Barnes & Noble issued a press release with their Q1 earnings. As expected, print sales continued to take a dive. It looks more and more like B&N is being propped up by their Nook eReader and digital book sales.

I’m not sure if digital sales alone will be enough to keep the bookseller alive, but it goes without saying that it doesn’t hurt.

Continue Reading

Note: I began writing this post in early August, before my blog got hacked, so it was put on hold. I decided to finish the post and publish it anyway, even though it’s a little outdated.

Just how desperate are college students to save money? It appears they are very desperate. They are so desperate that 73% of college students in a recent study said they’d give up sex to buy an ebook version of their textbooks instead of the traditional (more expensive) print:

College students dislike textbooks so much that 73% said they would give up dating, sex, or something else in their life just to buy an electronic version instead of a hardbound copy. This came from a survey by Kelton Research which was sponsored by education software startup Kno, so you can imagine how pleased they are with the results.

The study also said that 63% of students said they’d study more if they didn’t have to lug those heavy textbooks everywhere. I’m not sure how a lighter load translates into more studying, but I guess some students will find any reason to avoid studying.

As much as I love ebooks and as much as I evangelize their magical powers, I’m not quite sold on ebooks being used as textbooks. When I need to study from a book, I do prefer print.

I do think e-textbooks will overtake their print counterparts as demand for lower price texts continues to increase. College students are cash-strapped as it is, so any savings, especially with ridiculously overpriced textbooks, would be a very welcome relief.

Whether or not I’d personally be willing to give up sex for lower cost e-textbooks, well…

I was in the locker room at my local gym last night after an invigorating swim, getting ready to go home. When I’m in the locker room I usually try to get in and get out as fast as possible.

But as I was changing, I couldn’t help but overhear two guys with lockers close to mine talking about the downfall of Borders Booksellers. They lamented how sad it was that the chain had gone bankrupt (which I agree, it is sad). Then they listed, what they thought, were the reasons for Borders’ downfall:

1. Apple’s iPad

2. Ebooks in general

3. Amazon.com

I desperately wanted to tell them that they were wrong. Dead wrong. I wanted to tell them that Borders began their descent into bankruptcy back in the 90s. That it was a slow fall.

My general shyness in public, and my strict rule about not talking to other guys changing in the locker room, prevented me from saying anything. That, and I was in a hurry to get home. If I was a good promoter, however, I would have had a business card with this blog on it and I would have told them to read my blog.

While this was only one isolated incident, I do see it as further anecdotal evidence that people are blaming ebooks (and Amazon) for the fall of Borders. I’ve written many posts here about why Borders went belly-up.

The news that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has resigned is shaking the tech world. The announcement was made yesterday afternoon. Many were already speculating how long he’d stay on the job, especially considering the health problems he has faced over the past few years. Tim Cook, Apple’s COO, will take over Jobs’ position as CEO.

Apple issued a press release announcing Jobs’ resignation:

CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2011—Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

For an investor’s perspective, you can read my article about Apple’s future on my other blog, ‘The Unlikely Investor.’

I wish Steve Jobs the best of luck!

Barnes & Noble issued a press release today announcing a Nook Color firmware upgrade to 1.3 and the bookseller is adding interactive editions of popular magazines. These periodicals will be optimized for the Nook Color’s display and offer bonus features.

They also issued a few other announcements:

New York, New York – August 23, 2011 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, announced today it is enhancing its best-in-class NOOK Newsstand, giving NOOK Color customers even more interactive versions of the country’s favorite magazines and newspapers. With the addition of top titles including FORTUNE, PEOPLE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, TIME, Parents and Fitness magazines, Barnes & Noble now offers more top 100 magazines than any other digital newsstand service. These newly added titles include a selection of interactive special editions optimized for NOOK Color’s stunning 7-inch color touchscreen with all the print magazine content along with an exciting array of bonus features. Print subscribers to FORTUNE, PEOPLE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and TIME can enjoy the NOOK Magazine(TM) versions on their NOOK Color at no additional cost. These new magazines and periodicals – totaling more than 200 – along with other enhancements can be enjoyed by NOOK Color customers through a free software update available at www.nookcolor.com/update or provided over the air (OTA) to customers connected to Wi-Fi beginning this week.

