The Digital Reader

Fusible has discovered that B&N registered a new website address recently, which is their cue to jump to the obvious conclusion:

Could the new Barnes & Noble Nook be called the Nook Glow or Nook Shine?

Please don’t get too excited; the answer is almost certainly no.

[Read more →]

An article broke over the weekend about one of Kobo’s supposed plans. According to an unreliable source, Kobo had an ebook lending program in the works. It was reportedly going to work much like the ones offered by Amazon and B&N. This program was supposedly called off after the Rakuten buyout; Kobo wanted to focus on other features.

As neat as this may be, I don’t think it ever happened. I now have 2 denials from various people at Kobo. One had no idea what that article is talking about and the other explicitly denied all details in the story.

[Read more →]

There’s an interesting but improbable story going around today about some behind the scenes machinations that may have affected the library ebook situation here in the US. According to Extreme Tech, the real reason that Penguin dropped library ebooks was pressure from B&N.

Publishers, however, aren’t the only faction concerned about the impact of digital lending. Major bookseller Barnes & Noble has a history of imposing restrictions of its own over what it sees as preferential treatment. In October, when DC Comics announced an exclusive deal to offer e-book versions of popular comics via Kindle, B&N retaliated by pulling 100 DC graphic novels from store shelves. There are rumors that Penguin’s retreat from the e-book market was caused by Barnes & Noble taking a similar stand as it did with DC and threatening to pull Penguin titles off store shelves if the company didn’t capitulate.

I don’t believe it.

[Read more →]

Late last week Barnes & Noble dropped a few hints that they might be partnering with Waterstones to bring the Nook e-reader into the UK.That’s good news for UK ebook buyers, and great news for B&N, but there could be more to the story. Today I’ve heard the most interesting supposition. My source tells me that the B&N-Waterstones deal is almost a guarantee, but he goes one step further.

He thinks B&N could end up buying Waterstones. I think it’s a crazy idea, but there is some merit to it.

[Read more →]

This rumor has popped up again, and this time there’s a good chance its true. The Bookseller is reporting that Theresa Horner, BN’s VP for Digital Content,  dropped a few hints when she was in the UK this week.

She was speaking at the Publishers Associations’ International Conference, and she was quoted as saying “Our focus originally was very much on providing a successful platform in the US to work from, before taking our product overseas . . . We are working a lot more closely [on that], and I imagine that in the not too distant future you’ll be able to find one of these devices here.” She went on to add that “I think B&N would say that having a chain of book stores is a great asset for selling book products, and if you think creatively about selling content, there is an endless well of possibilities for doing that.”

[Read more →]

I heard the most interesting rumor at Books in Browsers last week, and while I don’t know that anything is going on behind the scenes I thought it was too juicy to share.

OverDrive, the dominant player in ebook checkout services, might be about to management team with a new direction.

Here’s what I know. One of OverDrive’s investors is asking questions about OverDrive’s competitors and what they’re doing.

[Read more →]