How Fun, the Publishing industry looks like mimic the mistakes of Music and Movies

WSJ.com is reporting that both Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group are looking to delay the release of e-Books by 4 months following the release of a hardback.

“The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback,” said Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS Corp. “We believe some people will be disappointed. But with new [electronic] readers coming and sales booming, we need to do this now, before the installed base of e-book reading devices gets to a size where doing it would be impossible.”

How awesome – not! It amazes me how people in the content industries still regard the consumption of bits differently than other formats. Consumers don’t care. Charge a fair price for goods delivered and we’ll pay. Choose to play a different game and well … things work out differently don’t they. Let’s just ask our friends in the music and movie businesses.

Sony seems out to prove online video can’t work

I’ve written about day and date previously and think it’s a compelling opportunity for media companies and of course the consumer. I seriously doubt though that offering a $25 24 hour rental is the way to succeed.

It is doubtful consumers will find the offer particularly attractive: At $24.95 for a 24-hour rental, it is more than many movies cost to buy on DVD. Still, the offer demonstrates how Sony, like its hardware rival Apple, has more incentive to promote Internet video than other media companies. via WSJ.com.

Sony is apparently offering this solely through their connected TVs which is totally ridiculous. No PS3? Oh right different department. Fail. I’m curious what percentage of consumers with a new connected set, actually have it configured and working for anything … It should be interesting to hear how Sony reports back on the results of this test.