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Apple opens temporary, "open air" shop
Apple has opened its first open-air shop, a mix of traditional mall kiosk and Apple simplicity. Located at Glattzentrum mall in Wallisellen, the open-air shop has been set up while the mall's main Apple store is undergoing a complicated expansion. According to Macnn.com, reporting from a translated post on MacPrime.ch, workers are unsure as to how long the renovations will take. Considering Apple is expected to be launching new products this Fall, this open-air shop will allow the company to maintain its current presence in the mall even if the renovations last through the possible product launches. While the open-air shop doesn't have the square footage of a normal Apple Store, the set up is familiar; rows of tables showcase demonstration models while accessories line shelves. When a purchase is made the associate runs to grab it from the inventory room. You can see some pictures taken by MacPrime.ch above and below.
Open Air sees e-book sales success by publishing in the App Store
Paid Content is a fantastic blog for freelance and office professionals that covers paid-content business models for furthering the reach of your work. They've just published a useful interview with Jon Feldman, the CEO and founder of e-book publisher Open Air, about what it takes to get an e-book published in iOS. Open Air sells exponentially more titles through the App Store than it does via the iBookstore, between 10 to 30 times as much depending on the situation. Originally the company just published their books through the App Store, but when iBooks Author was launched, the company adapted its titles for the new market. What they thought would be a massive jump in sales turned out to be just another smaller market. Although iBooks Author allows publishers to make highly interactive e-books, consumer perception is that an app will be more interactive than an e-book. Accordingly when a customer visits their website and is given the option of an app or e-book version of a title they tend to move towards the app version, even when they feature similar content. According to Feldman, "My advice for publishers would be to carve out a digital-first division that would allow them to play in that space without having to think about Barnes & Noble or a shelf or a piece of paper at all." Head over to Paid Content for the rest of Feldman's advice. It's a wonderful look at the way small publishing dynamics are changing as the digital economy continues to grow.
