Tag Archives: Amazon

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Just How Big Are the Big Six?

MoneyLeave it to James LaRue to put things in perspective for us regarding the monetary power of the big publishers. In the past couple of years with pricing struggles with the Big Six (Five now), is it possible that in our minds they have gotten bigger than they really are? Very possibly. When we consider that Amazon alone has more capital than the Big Six combined, we have reason to take pause.

See LaRue’s post to view a table of annual sales of first the top five US publishers, then the annual revenues of the Big Six. The data was extracted from the following report that LaRue endorses for every library Board packet.

The report is Exploring Connections: Independent Publishers and Research Libraries,’ by Amy Ballmer, Albert Municino, Judith Schwartz, and Robert Weiss for the Metropolitan New York Library Council.

This idea of working more closely with independent publishers and research libraries for eContent was a topic of conversation recently at the Explore eBooks MN Summit event. No time to attend? Hear the speakers and view the results of facilitated conversations here.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/q6a6gz8, licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Amazon's Delivery Service is Reaching New Heights

Image by comedy_nose. Retrieved by Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by comedy_nose. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Amazon is taking the phrase “special delivery” very seriously.

A recent article in MIT Technology Review (December 2013), discusses Amazon’s interest in launching a new delivery system using drones. Although this service is continuing to be researched, it has already been proven to be feasible. In 2012, these mini, propeller-based aircraft were used to deliver supplies to refugee camps in Haiti. Click here to read the full article by David Talbot titled: Separating Hype from Reality on Amazon’s Drones.

Fun facts: Specific to Amazon, Econsultancy (December 2013) released online holiday shopping statistics for this year in comparison to 2012. 

  • Black Friday: Sales increased 63%
  • Cyber Saturday/Sunday: Sales increased 46%
  • Cyber Monday: Sales increased by 13%

 

Academic, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Amazon Launches Kindle Management Service for Schools

According to SmartBrief on Ed Tech, Amazon unveiled Whispercast, a service that lets schools manage a fleet of Kindle tablets and e-readers from one website. The service is part of the company’s push to get the Kindle into more classrooms. It allows educators set up and monitor students’ user accounts and limit what students can do with the device, the company said. San Jose Mercury News (Calif.)/Reuters (free registration) (10/17)

Hmmmmm….am wondering how public and academic libraries will fit into this scheme. Let us know in comments if you know or have thoughts….