Sony Reader eBook app Hits Android Market

mobiputing: "Sony has launched a mobile eBook Reader app for Google Android. It’s now available for download from the Android Market. The app supports Android 2.2 and up. An iOS version is expected soon. ... "

How Online Reading Habits Have Changed Over 2010

Macmanus, NYTimes: "One of the more subtle trends of 2010 has been the way that our reading habits have changed, due to a convergence of other Web trends: mobile apps, real-time Web (mostly Twitter), and social networking as a way to track news (mostly Facebook). In the previous era of the Web, the so-called Web 2.0, RSS Readers and start pages were all the rage. Over 2010, though, more people used tools like Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, Flipboard, LazyWeb, Feedly and TweetDeck, to track news. Nowadays I'm more likely to find stories to read via a vertical aggregator (the media-focused Mediagazer is my current favorite) and save them to Instapaper for later reading via my iPhone or iPad. I still use Google Reader, but in all honesty I now use it more to scan than to read. ... "

link.me: A Tool to Help Publishers Connect with Readers Through Mobile Devices

PW: "For more than a year, a startup company whose backers include Andrew Barlow, founder of the online competitive intelligence company Hitwise, has been working with HarperCollins to develop and refine a method to help publishers use mobile devices to connect with readers. Started in Australia but with an office in New York, that company, QMCodes, is now hoping to turn its link.me platform into an industry standard. ... "

Missing the Big Picture: Waterstone's Releases Mobile App Without eBook Download Option

Rather like taking a jet to get to a bus-stop. FutureBook: "The app is elegantly designed, offering a selection of Waterstone's picks in the top panel, and links to 'bestsellers', 'top 50 pre-orders', 'new releases' and 'genres' below. There is also a search option and map that will locate your nearest Waterstone's store. Click through to a store and you get basic address, contact details, and opening hours, but irritatingly not stock information, though I can see this might be a stretch too far for a humble app. I was also disappointed that the app didn't offer more content—video, author interviews, or excerpts, though I was pleased to see that customer reviews were included. The big miss here though is that e-books are not included ... "

USA Today to "Shift Business Model Away from Print" and Emphasize Mobile

NYTimes.com:

... lately the paper has lost its grip on the national media market. Its advertising revenue has collapsed. Its circulation has plunged — last year it forfeited its title as the nation’s most widely circulated newspaper on weekdays to The Wall Street Journal.

Faced with this dour reality, USA Today announced on Friday the most extensive reorganization in its 28-year history. The paper will eliminate about 130 jobs, or 9 percent of its work force, and shift its business model away from the print edition that has become ubiquitous in airports, hotels and newsstands across the country. The paper’s focus will now be on its digital operations.

It will emphasize breaking news on its Web site, aiming to post articles within 30 minutes of a breaking news event. It will create a stand-alone sports edition called USA Today Sports. And it will shift more of its resources toward making content more available in digital form, an effort to win a larger share of the tablet and mobile phone news market. ...

To Launch: NOMAD EDITIONS - A Magazine for Mobile

NYTimes.com: "A small group of former magazine journalists and editors, including a former president of Newsweek, plan to publish a weekly digital magazine this fall, seeking to create content specifically for mobile technology. The magazine, called Nomad Editions and created by a New York start-up of the same name, will feature the work of freelance journalists with expertise in a specific area, like surfing or movies. Every Friday, starting in October, subscribers will receive through a mobile application what amounts to a mini-magazine, focused on their area of interest. Each edition is expected to each take 20 to 30 minutes to read."