InfoTrends Inc. News Wire

Amazon.com Highlights Kindle Sales Successes

InfoTrends 2008 — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EDT

According to Amazon.com, the Kindle e reader has been its #1 bestselling item for the past two years. It is also the most wished for, most gifted, and has the most 5 star reviews of any product on Amazon.com. Amazon.com has announced that Kindle device unit sales accelerated each month during the second quarter, on a sequential month over month basis and on a year over year basis.

The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 630,000 books, including New Releases and 106 of the 110 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 510,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 75 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 1.8 million free, out of copyright, pre 1923 books are also available to read on Kindle.

Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 180 Kindle books. This is across Amazon.com's entire U.S. book business and includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded. If they were included, this number would be even higher.

Additional statistics include:

Amazon sold more than 3 times as many Kindle books in the first half of 2010 as in the first half of 2009.
The Association of American Publishers' latest data reports that e book sales grew 163% in the month of May and 207% year to date through May. Kindle book sales in May and year to date through May exceeded those growth rates.
On July 6, Hachette announced that James Patterson had sold 1.14 million e books to date. Of those, 867,881 were Kindle books.
Five authors (Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts) have each sold more than 500,000 Kindle books.

Bitstream, Inc. to Acquire Assets of Press-sense Ltd.

InfoTrends 2008 — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:00:00 EDT

Responding to customer desires for more automated business processes, Bitstream, Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets of Press sense Ltd. for $6.5 million in cash and the assumption of liabilities related to deferred revenue. Based in Israel, Press sense is a leading developer of business flow automation systems. The Press sense business will complement and expand Bitstream's Pageflex product line of enterprise brand management and Web to print solutions to create an end to end offering of business management tools. By fully automating the creation, production, and back office processes for document orders, Bitstream will provide the tools to enable its customers to maximize production efficiency, monitor and reduce costs, and increase profits.

A privately held company founded in 2001 and funded over the years by several venture capital firms, Press sense has become a dominant solution provider at the intersection of Web to print and MIS. The company's flagship Press sense iWay print on demand workflow and management solution has been adopted as the sole OEM web to print solution by major digital print manufacturers, including Xerox Corporation, Hewlett Packard, and Oc�, resulting in an installed base of more than 1,500 customers in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. There is very little overlap between the customer base of Bitstream and Press sense, so there is great opportunity for up selling and cross selling products throughout the combined customer bases.

Bitstream will continue to support Press senses' existing customers and OEM partners, including the Indigo division of Hewlett Packard, Oc�, and Xerox, all of whom private label Press sense software for distribution to their digital print customers and have expressed their support of the acquisition.

Press sense is based in a high tech development center outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. Bitstream will maintain an office in Israel, which will include product development, sales, and customer support capabilities. The Israel office will allow Bitstream to expand its real time support for existing customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Bitstream plans to continue to develop and expand the Press sense iWay and Press sense Manager products. The company will explore integration opportunities between Pageflex Storefront, the company's Web to print offering, and the complementary Press sense products.

Pageflex will be exhibiting May 18 25 at the IPEX Exhibition in Birmingham, U.K. Representatives will be available to discuss the asset acquisition in the Pageflex booth located in Hall 12, Stand C 100.

Eastman Kodak Announces Resignation of CMO Jeff Hayzlett

InfoTrends 2008 — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:00:00 EDT

Eastman Kodak Company announced that Jeffrey W. Hayzlett will resign as its Chief Marketing Officer, effective May 28, to pursue personal projects.

After his tenure as CMO concludes, Hayzlett will provide transitional services to Kodak through the end of August. Concurrently, the company plans to reposition the role and structure of the Office of the Chief Marketing Officer to best meet the needs of Kodak�s growth strategies.

Hayzlett, 49, joined Kodak in April 2006 as Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of the company�s Graphic Communications Group. He became the Chief Business Development Officer in September 2007, and the company�s Board of Directors elected him a corporate vice president in October 2007. In January 2009, Hayzlett became the company�s Chief Marketing Officer, reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Antonio M. Perez.