| Kobo has consistently been rated one of the worst companies to deal with for customer service issues. The Canadian based company realizes they are doing a poor job and are secretly developing a new program called “Click 2 Call.” The Leaked document says “In our ongoing effort to improve our Customer Experience, we are pleased to announce the introduction of the next phase of our customer contact strategy: Click 2 Call. Kobo Customer Care will introduce this new approach starting with our customers in English markets, then expanding to include all our supported languages. We will begin with North America on March 20th, 2014.” What will this new program accomplish? Reducing call times: The agent will have all the customer’s information on hand and will not need to spend valuable time collecting it. There will also be Reduced hold times: The agent will be able to investigate and troubleshoot the issue prior to calling the customer. All of these new features collectively will make it easier on the customer to not always have to give their data out, each time they speak to an agent. The new customer service portal is in testing HERE . It basically asks you for your Kobo account details and what version of the Kobo e-Reader or app you are using. Since Kobo devices are sold all over the world, it even prompts you to choose from a drop down menu where you purchased it from. There are different support options for you to correspond with agents. You can talk to them on the telephone, chat with them online, or engage in email support. I think this new Kobo customer service solution is a step in the right direction. There has been a thousand horror stories of getting lost in the existing infrastructure. It is basically a merry-go-round of getting bounced to different tiers of agents, who often never return the calls. Kobo Developing New Customer Service Program – Click 2 Call is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Kobo Developing New Customer Service Program – Click 2 Call
Kobo Signs New Deal with Sesame Workshop
| Kobo has just inked a new deal with Sesame Workshop to make Sesame Street eBook titles available through the Kobo Kids Bookstore. Through the agreement, more than 50 Sesame Street titles including The Monster at the End of This Book, Count to 10, and How To Be A Grouch are available worldwide starting today at the Kids’ Store. "As it is one of the most popular reading devices around the world, we are excited to launch Sesame Street eBooks on Kobo," said Jennifer A. Perry, Vice President of Worldwide Publishing, Sesame Workshop. "We aim to reach children everywhere and our Sesame Street collection gives children and parents opportunities to read together, engage with favorite Sesame Street friends and learn wherever they may go with their Kobo device." Kobo’s Kids Store, offering nearly 100,000 titles, makes it easier to find the next great book for children and young adult Readers, with the latest bestselling series, Read Along books, and colourful picture-books. Kobo offers parents the ability to set up dedicated accounts for their kids so that they can safely explore the amazing books within the Kobo eBookstore. Kobo gives parents the ability to set spending allowances for their kids, pre-select eBooks, and adjust search settings to keep their kids reading safely. Parents can also set reading goals for kids and track their progress with engaging reading stats – all features designed to make eReading an educational, fun, and friendly experience. The dedicated Kids’ Store is currently available in North America. Kobo Signs New Deal with Sesame Workshop is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Bitcoin farming – on a industrial scale
| Jetlag’s grim. As you’ll have gathered from Ben’s post on Monday, I found that I was so tired on Monday I couldn’t speak coherently, much less read or write. So I ended up spending the day going through some YouTube videos I’d been pointed at, having decided that this required less energy than typing. One in particular demanded to be shared. Here’s a segment from KOMO 4, a Seattle news station. Last week’s news about the collapse of Mt Gox, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, has meant that there’s been lots media interest in Bitcoin, and this video talks about what it is…and, in doing so, visits one of the US’s biggest Bitcoin farms. We were struck dumb (really – jaws resting on chests, drooling slightly) when we saw the footage of how they’re mining: that’s an awful lot of Pis, and even more ASIC miners. We don’t think we’ve seen so many Raspberry Pis in one place outside the factory in Wales where they’re made. Fast forward to 3:08 for a detailed look.
