Interesting (Albeit Sexist) "Take" on eReader Demographics, Although These Specific to Europe

Seer Press: "Finance chief for Lagardère, which owns book publisher Hachette Livre, said young wealthy men, mainly investment bankers, support the ebook market, while 50 something woman with average income account for a substantial amount of paperback book customers. Dominique D’Hinnin’s comments follow conclusion of a deal between Hachette and Google which will let the search engine giant scan and sell its out of print books online. D’Hinnin spoke about the ebook market at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference in Barcelona, explaining, 'We don’t talk about the mass market yet. Most e-book buyers are males, 35 years old, with a lot of money. Basically, it’s investment bankers'. He said advertizing rates for magazine applications are also increasing because of purchases by well-to-do iPad owners. E-book prices are about 20% lower than prices for new hard back books, and profits are better because there are no marketing or distributing costs."

French Government Dubious of Hachette Livre/Google Deal

The Bookseller: "French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand has reacted extremely cautiously to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed yesterday for Google to scan French-language out-of-print books for Hachette Livre. The minister said he regrets that France's largest publisher acted unilaterally before the French book business adopts a common strategy on the issue."

Google in 'Notional' Talks with UK Publishers After French Deal

The Bookseller: "Google is in 'notional' talks with UK publishers about a digitisation deal, the internet company has said. Speaking at the press conference to announce its agreement with Hachette Livre over book digitisation, the business also reiterated its view that its e-book platform would launch 'shortly' with hopes it would be up and running across Europe by Easter. Google said Hachette had already signed up with Google Editions for the US."

Google Strikes Deal With French Publisher

NYTimes: "PARIS — Google said Wednesday that it had reached a deal with the publisher Hachette Livre, which has broken ranks with its French rivals and agreed to allow Google to scan thousands of out-of-print books for its digital library project. Under the agreement, which follows a landmark settlement with U.S. publishers last year, Google will be allowed to sell the books it scans as e-books or in other electronic formats. But there is one important difference between the U.S. settlement and the deal with Hachette, the largest publisher in France and the No.2 trade publisher by sales worldwide, after Pearson. Hachette, not Google, will determine which of the books covered by the deal — those that remain under copyright but are no longer commercially available — can be scanned."