On iMediaConnection, analyst Rebecca Lieb of the Altimeter Group posts a thoughtful look at what the “decline of print” might mean for media. She points to some of the same reports that we have covered over the last few weeks, such as surveys showing that tablet owners are buying less physical media, and projections that on-line advertising spending will this year surpass that for print advertising for the first time. She also notes that a market is growing for “enhanced” books with multimedia features (though plain text versions of the classics will always be with us). ...

Yesterday, when pondering whether newspapers might eventually use free Kindles to rid themselves of print costs, I was reminded that advertising revenue is one of the major issues tying newspapers down to the print format. Which is why I found it interesting when I noticed a Reuters report that the Financial Times expects its online content sales revenues to equal or exceed its print advertising revenues in 2012. The Financial Times is known for its successful paywall strategy in which it allows readers eight free articles per month but requires they subscribe beyond that. It recently launched an HTML5...

On Elezea.com, blogger Rian van der Merwe shares some thoughts about the unsightly clutter that has been showing up on webpages for some time now. He cites as examples a Harvard Business Review article that has not one but two overlapping ads in front of it that must be clicked to be removed, and Cracked.com “where in my unscientific estimation about 15% of the page above the fold is devoted to the actual text of the article.” And there’s other clutter, too: a multitude of social network “like” buttons and follow-this-site social network and RSS feed links, There are...

HarperCollins is considering selling interactive ad space in factual e-books, New Media Age reports. The ads would be limited to books that convey factual information, rather than fiction titles. HarperCollins group digital director and publisher David Roth-Ey explains: “Certain kinds of books create immersive reading experiences whereby ads would be too interruptive for readers, and publishers and even advertisers aren’t likely to put a premium on that. But information books, for example a Collins birds guide, could provide very valuable real estate for contextual advertising - in this case potentially a binoculars manufacturer.” Other...

When I first pointed out that Amazon was moving the price goal posts of its e-readers by referring to the with-ads price as the default rather than the ad-free price, I wondered whether other e-book sellers would be able to follow suit. Now it seems that one has. Kobo will knock $40 off the price of its $139.99 Kobo Touch e-reader for readers who are willing to put up with advertising elements “in discreet places outside of the reading experience,” such as the sleep or power-off mode screen. According to the listing on Kobo’s website, the $99.99 ad-supported reader...

CNet has an interesting, fairly long interview with Josh Quittner, who was formerly the director of Time Inc.’s digital magazine strategy as well as Time.com’s editorial chief before quitting to take a job as editorial director for Flipboard. Quittner is a veteran tech journalist and editor, which makes it all the more fascinating he would take a position at such a young startup. Quittner explains that he was drawn to Flipboard by the changes that are taking place in the context of magazines. Flipboard represents a chance to break out of the traditional one-size-fits-all template magazines have used...

MobileRead user jswinden discovered yesterday that Amazon has enabled unsubscribing to Special Offers by paying the difference between retail prices of the Special Offers version and the ad-free version of the device. To unsubscribe, go to your Amazon Manage Your Kindle / Manage Your Devices web page. In the Subscribe column, click Edit next to your K4 SO. Follow the instructions on the screen that displays. You will be charged $30, which is the amount you received as a discount for buying a K4 SO model. Apparently this option is not available...

TeleRead reader Felix Torres originally posted this as a comment to my earlier story, but I felt it was so cogent and well-written it deserved promotion to the front page. –CM Yes, Kindle’s new baseline pricing is a serious problem to competitors. But it’s actually bigger than it looks. Beyond the unreachable advertised prices, an added problem for competitors is that the subsidized Kindles aren’t just flashing ads, but offering up discount coupons. If it were just ads, it would be easy to sign up with Google or Microsoft to feed banner ads to their connected...

Yesterday, perhaps hoping to stage a preemptive strike on Amazon, Barnes & Noble announced a new cooperative venture with self-publisher Lulu.com, which is supposed to make it easier for Lulu customers to get their books published as Nook e-books. However, given that B&N was already partnering with Lulu on self-publishing e-books, it is entirely unclear how it was harder before and how it will be easier now. And this bright bundle of glittering generalities does not seem to have helped in the end. Barnes & Noble’s stock was down by as much as 13% after Amazon’s Kindle announcement today,...

Amazon's experiment with lightly subsidizing the cost of its ereader seems to be yielding good results. From VentureBeat: The digerati pooh-poohed it, but Amazon.com's advertising-supported Kindle 3G with Special Offers is now the company's top-selling e-book device. "Since AT&T agreed to sponsor screensavers, Kindle 3G with Special Offers is now our bestselling Kindle device," Amazon's press release said. The ad-supported Kindle 3G model was announced only two weeks ago, with AT&T named as the official sponsor. ...

In partnership with Condé Nast, e-magazine app Flipboard has started introducing advertising to some of its feeds, beginning with The New Yorker magazine. But Flipboard users need not fret that their app is going to go the way of the web, with intrusive advertisements that distract from the content. Flipboard CEO Mike McCue insists that the app is going to follow a more magazine-like model. “In many cases, people often look to magazines for the advertising,” [McCue] said. “That’s not the case with web ads. It has a lot to do with the format of online...

Late news out of Amazon: Apparently annoyed by Barnes & Noble getting so much press today, Amazon decided to issue a late (after 7 p.m.!) press release in which it announced a 3G version of Kindle with Special Offers, the ad-supported version of the Kindle that knocks $25 off list price. So rather than $189, Kindle with Special Offers can be had for $164. Amazon claims that the Wi-Fi Kindle with Special Offers is its best-selling Kindle yet, which suggests this one might soon follow. I’m a little skeptical that knocking $25 off the price is really worth...