PaidContent reports that Barnes & Noble may be ready to take the unusual step of selling itself in order to raise its stock price. (That seems like a bit of an extreme method, but what do I know about corporate finance?)
The article notes that B&N faces the problem that the Nook simply isn’t as well-known as the Kindle, but points out that this has the potential to change given that B&N has the ability to promote its device through its physical stores, which Amazon does not.
Meanwhile, eBookNewser reports that Amazon is holding a Kindle commercial contest. Kindle owners can create and submit a 30-second commercial by August 29th. The grand prize winner will get a $15,000 Amazon gift card, and four runners-up will get a $2,500 card each.
And Peter Kafka at All Things Digital’s MediaMemo reports that Condé Nast, whose Wired app is the poster child for the Adobe/Apple Flash feud, has come out with another magazine app—this one for Glamour, and created entirely in-house (unlike Wired’s Adobe partnership). The New Yorker is reportedly up for the app treatment next.
The Glamour app costs $3.99 per issue—like the Wired app, the same as the print price. One new feature Kafka points out is the ability for readers to tap on images to go to a website where they can order the item shown. Glamour isn’t getting a referral cut yet, but that could change.
Wow, there’s already a lot of rumors about who will buy Barnes and Noble.
There’s a poll at:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10826739/2/barnes-noble-buyers-who-will-make-a-bid.html
The candidates are Barnes and Noble CEO Len Riggio, activist investor Ron Burkle, Borders, Amazon, and Microsoft? (Wouldn’t Apple or Google make more sense). The poll is missing a “noone” option.
A lot of people seem to think Amazon will go for it (35% of current poll-takers). That would certainly kill off Epub. And since Barnes and Nobles has a current market cap of just under a billion dollars, it might be a more appealing option than continuing price wars with a now better-funded private company. It’s still a long shot that they would actually go for it, though.