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PubSmartcon: Reenvisioning the Writer’s Conference
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But now that authors are reimagining what publishing success looks like, conference organizers are finding that paying hundreds of dollars to have an agent peruse their work simply isn’t the draw it used to be back when several rounds of gatekeepers controlled the puppet strings on a book. Now, drawing companies like Pubslush, authors like Hugh Howey, and industry watchers like Porter Anderson are a bigger incentive to career-minded writers for the information they can share. PubSmartCon, a writers’ conference held in Charlotte, NC, next month, has shifted the focus away from desperately seeking an agent or publisher and chosen to focus instead of building in time for authors to network, both with big names in the industry and with their fellow in-the-trenches writers to uncover their keys to success. Miral Sattar, CEO of BiblioCrunch who will be speaking and exhibiting at the event, said, “Authors are looking for conferences that help them get the tools and skills to successfully sekf-publish and market their books. They are forgoing conferences that charge them several hundred dollars.” These authors also have vital resources such as Meetups and free conferences like February’s IndieRecon, which had over 18,000 attendees. “Publishers are also looking to successful indie authors to learn how to market self-published books,” continued Sattar. While still offering authors looking for information and critiques from the traditional industry an outlet for discovery, PubSmartCon has encouraged experts and authors from every dimension of publishing to come together at the event. With 50 faculty members and 30 exhibitors from companies within the industry taking part, the event is looking towards being an all-encompassing solution for authors, regardless of their publishing plans. PubSmartcon: Reenvisioning the Writer’s Conference is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Familiarize yourself with your digital collection
| An ILS can make the task of staying familiar with your analog collection a cinch for library staff, but what about your digital collection? OverDrive has the tools you need to keep yourself up to date on your growing digital collection. In your Marketplace account you can look at the varying reports available to you. The library statistic report is a great way to take a quick look at your digital collection. In this report you can view the following: how many titles you own based on format and lending model, what simultaneous use plans you own that are expiring, how many checkouts you've had, how many holds your collection has had, and more.  If you have questions about running your library statistics report contact your Collection Development Specialist or email collectionteam@overdrive.com.
Laura Guldeman is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.
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Welcome to the newest member of the Raspberry Pi family!
| If you’ve emailed our info@ address in the last year, spoken to us about trademarks or talked to us on Facebook or G+, you’ll have bumped into the indefatigable Lorna. She went on maternity leave a couple of weeks ago, and today she had a little boy. Welcome to the Pi family, Ronan Peter: we’re very pleased to meet you! |
Come see our upcoming Roku channel and more at PLA
| Heading to Indianapolis? We will be showcasing our 2014 updated offerings at the Public Library Association Conference (PLA), including an ever-growing eBook catalog and effective features and tools to reach even more of the community. Stop by booth #721 to see demonstrations of the upcoming OverDrive Roku channel, the kids' eReading Room for public libraries, enhanced eBooks, Streaming Video, OverDrive Media Station (OMS) and much more. Every hour on the hour, OverDrive will host presentations in the booth. New this year, publisher representatives from Workman Publishing Co., Oasis Audio, Sourcebooks, Tantor Media and Blackstone Audio will join OverDrive staff in select sessions to update partners on the latest available content and what to expect for 2014. At the conclusion of each presentation, a Roku streaming media receiver will be raffled off for those who attended. The OverDrive Roku channel – coming later this year – will allow patrons to borrow audio and video titles from their library's catalog on their home television set. A Roku receiver will be set up in the booth for live demonstrations to show library staff members how this will work with their current collection of OverDrive MP3 audiobooks and Streaming Video. PLA attendees can also see a demonstration of "enhanced eBooks," which are expected later in 2014 and will incorporate synchronized audiobooks and text, interactive pages, fixed layout titles, and multimedia based on industry-standard EPUB3 and other formats. In addition, attendees can participate in hands-on exploration of three other recently added features:
OverDrive representatives will be on-hand to explain how all of these features can help you to reach and engage more readers in the local community. We're looking forward to seeing you at PLA!
Heather Tunstall is the Public Relations Specialist at OverDrive.
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Get a sneak peek at our new website
Take a look at our upcoming redesign with a sneak peek of our homepage! |
Monday, March 10, 2014
e Ink Based Onyx Ink Phone has an April Release Date
| Here is another take on the concept of a smartphone offering an e-ink display. The Midia InkPhone made its debut at the CeBIT show with rumors of it being finally ready to hit the streets soon enough. We have been seeing the unique phone design from Chinese manufacturer Onyx for over a year now and it's really good to see it emerge in its production ready avatar at last. Engadget has mentioned that the e-ink phone will be hitting streets in Germany and Poland where it will be cost 140 Euros, which comes to about $195. As for the salient features of the device, the biggest of them all is the 4.3 inch e-ink display that it comes with. Also with a resolution is 800 x 480, images and texts are pretty sharp too. Then of course there is the energy saving attribute that e-ink display have come to be known for, which in case of the InkPhone stands at 2 weeks of usage on a single charge. This no doubt will be a boon for business users or for those who'd prefer to give up on some fancy features just to gain battery life. The rest of the specs speak of a 1 Ghz Rockchip CPU, 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage. There is also a micros SD card slot, 1800mAh battery along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. The device runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. There is no camera though, something that is increasingly becoming the biggest USP of modern day smartphone devices. The black and white display together with slightly less screen refresh rates compared to conventional LCD panels wouldn't have made the InkPhone suited for photography in any case. Apart from photography, the other aspects that the InkPhone will be seen lacking will be its inability to playback video or game playing. The InkPhone will however serve as an excellent mobile ebook reading device and should serve well to die-hard ebook enthusiasts. Being equally readable in direct sunlight will no doubt be another definitive plus for the InkPhone. E-Book reading apps such as the Kindle too works well enough with the InkPhone as should other popular ebook reading apps such as the Kobo, B&N and such. Overall, the InkPhone may not be a mass market device but should serve well in a niche market, which again could be big enough if the device work delivers what it promises.
