Linked List: January 30, 2012

Monday, 30 January 2012

Canon Sales Slip, President to Step Down ★

Mike Tomkins, Imaging Resource:

The company reported growing demand for single-lens reflex cameras globally in 2011, but demand for compact cameras was said to have been sluggish in all but emerging markets.

Is there any doubt why compact camera sales are down?

Y-Combinator Startup Caught Stealing From 37signals ★

The funny thing isn’t that these Curebit guys shamelessly ripped off webpage designs from 37signals, but that they did it in such a stupid way. How did they not think they were going to be caught and come out of this looking foolish at best, dishonest at worst?

‘If You Do Things Well One at a Time, You End Up in a Really Good Place.’ ★

Great interview with Ron Johnson by the AP:

Q. Who are you targeting?

A. We are going after all Americans. We would like to be the store for everyone.

‘Rave Reviews’ ★

MacDailyNews calls foul on Seeking Alpha writer Cameron Kaine’s claim, regarding Amazon as a rival to Apple, that “last November the company launched an assault on Apple’s tablet reign with the unveiling of its Kindle Fire to rave reviews.”

Forrester: 20 Percent of Global Info Workers Use Apple Products for Work ★

Strong showing for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in this new report from Forrester.

How Amazon’s KDP Select Saved David Kazzie’s Book ★

David Kazzie:

As I write this blog post, The Jackpot is No. 68 on Amazon’s Paid Bestseller list.

CUE FLASHBACK SOUND FROM LOST

One week ago, my book was dead in the water. And I mean dead. After a promising start last summer, sales crashed, completely, totally and spectacularly, despite wonderful reviews (from people who didn’t even know me!). From December 1 through January 24, I sold 21 copies on Amazon. One on BN.com. And that was it. Barely enough to fund a lunch date for me and my wife. The previous couple months hadn’t been much better. To be honest, I was trying to forget the book even existed as I worked on my new manuscript, my internal doomsayer wondering how badly I’d effed my career with a self-publishing disaster.