Special Pages - Reports

Monday, December 20, 2010

Kindle for Android newspapers & magazines / Borders, Barnes and Noble dilemmas

LIST OF 100+ NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES IN COLOR, MANY WITH HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES, for KINDLE FOR ANDROID

Amazon has a page now that leads to the listing of magazines and newspapers for the Kindle for Android app update.

  But here are the separate listings for magazines and newspapers for the Android app update.

  They also have a listing that combines newspapers and magazines for Android.

  When you compare these Android-app lists against the usual newspapers and magazines available at the Kindle Store for the Kindle itself (in the listings for bestselling newspapers and bestselling magazines), you'll see which publishers haven't signed up at this point for the Android version.

  For newspapers, the topmost bestsellers missing currently are Wall St. Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Financial Times, etc
  For magazines, the more obviously missing ones currently are The New Yorker, TIME, Technology Review, PC Magazine, The Nation, Bloomberg Businessweek, etc.

  The periodicals not included for Android are explained this way:
' The publisher may have opted out of making it available on certain devices, or the Kindle Reading App experience may not yet be optimized for this publication. '

"JUST NUTS:  TITANIC RUSHING TO JOIN FORCES WITH THE ANDREA DORIA"
Ed Renehan's e-publishing, etc. blog had that colorfully apt title in early December for his blog entry on whether Borders was really serious about buying Barnes & Noble.


  Today's The China Post has an interesting article on the financial dilemmas facing both Borders and Barnes & Noble, the latter having made themselves available for sale and the former hoping to be the buyer! Barnes and Noble are in better shape than Borders, thanks to their NookColor debut and sales figures.
  In fact, I bought a NookColor last week and have been enjoying it as a secondary, supplemental reader for color material, including National Geographic.  It has its birthing pains and I'll probably discuss workarounds in a subsequent blog I'm starting, but it is a very nicely designed e-reader although for full books I'll be using the Kindle's E-Ink screen.

Some excerpts from the China Post article:
' Christmas to be decisive for Borders, Barnes & Noble
. . .
In the latest chapter, Barnes & Noble Inc has put itself up for sale, while Borders Group Inc has put its hand out to lenders in hopes of avoiding a cash shortfall early next year.
. . .
Borders is in worse shape, bleeding sales and closing hundreds of stores.  Last week it reported yet another double-digit centage decline in same-store sales and said it could violate terms of its debt agreements in the first months of 2011 if it cannot refinance.

Last week, Borders' second-largest shareholder, William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, offered to fund a merger of Borders and Barnes & Noble. The idea was dismissed by analysts because of how much the retailers' store locations overlap.

A Borders spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the company was considering a bankruptcy filing.

Larger rival Barnes & Noble is on better footing thanks to its popular Nook e-readers and rising e-book sales. But physical books — a shriveling business — still make up the lion's share of its revenue.

The company put itself up for sale in August and is under the gun to show that the Nook is generating e-book sales quickly enough to warrant a high price for the company.

“Holiday e-reader sales this year will show where you have a clear leader,” said Wahlstrom.  Five suitors are eyeing Barnes & Noble, a source has told Reuters.

The difference in the companies' fortunes was plain to see last weekend in Santa Barbara, California. The Borders store there was holding a going-out-of-business sale, even selling the kitchen sink used in its cafe. Across an intersection, a Barnes & Noble teemed with shoppers... '

There's twice as much in that story at the website.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

3 comments:

  1. "The idea was dismissed by analysts because of how much the retailers' store locations overlap." I'm no MBA but it seems to me that that makes a merger more likely, not less. Obviously some of those stores would close, economies of scale would ensue, and make the combined company more profitable as a result - at least if the fundamentals are strong enough to carry on, and the transition is managed competently. There may be good reasons not to merge, but I don't think 'overlap' is one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom,
    I wondered about that too, but at least one of the stores should be in a stronger position :-) .
    I sure don't want to see B&N close any more because they closed 3 of 4 in my area, and the last one is the one closest to me and which I enjoy quite a bit.

    Borders closed their stores here so long ago that I would not miss them at all, and I never use their online store.

    But I agree, overlap is not a reason I understood particularly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think the idea is that a purchase that requires B&N to close locations makes it obvious even to Wall Street that the chain is struggling ... if they are purchased by another business, there is a possibility that some sort of charade can be conducted that will take the focus away from the changes that B&N's parent company will have to make.

    In terms of common sense, though, I agree completely. I would think long-term investors would want to see a purchase that will make a significant change in how the remaining chain(s) do business.

    ReplyDelete

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