e Ink Based Onyx Ink Phone has an April Release Date is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Good e-Reader is the Media Sponsor of IDPF Digital Book 2014
| Good e-Reader is proud to be alongside Publishers Weekly as being the two main media sponsors of IDPF Digital Book 2014. This is now a two day conference that takes place May 28-29, 2014 at the Javits Center, New York City. This is the first year the conference has moved to a full two day format and many of the top publishers, tech companies and authors will be in attendance. This is the second year in a row that Good e-Reader has thrown in their support for the IDPF. The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) is the global trade and standards organization dedicated to the development and promotion of electronic publishing and content consumption. The work of the IDPF promotes the development of electronic publishing applications and products that will benefit creators of content, makers of reading systems, and consumers. The IDPF develops and maintains the EPUB content publication standard that enables the creation and transport of reflowable digital books and other types of content as digital publications that are interoperable between disparate EPUB-compliant reading devices and applications. The final list of speakers and sessions have not been publically released yet, but is one of the can’t miss events of the season. Good e-Reader is the Media Sponsor of IDPF Digital Book 2014 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Hugh Howey Gives Toxic Advice for Self-Publishers
| Hugh Howey is a self-published author who leveraged Kindle Direct Publishing to distribute his Silo Saga about a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They have sold over 300,000 copies in the US and have been optioned for a movie to be directed by Ridley Scott. You might say that Howey is a self-published professional author whot did well for himself. Lately, he has transcended from being a writer to perpetually standing on his virtual soapbox. Indie authors have elevated him to being a poster child for self-publishing and he is giving unrealistic expectations to writers who want to emulate his success. Wool was one of the breakout success stories for self-publishing. It has been featured on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and was the number one bestseller on Amazon, where it was also named winner of Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Book of 2012. He has signed international distribution deals with Random House to have the works translated into foreign languages. Aside from the success of his books, Hugh is a non-stop promotional machine. Most of his blog posts are endlessly dissected throughout the media and his new Author Earnings website tracks how much some self-published authors are making. In a recent report he said, “Indie authors are outselling the Big Five. That’s the entire Big Five. Combined. Indie and small-press books account for half of the ebook sales in the most popular and bestselling genres on Amazon.” Hugh is a whirlwind of interviews and Twitter chats that tend to make him accessible to almost anyone who asks. The more hype he builds, the more ebooks he sells. One blogger referred to him as a “patron saint of empowering authors” But there is a darker side to being Hugh Howey, more than anyone realizes. Indie authors have elevated him to practically a religious figure of the self-publishing movement. He has become the poster child for any writer who has a dream of making it big. He is consistently cited by journalists, bloggers, and indie writers as being a stalwart vanguard of self-publishing and a mirrored reflection of everything indie writers aspire to be. Recently Howey mentioned, “The key to making it as a writer is to write a lot, write great stories, publish them yourself, spend more time writing, study the industry, act like a pro, network, be nice, invest in yourself and your craft, and be patient. If you can do all of these things, you'll earn some money. Maybe enough to pay a bill every month. Maybe enough to get out of debt. Maybe enough to quit your job. Thousands of writers are doing this, and we are welcoming all comers with open arms.” You can see by this quote that some of it makes sense. It is also apparent that he is feeding people dreams and wants people to self-publish more. Howey also tends to make inflammatory remarks to drum up support for himself, his books, and self-publishers in general. “For a long time now, self-publishing has been dismissed as an act of vanity – mainly by frightened executives in publishing houses, who hold up terrible examples of self-published works and say ‘See? This is why we exist.’” You can see by this quote he is alluding that the traditional publishing industry is the evil empire, something self-publishers do not need. Quotes like this manage to rope in more writers who say, “I feel the same way.” Mike Shatzkin, publishing expert and founder of The Idea Logical Company, called Howey out, saying he is “a much better author and self-promoter than he is a business analyst,” and warns authors his advice is potentially “toxic.” Hugh consistently makes inflammatory remarks, trying to build resentment towards the traditionally published industry. Recently, he said, "When I was a kid, everybody wished their father owned a candy store." Hugh's advice for publishers is to eliminate things that annoy him (non-compete clauses, length-of-copyright licenses, New York City offices) and to lower prices, give away ebooks with hardcover purchases, and pay authors monthly. His latest business inspiration — a call to arms suggesting to independent authors that they should just eschew traditional publishing or demand it pay them like indie publishing — is potentially much more toxic. Is he most interested in getting more authors self-publishing, or in organizing authors to demand better terms from publishers? Well both, as he is becoming a spiritual figurehead that indie writers with no voice can get behind. He is leveraging popular opinion to try and change the industry. The potential victims of this effort are the very authors he is trying to save. Likely, the outcome of this “revolution” is to widen the gap between self-publishing and traditional publishing. Instead of banging down walls, he is raising them up. Instead of building bridges he is arming them for detonation. Hugh Howey Gives Toxic Advice for Self-Publishers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Podcast: Authors or Writers? Harlequin Market Share Diminished by Self-Publishing and Lots of News
