Allen Weiner

Every time I read a blog post, like this one, reviewing the Kindle’s arrive in South Africa, I retreat to the notion that the future of ereading is on smartphones. Even with a slightly less optimal reading experience, the ubiquity of smartphones (not to mention carrier subsidized cost) is too glaring an advantage to ignore.

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Author John Grisham talks about the devaluation of books as well as “uncertainty over ebooks” in this insightful interview on NBC’s “The Today Show.”

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Don’t get too excited, in this video, Grisham only acknowledges the fact that ereaders will make an impact on the number of authors who get published (as a result of lower retail prices). The world (or at least those of us who are fans of John Grisham), await the author giving the green flag to [...]

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Macmillian, perhaps believing it will face some tight margins as ebooks sales become as competitive as print products have become of late, has rewritten its author contracts, with boilerplate language stating that authors will receive 20% royalty fees on net ebook sales. Many major publishers, including Random House and Simon and Schuster offer authors 25% [...]

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Putting aside my instincts to avoid writing about rumor (oops. I have said that before), an overwhelming number of published reports indicate that book retailer Barnes and Noble is about to launch an ereader, joining the parade of devices that includes the Kindle, Sony’s family of products and devices soon to [...]

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IREX Technologies has announced a new entry into the e-reader space that is sure to turn some heads and offer yet another competitive alternative to Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s new product lines. Additionally, the new, 8.1-inch IREX DR800SG, adds Verizon to the list of carriers who sense an opportunity in this emerging space. Verizon will [...]

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Word is leaking out (no doubt from Microsoft itself) on the Courier tablet. Looks very cool but it raises more questions that offers answers. If it’s the device that supports cool Silverlight applications for content providers, it will be quite interesting. So far, Apple has little to worry about if it intends to offer a [...]

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Google’s announcement that it plans to enter the ebook space is hardly a surprise given the search giant indicated such intentions as part of its class action lawsuit settlement with book publishers earlier this year. How Google manifests its interest in the ebook space and what parts of the value chain it assumes is where [...]

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For those of us deeply entrenched in following the e-book world, we watch and marvel as Amazon’s purchase of Lexcycle, developer of Stanza, a the most popular iPhone e-book application, further distances the Seattle company from the competition. Question: is everyone else in this space either asleep at the switch or too busy worrying about [...]

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