Peanut Press, the Wayland, Mass., company that makes available books from traditional publishers for reading on palmtop computers, will now supply content for Handspring's Visor, a new palmtop expected to take a share of the market from 3Com's PalmPilot.
Created by two former 3Com employees, Visor is a less expensive alternative to PalmPilot that also comes with greater functionality -- including plug-ins for game systems and a digital music player. Peanut has nonexclusive licenses for about 300 titles that it will sell off its Web site as downloadable files -- at trade paperback prices -- for PalmPilots (of which there are currently three million in circulation) and Visors. The agreement with Visor also allows the publisher to sell off the Handspring site and to sell books as cartridges that slide into the back of the Visor system (something not possible with PalmPilot). Cartridges can hold up to 50 books, several times the amount Rocket eBooks and standard PalmPilots can store. "And the really big advantage, from our perspective, is the price point [$149]," Peanut senior vice-president Mike Segroves told PW.
Currently, cartridges are available from Handspring, but in the near future Peanut hopes to also sell them through "traditional channels," such as Barnes & Noble. Segroves noted that downloadable editions could soon be available through major online booksellers. "I'd be very surprised if it didn't happen sometime in the next 12 months," he said. Peanut also reported that in the coming weeks it will unveil a reader that will allow users to read books on Windows CE machines. The company currently has reader software in place for PalmPilots and Visors, which run on the same non“Windows-based operating system.
Launched in 1998, Peanut Press maintains the position that "we don't have to sell the device; we have to sell the book," according to CEO Mark Reichelt. As to its success in doing so, Reichelt points to the fact that 44% of the company's customers are repeat customers. Peanut has deals with large publishers, including Time Warner, St. Martin's and Random House. Among the titles available as Peanut editions are Numbered Account by Christopher Reich and many titles in the Star Trek series.
In unrelated e-book news, Barnes & Noble has begun selling the Rocket eBook device in 31 of its superstores.