| Welcome back to the Good e-Reader Radio Show, your definitive news broadcast on the world of publishing, eBooks and e-Readers. Today, Michael Kozlowski and Jeremy Greenfield discuss the recent attempts to quantify authors in a more simplistic way. This is ruffling the feathers of indie authors that feel they should be called whatever they want. You can weigh in on the discussion HERE at Good e-Reader and HERE at DBW. Jeremy recently conducted a great interview with the CEO of Harlequin. They discussed the current business climate and how most romance/ertoica writers are self-publishing. This is creating a problem where not enough new writers are publishing the traditional way anymore and is forcing the publisher to get lean. The DOJ case against publishers in the USA is having reverberating effects on Canadian based Kobo. The Government of Canada is mandating that Kobo abide by the DOJ settlement terms, outside of the USA. Kobo contends the DOJ does not have jurisdiction in Canada to impose their will. We might see Kobo’s catalog dimmishing very soon. DBW is hosting a series of web lessons to help indie authors. You can find out more information on their latest one HERE. Podcast: Authors or Writers? Harlequin Market Share Diminished by Self-Publishing and Lots of News is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Raspberry Pi Projects: a big book by Andrew Robinson and Mike Cook
| Ben here – Liz is currently non-functional due to her body having no idea what time it was when she arrived at the office this morning after landing back from San Francisco at the weekend. Raspberry Pi Projects is a fantastic book from Wiley, the publishers of Eben and Gareth’s Raspberry Pi User Guide and Carrie Anne’s Adventures in Raspberry Pi. It’s written by two great Pioneers: Dr. Andrew Robinson (creator of PiFace) and Mike Cook (co-author of Raspberry Pi for Dummies and creator of many awesome hardware projects). The book comprises of 16 practical software and hardware projects for the Raspberry Pi – all put together and documented by Andrew and Mike (with help) that are designed to help you better understand the system and become more confident in development of a range of projects. The projects are handily presented in rough order of difficulty, starting with the easier ones to get you going – and move on to more complex ones. The book covers interactive text based games in Python, graphical games with PyGame, interactive game hardware, application with PiFace Digital, making a toy chicken send tweets, chaotic pendulum hamonographs, car racing and more – as well as a chapter on Minecraft by Sean McManus, and Home Automation by Jonathan Evans. I wrote on here recently about things you can do with your Raspberry Pi – and this book is crammed full of amazing examples. Books like this and Carrie Anne’s will guide you through a given project and provide you with learning points along the way, which is a great way to learn about Linux, Python, hardware hacking or anything. Beginner or not you’ll learn lots by following the guide set out by experts such as these. Here are some examples of the projects Mike put together: PacMan made in Python PyGame: Disco lights: See more previews of the contents of the book on Mike’s blog! Raspberry Pi Projects is available from Amazon and also as a two-part e-book from Wiley: Part 1 & Part 2 |
The original Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman
 If you're of a certain age, you probably remember with fondness the animated Rocky & Bullwinkle Show on television, with its occasional episodes of Peabody's Improbable History starring Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman and their wonderful WABAC machine (pronounced way back). Well, Mr. Peabody and Sherman are back for modern kids this month in a brand new 3-D DreamWorks theatrical release movie. We thought your young patrons (and their grandparents) might be interested in viewing some of the original episodes of the show from the 60s after they've seen the new movie—and we have 36 of them just waiting for you to purchase, along with four novelizations for different ages to go with the new film. For those who don't remember the series, Mr. Peabody, a historian who also happens to be the world's smartest dog, has adopted the boy Sherman. The two use the time travel machine Mr. Peabody has invented to travel back in history, where they often find that their intervention is needed to get history back on track, and they manage to get into hilarious misadventures in each episode. For instance, they visit William Tell, who must shoot an apple off the head of his son, but poor William has lost his spectacles and is nearly blind. Mr. Peabody saves the day by placing a magnet inside the apple to attract the arrow. The best thing about the program was that the dry humor is entertaining for adults as well as kids, and, of course, there was an educational aspect as well. Mr. Peabody's awful puns are not to be missed. Click below to go to the suggested list of titles: *Geographical rights may vary by region.
