says tablets were 51% of device activations on Christmas Day compared to 20% during the December baseline period. Apple's iPad and iPad Mini were big hits but so was Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet. Amazon grew "by several thousand percent" over its December baseline, according to Flurry.

Market share for tablets is unclear, as analysis is based on surveys and triangulation. Apple is the most open about its sales and shipments (52% market share, a doubtful position), but Android platforms are not as forthcoming. Actual numbers are hard to pin down, but there is an overview: http://www.forbes.com/sites/benedictevans/2012/10/02/how-many-tablets-are-in-the-usa-and-does-it-matter/

· (12/9/12) Amazon released a new Kindle software platform that allows the newest e-ink devices (Paperwhite, Touch, and Kindle 4) support for books with complex layouts and formats using Kindle Format 8 (Kindle fixed-layouts, panel views). More info: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200774090

Also in Kindle news, the Fire HD is updated with a camera app (using the HD’s front facing camera), “Swype”, allowing you to replace typing with drawing across letters, and more support for “FreeTime” which is the Kindle parental controls. More info: http://www.mobilemag.com/2012/12/09/kindle-fire-hd-update-7-2-2-brings-swype-freetime-unlimited-and-camera-app/

· (11/23/12) The color tablet market is growing, while e-ink readers sales are declining. It is noted that the influx of tablets not tied to a specific etailer is increasing, meaning many people are looking elsewhere to buy their books. Interesting article in PW:

· Also in Time:

· Kobo market is on a sharp incline: Independent U.S. booksellers to sell Kobo devices and market Kobo ebooks on their websites. This means more testing on their devices, and we should start another conversation with them regarding special formats. More info: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772804577619112267537648.html

· Kobo has also introduced the Arc, the company’s foray into the HD tablet market http://www.kobo.com/koboarc