Friday, June 21, 2013

Apple Reveals Pie Chart Showing iOS Usage

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One of the reasons many believe the Android Key Lime Pie release is being pushed back is to allow manufacturers more time to upgrade to the latest iteration of Android Jelly Bean. However, in some cases, even previous versions of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich or Gingerbread, are still being in used. The precise figures are illustrated in a pie chart released by Google.

Now Apple has now joined the ranks and has come up with a pie chart of its own, which shows the usage pattern of different iOS versions. What is immediately apparent is the overall  simplicity of it. Revealed at the WWDC event, it depicts just three versions, with  iOS 6 overwhelming being used by 93% of devices. A minuscule 6% have still remained faithful to iOS 5, which was released in 2011, while an even smaller fraction of 1% have kept to versions 4 and older. This basically shows that Apple users do not have a major issue with updating to the latest and greatest operating system updates.

Unfortunately, Android  reports a vast majority, 36.5% of their users, are still stuck with Gingerbread, the version Google had launched more than 2 years ago. What is evident is that about two-thirds of Android users are lagging behind Jelly Bean, which is still being used by 33%. One main factor that Google charts don’t dive into is taking into account the devices that don’t have access to Google Play.  Tablets such as the Kindle Fire and many devices originating from China are not officially licensed.

Apple Reveals Pie Chart Showing iOS Usage is a post from: E-Reader News

Good e-Reader Radio Show – with Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World

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Welcome to another exciting edition of the Good e-Reader Radio Show! We are joined today by Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World. Every Friday, we will be bringing you the latest industry news on e-Readers, eBooks and Digital Publishing.

Today, we talk about the Justice Department case against Apple and how it will all play out. We also discuss Barnes and Noble, in regards to their latest slashing of hardware prices in the UK and US. Kobo has also lowered the entry level price on the Kobo Mini. A firestorm erupted this week with the recent commentary on Good e-Reader on self-publishing and eBook discovery. Jeremy contributes his unique perspective and makes some excellent suggestions. Finally, Digital Book World recently had a Women in Publishing event in New York, he sums up what exactly transpired. This is a great show as always, so check it out.

Good e-Reader Radio Show – with Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World is a post from: E-Reader News

ABNA Winner Rysa Walker on her Publishing Journey

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The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards got a bit of a facelift this year, with one winner being selected from each of the separate categories, a new feature for the awards. Following the selection of each winner, one grand prize winner was also selected. This year’s grand prize winner, young adult category top author Rysa Walker, spoke to GoodEReader about her publishing journey and what this year’s round of awards meant to her and potentially to authors everywhere.

“This has been an incredible year. I entered hoping I would get to the point where I just got the Publisher’s Weekly review. I didn’t think about much beyond that,” explained Walker of the entry process. “The contest came by at a wonderful time.”

Walker’s young adult book, Timebound, was originally self-published last year and will now go on to be overseen by a team of people who will work to re-release the book this fall, along with the books written by Walker’s fellow category winners.

“I self-published because the traditional publishing industry wasn’t working for me. I tried for a year to get attention from an agent and in almost every case I didn’t even get an email back from them saying why they weren’t interested or even that they’d gotten my email with the attached file.” Walker attributes this lack of attention from the fact that the agents would often reply wanting more information about her background, and discover that she had published non-fiction in her field and feared that pigeon-holing her as an author might be behind the lack of notice.

“I feel like I’m putting my baby in the competent hands of a nurturing nanny, leaving me more time to continue to write,” said Walker of the process by which her book will now be published by Amazon Publishing’s Skyscape imprint, addressing one of the reasons other hybrid authors have given for accepting a traditional publishing deal that does result in relinquishing a significant portion of the royalties to the publisher. Walker’s advance, won as result of the ABNA awards, will afford her the opportunity to focus more on the planned novella and subsequent sequel.

Walker spoke about the benefits of this year’s updated format for the awards event this year, indicating that this was the first year that all of the winners were brought together at a ceremony in Seattle for the announcement of the grand prize winner. Each of the category winners was awarded a $15,000 advance and a publishing contract with the correct imprint from Amazon Publishing.

“I’m so glad that it was this year that I entered, because I could look out at the people that I had just had dinner with and know that everyone was leaving a winner. Any one of their books could do just as well as or better than mine, because their books are going to be out there and they’re going to have a chance to actually succeed.”

ABNA Winner Rysa Walker on her Publishing Journey is a post from: E-Reader News

E FUN Launches 7″ Nextbook Tablet for $69, 8″ for $99, Both with Google Play

The prices of Android tablets just keeps falling lower and lower all the time. Getting a 7-inch tablet for $99 used to be a good deal, but not anymore. E FUN is taking it to a new level of cheapness with the Nextbook Premium 7SE-8GP, which sells at Walmart for $69. It basically has the [...]