Cindy Orr is a Digital Collection Advisor at OverDrive.
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What Happens When Amazon Is the Last One Standing?
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Before Amazon emerged, there were six major publishing houses, each with several imprints; Amazon indirectly had a significant impact on their finances through the ebook price fixing investigation that resulted in settlements in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the publishers alone. As for bookselling, Amazon’s original purpose in life, the industry has already seen the loss of the Borders chain, the life support efforts of Barnes and Noble, the closing of the Sony Reader store 9US), and a significant drop in promotional efforts in the US from Kobo. Are companies throwing up their hands in defeat because they cannot compete with Amazon’s herculean efforts? Or are they more accurately signifying that Amazon simply does it better, and therefore consumers shouldn’t bother finding an alternative? In a post for Dear Author, Jane Litte provided an in-depth look at some of the numbers involved in being–and competing against–Amazon. The end result, according to Litte, is going to be a reduction in discoverability for titles and a reduction in profits for authors when there are no other options for bookselling. We’ve been asking the question for years: what will it take to bring down Amazon? For the time being, it seems like no one has the answer, and no one is looking for it.
What Happens When Amazon Is the Last One Standing? is a post from: Good e-Reader |
New Survey Demonstrates Rise in Library Spending
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The spending on print books, movies/DVDs, and CDs or other downloadable music was interesting, despite the easy availability of movies and music from other sources. While music circulation and spending has dropped, DVDs remain the single best investment with the circulation far outweighing the financial cost. The unfortunate reduction in print book purchasing could go either way; while ebook spending did increase for most libraries regardless of size, overall materials spending decreased in library systems who had suffered branch closing, reductions in staff, and reductions in operating hours. In even better news, every category of library size reported an overall increase in circulation for a total 2% increase. In a finding that speaks to the vital role that libraries play, it was those libraries that serve rural communities that reported the highest book circulation numbers, largely due to the lack of bookstores in these communities and the unavailability of “one day delivery lockers” or Sunday delivery from online retailers. Interestingly, libraries that reported a decrease in total book circulation actually pointed to ebooks as the culprit. With the ease of purchase and download and the more affordable price of digital over print, it appears as though consumers are quick to press the “buy it now” button instead of waiting for the book to become available through the library, either in print or in digital. This phenomenon has been shared for years from companies like Kobo and OverDrive, who’ve worked to convince publishers that library lending and ebooks are good for their business. The full report from Library Journal is available HERE.
New Survey Demonstrates Rise in Library Spending is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Android Promises SDK For Wearables
| With an already overwhelming presence in the mobile devices segment, Google now wishes to engage with consumers at a more deeper and personal level. The search giant made that amply clear at the SXSW with Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai announcing the launch of a SDK that will enable developers to make apps for wearables. Right now that seems to be applicable more to smartwatches and fitness tracking devices, though Pichai is envisioning the wearable segment to get more and more intimate in the coming years. Maybe we can have smart jackets in future, or even a smart device implanted under the skin to keep track of vital health parameters at all times. Coming back to the present, Pichai promised the SDK will be made available in just about 2 weeks' time. This will be accompanied with the way Google perceives the smart wearable segment to evolve in the next couple of years. The company also stated they will come up with a version of Android for use in smartwatch devices. The new OS variant will draw heavily from Google Now and search feature and is expected to be launched towards the end of this month. Google is also reported to be collaborating with LG Electronics in developing a smartwatch of its own in what surely is going to be the Nexus equivalent of a smartwatch device. The smartwatch is slated for launch in June during the Google I/O conference. The above development is accompanied by similar efforts on part of Google to have its OS be seen in almost as many segments as possible. Back in January, Google had announced the Open Automotive Alliance the comprises of car makers such a GM, Hyundai, Audi, Honda Motors as well chipmaker Nvidia that looked for ways to implement the Google Android OS for use in the automotive sector.
