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Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Apple-Amazon Book War Heats Up and Claims Macmillan as a Casualty

Apple has yet to sell its first e-book, but it is already engaged in a bruising battle with Amazon for control of the market. The most recent salvo: Amazon has stopped selling all books from MacMillan, apparently in response to the publisher’s plans to sell its books at a higher price point through Apple.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Will Apple Break Twitter? [UPDATED]

If you’re reading this story shortly before the launch of Apple’s tablet, there’s a very good chance you’re on Twitter as well. Can the service, which continues to be balky under normal conditions, hold up under a deluge of chatter?

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The Music Industry’s Cautionary iTunes Tale Resonates with Publishers–And Apple

Look who has learned one of the most important lessons of the music industry’s love-hate relationship with iTunes: Apple. It shows in Steve Jobs’s approach to book publishers, which is designed to assuage their fear that e-books will cannibalize their old business.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

More Stuff You Won’t See on Tablet Day: Condé Nast Magazines

I got a great glimpse of the future of magazines last week. It’s the March issue of Wired, transformed into a digital edition that takes full advantage of the Apple tablet we’re going to see on Wednesday. But you’re not going to be able to buy a tabletized Wired for some time: Condé Nast, like most would-be Apple media partners, simply doesn’t know that much about the device yet.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

No Time Inc. for the Tablet Next Week

si tablet

Here’s someone else you won’t see onstage with Steve Jobs next week: Anyone from Time Inc. With good reason: The magazine company doesn’t have any tablet-ready stuff to show off yet. Tease that out a bit and you can tell the story of most media companies. They’re excited to start taking advantage of the tablet–as soon as they find out what it is, exactly.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Who’s Joining Steve Jobs for the Tablet Launch Next Week?

steve_tabletApple is set to show off a shiny new device, which means the company needs shiny new media products to show off, too. Like what? Some educated guesses: Expect stuff from Disney and the New York Times, but not from the music labels.

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Friday, December 4, 2009

Confirmed: Apple Buys Music Service Lala, at a Fire Sale Price [UPDATE]

Apple has purchased online music service Lala, I’ve confirmed with a source familiar with the transaction. Both Bloomberg and CNET reported the chats earlier today. If you’d like other confirmation, New York Times also reports that the deal has closed.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Can Adobe and Apple Play Nicely When–And If–The Tablet Shows Up?

kid fight

Adobe is preparing to put magazines on Apple’s purported wondertablet. But what if that device, like Apple’s iPhone, doesn’t want to work with Adobe?

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Condé Nast’s Offering for Apple’s Mystery Tablet: Wired Magazine

cover_wired_190Here’s yet another content creator that’s convinced Apple has a tablet device in the works: Condé Nast says it will have a digital version of Wired magazine ready for the purported gadget by the middle of next year and will eventually create similar versions for all of its 18 titles.

But Condé, like other publishers, says Apple won’t actually talk to the company about its plans for the device–or even acknowledge that it has plans.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

What Does the New York Times Really Know About Apple’s Tablet? “I Ain’t Sayin’,” Says Editor Bill Keller.

bill-kellerAll the news we can’t tell you about? Most publishers can’t even get Apple to acknowledge that it’s working on a tablet, but maybe the newspaper of record has more pull. In any event, its top editor is staying mostly mum.

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

We Are The World! Sony, Michael Jackson’s Estate Working With iTunes, After All.

michael-jacksonAfter Michael Jackson died, fans flooded iTunes to snap up his music. And contrary to an earlier report, “This Is It,” the singer’s final work, will also be sold by Apple this month.

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Apple’s Apps Flying Off the Virtual Shelves: 6.6 Million Downloads Per Day

apple-app-storeIt took Apple a year to move its first 1.5 billion apps from its iTunes store. It took a mere 76 days to move the next 500 million.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Let It Be: Beatles Still Not Coming to iTunes Tomorrow

beatlesforsaleiPods with cameras? Maybe. iTunes with new features? For sure. iTunes with Beatles? Nope.

I’m sure that Apple will indeed sell the Fab Four’s music via its digital music store one day. But it’s not happening at Apple’s keynote presentation tomorrow.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Not Dead Yet! The CD Still Rules Music (But iTunes Is Closing the Gap).

victrola_ladyReady to toss dirt on the old, unloved CD? You’re going to have to wait a while. Compact discs are increasingly hard to find (at least in physical stores), but someone out there keeps buying them: The ancient format still makes up the majority of music sales in the U.S. And since album-length CDs are a whole lot more lucrative for the industry than iTunes singles, expect to see the industry cling to them as long it can get away with it.

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Here It Comes. But What Is It, Exactly? Apple Plans Keynote Event for September.

jobsTime to get the rumor mill kicked into high gear: Multiple music industry sources say Apple executives have told them the company is planning one of its famed keynote events for the week of Sept. 7. But in true Apple fashion, the company has been noncommittal about the exact date of the event and what it will be showing off.

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About Peter

Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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