digitization

McGraw-Hill: We Didn’t Get Booted From the iPad Launch, Because We Weren’t Part of It

John Paczkowski in Mobile on January 28, 2010 at 9:39 am PT

Though it may have seemed like another of Apple’s perfectly timed third-party leaks, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw’s remarks to CNBC earlier this week were nothing of the sort. The publisher tells me it was not privy to iPad prelaunch details and that to conclude otherwise is a misinterpretation of McGraw’s comments.

Lonely Planet Names New U.S. Head as Its Digital Strategy Escalates

Kara Swisher in News on October 12, 2009 at 10:33 pm PT

Lonely Planet, best known as a traditional travel guidebook publisher, is announcing a new U.S. head tomorrow–John Boris of Zagat Survey–as it increasingly moves to reposition the company as much more of a “cross-media” platform. As the paid versus free content online debate gets louder over the next year, how well known brands like Lonely Planet–which has a strong reputation among consumers–handle the fallout will be more and more interesting to watch.

Open Book Alliance Throws Book at Google

John Paczkowski in News on August 26, 2009 at 1:07 pm PT

The Open Book Alliance–or “Sour Grapes Alliance,” as Google likes to call it–formally launched Wednesday afternoon, debuting a new Web site, as well as the manifesto with which it is challenging Google’s settlement with authors and publishers.

Could Movies, Books and Music Be Amazon’s Achilles’ Heel?

Peter Kafka in Media on June 22, 2009 at 8:58 am PT

Even as the rest of the retail world stumbled in the past year, Amazon kept cruising and increasing market share. So if a cratering economy can’t hurt the e-commerce giant, what could? Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney throws out a suggestion: Movies, books and music–the same stuff that helped Amazon get the lead it enjoys today.