E-Books

E-books finally dust print on Amazon

Rose Gordon May 20, 2011

Twelve years after it sold its first book, Amazon now sells more e-books than printed copies.

My travels with Hemingway and The Godfather: Why you can shove your e-reader

Juan Martinez April 12, 2011

The closing of my neighborhood Borders reinforces my love for physical books and reaffirms my disinterest in e-reading.

Lack of e-comm strategy was Borders' big mistake

Frank Washkuch February 16, 2011

Industry observers are blaming Borders' lack of action on the e-commerce front for its financial troubles. The book retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 16. "Its worst mistake may have been its decision to opt out of online sales," noted 'Washington Post' blogger Rob Pegoraro.

Amazon holiday sales fuel 36% growth in Q4

Juan Martinez January 27, 2011

Amazon.com's fourth-quarter 2010 sales increased 36% year-over-year to $12.95 billion, the company said January 27 in an earnings report. Net income in the quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season, improved by 8% to $416 million, while operating income dropped 2.5% to $494 million, compared with Q4 2009.

Barnes & Noble's e-book investments make company attractive to Borders: reports

Frank Washkuch December 07, 2010

Google made the biggest bookselling news of the week when it launched its online bookstore on Monday. However, a shareholder of bricks-and-mortar retailer Borders also made a splash when it said it would finance a deal to buy larger rival Barnes & Noble.

Retailers prep for e-book education push

Ryan Chatelain July 26, 2010

The growing popularity of e-readers is are pushing publishers and retailers to plan for a not-so-distant future when digital textbooks overtake their physical counterparts.

E-books race ahead of print editions, but for good?

Frank Washkuch July 20, 2010

Amazon.com sold more e-books than traditional books over the past three months. Sony, meanwhile, has also said that sales of e-books have grown steadily, according to a report in 'The Wall Street Journal.'

Growing e-book industry discusses challenges at MediaBistro event

Dianna Dilworth December 16, 2009

The paradigm shift in digital reading is happening, according to Steve Haber, president of Sony's digital reading business division, on a panel at the MediaBistro eBook Reader conference in New York today. "We are looking at how to maximize the experience going from traditional to digital readers," he said. "Reading on an LCD screen is not cozy. The back light is challenging on the eyes. So we have focused on the black and white design for reading text, which is more enjoyable."

Sony to convert e-book store to open format

Chantal Todé August 13, 2009

In a move to make its electronic book store compatible with multiple devices and its Sony Reader e-reader devices open to multiple sources for content, Sony has announced plans to convert the Sony eBook Store to the open format EPub e-book standard by the end of the year and adopt Adobe Content Server 4 for copy protecting downloadable e-books. "Our intention is to lead by example," said Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading Business Division, in a statement.

B&N opens e-book chapter

Chantal Todé July 27, 2009

With an eye toward the expected growth in what is currently a $1 million annual market for e-books, Barnes & Noble Inc. has launched an online portal for selling electronic books that currently has more than 700,000 titles and is expected to grow to 1 million titles within the next year.

Barnes & Noble opens e-book chapter

Chantal Todé July 21, 2009

Barnes & Noble Inc. has launched an online portal for selling electronic books that currently has over 700,000 titles and is expected to grow to 1 million titles within the next year. This is the latest in a series of developments this summer in the increasingly competitive e-book and e-reader categories. Google recently announced plans to launch a program by the end of the year that will allow consumers to purchase access to digital versions of books via any Web-enabled computer, e-reader or mobile phone. And Amazon.com recently launched the Kindle DX, which is bigger than previous versions.