NEW YORK - as the publishing industry wrapped in four days of digital speak at its annual national conference, the Amazon.com Kindle was seen as the clear, if not dominant, player in the e-market Crescent; Corner of the Barnes & Noble was regarded as a pleasant surprise and iPad Apple one unsatisfactory.
"They had a respectable launch, but we believe Apple can do better," Penguin Group (USA) CEO David Shanks said this week at BookExpo America, which has taken late Thursday at Jacob Javits Center. "They have not yet moved their e-books in their iTunes store, and they may have a research capacity much better in their iBookstore.".
"The iPad offer so many Visual audio applications that reading is not given as much priority as in dedicated devices (read only) as the corner to the Kindle," said Richard Curtis literary agent.
More than 20 million iPads and iPad 2 s were sold in the past year, and the iBookstore is also available on the additional devices more than 160 million through the iPhone and iPod. But publishers and agents say that apple is not yet the balance to Amazon.com for which they had hoped. They believe that sales of Apple are about 10 percent of the e-market, far behind thought 60 to 65% for Amazon. Publishers and agents say e-books are at least 15 to 20% of all sales, more than double from a year ago.
Spokesman Apple Jason Roth declined to comment on any critical specific, but indicated that the iBookstore had more than 150,000 titles - a spokesman for Amazon, said the Kindle store has more than 950 000 - and that more than 100 million pounds had been downloaded worldwide through the iBookstore. He would not say how many were downloads of free books. The iBookstore selections have been greatly improved this year when Random House Inc., Publisher of Stieg Larsson and John Grisham among others, agreed to sell by Apple according to resolve disputes on the price.
Brian Murray, CEO of HarperCollins Publishers, said iBookstore sales were "a little smaller than expected", but he welcomed the iPad as a media breakthrough that has enabled publishers to sell books to e-images and "improved" e-books that include video and sound.
He said "There are certainly areas for improvement, as there is with each book retailer and the device". But the promise of having another platform where books can be discovered is still true today. The potential is enormous. ?
A strong No. 2 at Amazon has emerged, but it is Noble & Barnes, who launched the corner towards the end of 2009 with skeptical, since the name "Corner" in the design. David Pogue in the New York Times had turned in derision "half-baked software" from the corner and called the device "a slug anesthetized."
But Barnes & Noble has worked to improve the corner and provide different types, including a version of touch screen announced this week. The company promoted the corner relentlessly through its superstores and now has approximately 25 per cent of e-sales, publishers say.
David Young, CEO of the Hachette Book Group, said success of the corner had "frankly stunned" him. Random House CEO Markus Dohle has recognized, it was originally "somewhat concerned" the corner, but commended Barnes & Noble for his "extraordinary achievement."
Even the American Booksellers Association, the Group of trade representing independent sellers, was to congratulate his long-time rival.
"They were married the physical location to the device in a way that is deep, e-book," said Len Vlahos, Chief of operations of the association.
BookExpo America is a combination of trade show, seminar, soapbox, and family reunion, with agents, authors, booksellers and publishers together under the same roof Javits and erratic Wi - Fi Centre. The convention is also a testament to the variety infinite and surprising of publishers, a booth where this week to the Lebanese Ministry of Culture was through the aisle of a display of American Girl products.
Among the "buzz" books were novels "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach and "The night Circus of Erin Morgenstern." Buzz words included "a zoo," which means a selection in the e-book devices store that customers are allowed to manage; and "showroom", the last pitch for the value of physics, "bricks and mortar" store.
The booksellers association membership has increased to two years consecutive after decades of decline, and independent are encouraged by the corner because they think that this demonstrates that the old-fashioned bookshops, "exhibition halls", remain the best way to promote books.
At borders stores and Barnes & Noble by engaging more space for the corner of closing, publishers seek to independent to ensure that the tradition of spontaneous discovery, one from identifying a new version in the window or a browser find an old book pocket on a shelf.
"Independent will be OK, I feel really," said David Young of Hachette. "We have at heart all physical stores, and that includes strings, because they are our showrooms." "It is a good term and the other at the moment, that you cannot replicate online."
Independent are not ignoring e-books. Approximately 250 signed with Google and its e-book store, which opened last December and which the booksellers association Vlahos hailed as a valuable addition. Synonymous with Internet research, Google is positioning itself as a bridge between the different types of devices and retailers, a craftsman of peace on the e battlefield.
Some publishers and booksellers would like much more noise. Brian Murray of HarperCollins said disappointed by sales of Google, Google even recognizes were small until now. At a briefing hosted by Google, questioned booksellers aversion of the advertising company.
Director of strategic partnerships Google, Tom Turvey, says "lots and lots" spending money on ads, it was unlikely. But he noted that the store was relatively new and that he was confident that sales increases as players learned more about it, if online, e-book device or library promotion. Michael Norris of Simba criticized Google for not having "" thought their e-book strategy throughout." But Turvey, said that the Google store is evolving as expected.
"My entire team comes from the book business," says Turvey, former Director of online sales and marketing at HarperCollins. "We understand the issues very well."