An Even Richer Reading Experience

With the version 1.3 software update, millions of NOOK Color customers will get more from their favorite magazines than ever before. Starting with special edition versions of FORTUNE, PEOPLE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and TIME, Time Inc. will make all 21 of its U.S. titles including Real Simple, InStyle, Entertainment Weekly and Cooking Light available on NOOK Color by the end of the year. Additional special edition versions are expected this fall from Better Homes and Gardens and others. These NOOK Magazine special editions offer customers all of the great content in the current print edition, along with a host of extras, built right into the pages to get more of the story – from videos and audio podcasts, animations, photo galleries and other bonus features. With these embedded multimedia enhancements, magazine lovers will be able to watch celebrity interviews, see the week’s sports highlights, listen to podcasts, take quizzes, get how-to’s on arts and crafts, and even learn new exercises with fitness videos to stay in shape. These special editions also feature a portrait-centric reading experience that’s fun and simple to use, as well as the ability to get to desired content quicker. Just tap the article promoted right on the magazine cover or in the table of contents.

“We’re proud to work with leading periodical publishers to deliver an unmatched selection of bestselling digital magazines to NOOK Color customers,” said Jonathan Shar, Vice President and General Manager of digital newsstand at Barnes & Noble. “With more than 200 of the top periodicals available in NOOK Newsstand for NOOK Color, Barnes & Noble continues to provide customers with the best digital periodical collection.”

More Periodicals, Across More Devices

In addition to the six new special edition magazines available on NOOK Color, NOOK Newsstand now offers an even wider variety of popular titles including new additions such as Ladies’ Home Journal, Traditional Home, Siempre Mujer, Smithsonian Magazine, The Knot and more. Engaging digital magazines are offered in rich color, featuring Barnes & Noble’s innovative ArticleView(TM) which allows customers to customize the article text to their favorite reading style.

NOOK Color and NOOK(TM) device customers will also find an even greater selection of major market daily newspapers with many recently added titles. All periodicals are available for subscription with a 14-day free trial or via single copies. NOOK device customers can also enjoy Time and Fortune in digital versions, designed for NOOK’s crisp E Ink(TM) display. And most NOOK Newsstand titles are also accessible to iPad(TM) and Android(TM) tablet owners using the free NOOK for iPad(TM) and NOOK for Android(TM) reading applications (www.bn.com/freenookapps).

NOOK Color v1.3 Now Available

Through its latest free NOOK Color firmware update, Barnes & Noble has made ongoing enhancements for Wi-Fi connectivity, other performance improvements and is adding a new feature to give parents and organizations the much-requested ability to disable the built-in Web browser. The NOOK Color v1.3 software update is available at no cost via immediate manual download at www.nookcolor.com/update. A free over-the-air (OTA) update will begin rolling out to customers connected to Wi-Fi beginning this week.

Experience the NOOK Newsstand special interactive editions and other great new content at the NOOK Boutique(TM) or display in one of Barnes & Noble’s more than 700 bookstores across the country, hundreds of Barnes & Noble College bookstores or by visiting www.nookcolor.com. NOOK Color, along with NOOK devices, can also be found at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples, Books-A-Million, OfficeMax, and Fred Meyer stores.

 

After weeks of anger, frustration, crying and throwing chairs around the house, Brad’s Reader is back up again. We’re not running on all cylinders quite yet. The homepage still needs to be reinstalled, as do the ads. But at least I’m able to post again. These past few weeks have been the worst in my blogging life.

That said, I’m happy to have Brad’s Reader up and running again. If you notice any of the viagra links appearing in your RSS feed or in Google search results, let me know ASAP. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.

Please, take my advice and go over your website’s security measures. Make sure it’s locked down tight. This pharma hack is complete hell to deal with, so it’s better to make the effort now to prevent your own site from being attacked.

In the meantime I look forward to getting back to posting. Thank you for all your support!

- Brad