Android Promises SDK For Wearables is a post from: Good e-Reader |
New Apple iWatch Concept Envisages a Classic Rounded Watch Style
| There aren't any definitive signs of the Apple iWatch so far, but that hasn't stopped designers from visualizing their own take on the purported smartwatch from the Cupertino company. Interestingly, a couple of iWatch renderings have appeared online and all of them are based on the traditional rounded watch face. These no doubt will act to hide the smart attributes the watch otherwise boasts of beneath its conventional design. Also, such renderings comes as a break from the usual types we have seen so far, that are either the types of fitness bands with a curved display incorporated or with angular edges as seen with the Galaxy Gear 2 and such. Argentine student Tomas Moyano’s concept is sans any external keys or sockets, making it perfect for use even in rain or dusty conditions. The device also does away with sound based notification systems, relying instead on vibrations to inform the users of any incoming notifications. The justification for such a design feature is that sound based notifications can be unreliable in a busy and noisy area while generating sounds loud enough can be energy sapping as well. Instead, vibrations can be a lot more reliable, more so for a device that is always worn around the wrist. Moyano also visualized the iWatch as one that forgoes on a cellular connection of its own to better conserve power. In such a scenario, the iWatch will be entirely dependent on the mother device it is tied to. While still on power issues, the concept iWatch includes micro solar panels to re-charge on its own when outdoors, along with wireless charging options as well. As for its features, the iWatch concept might include a map application to aid in navigation though it remains to be seen how that can be achieved with the tiny display that the smartwatch typically offers. The iWatch rendering also includes a heart-beat tracking monitor, along with an associated app believed to draw on resources likely to be built-into the next iOS 8 version. Among the other features that Moyano visualized include a 1.2 megapixel iSight camera capable for recording 720p HD videos, M7 motion co-processor, along with pulsometer and temperature sensors. It has a 1.4 inch sapphire crystal display and a resolution of 200ppi. The device will also boast of GPS and GLONASS along with Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity. In any case, the concept offers a fresh new perspective of an iWatch prototype.
New Apple iWatch Concept Envisages a Classic Rounded Watch Style is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Android Launchers are in Big Demand
| The new year has already proven to be big with Android launches. Android launches according to Flurry in just the first quarter this year has already surpassed that of the entire 2013, still not quite at the end of Q1, 2014. Some estimates are at about 30 million monthly users in the US, still far from assuming a dominant share. Nevertheless, the tremendous growth recorded in Q1, 2014 shows consumers’ willingness to use Android, especially Google Now, Facebook Home (though this hasn't proven to be particularly popular), even those catering to a niche segment like Kids Place – Parental Control.
Android Launchers are in Big Demand is a post from: Good e-Reader |
NYT Now App: Abridged News on Mobile Devices at Half the Cost
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In the ongoing experimentation from newspapers to adapt to a world of digital consumers while still making a profit, the New York Times has announced its newest option: abridged stories from its own publications, and other source around the internet, optimized for mobile device reading. Thanks to a new app, NYT Now, subscribers to the app’s content can access shorter versions of the paper’s full-length articles for a little more than half the cost of a full digital subscription. This kind of service is perfect for people who want the level of content and slant of journalism that the Times is typically known for, but do not have the time to read full-length editions every day. This as-of-yet untapped level on consumer–the person who wishes he read more books or was more up-to-date on current events, but simply doesn’t have enough time to devote to this type of reading–is becoming a bigger focus among digital publishing platforms; last week, Rooster announced the March 11th launch of its “snippet” reading subscription that lets users consume serialized books at a fraction of the cost of full-size ebook subscriptions, again, optimized for smartphone reading. While both the NYT Now app and Rooster have set their price points at approximately half of the cost of a typical subscription, in the case of the news app, it may not be far enough. The app still requires a fee of around $8 a month, a price point that people who are already strapped for time may not be willing to pay to scroll through partial articles when that same level of engagement can be had for free by browsing news sites online.
NYT Now App: Abridged News on Mobile Devices at Half the Cost is a post from: Good e-Reader |
