大樹底下好乘涼：蘋果催生的商機
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可以在蘋果上聽的書 公司名稱：Red Planet Audiobooks 所在地：德克薩斯州，奧斯汀 網站：redplanetaudiobooks.com ????托比?海德爾自稱未來學家。他也是“紅色星球有聲讀物”（Red Planet Audiobook）公司的創始人兼CEO，iPhone和iPad用戶對該公司的發展起到了巨大的推動作用。 ????獨立作家和小報刊與該公司合作（只雇傭十幾人），提供他們手稿的音頻版本。其中多數可以通過iTunes下載。書庫每月新增8到15本書籍。其中很多被歸到自助類別，或浪漫、科幻等邊緣/另類主題。 ????海德爾說：“很多傳統出版商還沒有看到其中的商業價值。” ????第一代iPhone問世的短短幾個月后，紅色星球有聲讀物就于2007年11月推出，這并非偶然。他說：“蘋果改變了人們聽書的方式。突然之間，人們開始聽故事了——而且全都是數字格式。”他還談起從CD到聽“磁帶上的書籍”的轉變，二者有著共同的麻煩。 ????“毫無疑問，蘋果產品的成功給了我們這個行業生存的活力。” ????他本人同時也是喬布斯的狂熱粉絲。海德爾說：“他顯得狂放不羈，但作為CEO卻十分專注，對蘋果的規劃始終如一。小企業創業者的注意力往往很容易受到干擾。但喬布斯為我們樹立了一個光輝的榜樣，他始終按照自己的節奏前進。” |
Changing the way we read Company: Red Planet Audiobooks Location: Austin, Texas Website: redplanetaudiobooks.com ????Toby Heidel calls himself a futurist. He's also founder and CEO of Red Planet Audiobook, which has gotten a huge boost from iPhone and iPad users. ????Indie authors and small presses partner with the company (employing just a dozen people) to offer downloadable audio versions of their manuscripts. These are mostly available through iTunes. Between eight and 15 books are added to its library monthly. Most of those fall into the self-help category or fringe/alternative topics like romance or sci-fi. ????"A lot of traditional publishers have not seen the value in it," said Heidel. ????Launching in November 2007, just a few months after the first generation iPhone, was no accident. "Apple changed how people listen to books. All of a sudden, people are listening to spoken-word products -- and they are all digital," he said, citing the shared annoyance of shuffling through CDs to listen to "books on tape." ????"I can say without a doubt that the success of Apple's products has made our business viable." ????He's also a huge fan of Jobs. "The chutzpah that he has shown, the single-mindedness as CEO," said Heidel. "There's a real coherent vision to the company. As a small business person, you get pulled in a lot of directions. But he's a shining example of someone who marches to the beat of his own drum." |
