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Thursday, January 21, 1999 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs InfoBeat Purchased By Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment has purchased the rights to the InfoBeat brand and InfoBeat's popular line of free, e-mail consumer newsletters. Over four million InfoBeat newsletters are distributed daily to subscribers who have designed individual profiles governing the information they receive. The service will continue to be known as InfoBeat. With the sale of its consumer operation, InfoBeat's remaining business, InfoBeat Express, will change its name to Exactis.com, Inc. This business will focus on providing e-mail services to businesses. As part of the agreement, Sony Music has formed a long-term strategic partnership with Exactis.com to distribute the InfoBeat newsletters. "InfoBeat has been the true innovator and leader in customized, personalized e-mail offerings," said Fred Ehrlich, senior vice president and general manager, New Technology and Business Development for Sony Music Entertainment. "We look forward to maintaining the highest level of service that InfoBeat has provided its subscribers, and can't wait to add exciting new service offerings over the next few months." With the addition of Sony Music Entertainment as its newest client, Exactis.com provides marketing and customer communication services to more than 30 category leaders in online retail, publishing and financial services. Using its patented technology and unmatched expertise, Exactis.com is the leader in corporate e-mail communications, delivering over 100 million e-mails per month. "This agreement with Sony Music is great for both parties," declared Tom Detmer, president and CEO of Exactis.com. "InfoBeat subscribers will enjoy enhanced news and information services thanks to Sony Music's vast resources. And Exactis.com can focus on our core competency--providing a range of high-volume, personalized e-mail services that enable companies to strengthen their online marketing and customer communication programs." Simba Report Says School Electronic Media Sales To Increase More funding, increased enrollments and the rise in the computer installed base will drive sales of electronic media to the school market up at a compound annual rate of 10% from 1999-01, reaching $1.21 billion in 2001, according to Electronic Media For The School Market, 1998-99: Review, Trends & Forecast, the newest edition of the report series by Simba Information Inc.. While more funding, increased enrollments and the rise in the computer installed base will drive the growth of the entire K-12 electronic publishing industry from 1999-01, two segments -- standalone/modular software and online courseware -- will grow head and shoulders above the rest, according to the report. Supercharged by growing demand for cheaper, more flexible software packages, sales of standalone/modular software to the K-12 market will grow at a compound annual rate of 16% from 1999-01, reaching $521.8 million in 2001, according to Simba Information. Although the smallest segment of the industry, online courseware will grow faster than any other segment from 1999-01, powered by, among other trends, more schools being wired for the Internet and more classrooms using Internet-capable computers. Online courseware sales will increase at a compound annual rate of 31.4% from 1999-01, reaching $30.4 million in 2001, according to the report. "K-12 electronic publishers experienced somewhat of a hangover from 1995-97, as parents, educators and school boards came to believe that if electronic media is going to improve the learning process at all, they will need to drastically upgrade computer systems in schools, wire more classrooms for the Internet and demand accountability from electronic publishers," said Patrick Quinn, managing editor of Simba's Education Group. Sales of electronic media to the school market grew 8.7% to $911.1 million in 1998, led by a strong standalone/modular software segment and the burgeoning online courseware sector, according to Simba. The Learning Co. is the nation's largest standalone/modular software publisher, while Scholastic Network leads the online publishing segment. Fortune Expands Its Silicon Valley Bureau, Names Eric Nee Senior Writer Fortune managing editor John Huey has announced the appointment of Eric Nee as a senior writer covering technology based in the magazine's Silicon Valley bureau. Nee's appointment is effective February 1. Nee comes to Fortune from Forbes where he served as Silicon Valley bureau manager since February 1997. "We are delighted to welcome Eric to our team of award-winning technology journalists," Huey said. "In Silicon Valley, he has long been recognized as one of the real players in the game, which makes him a perfect complement to a Fortune team that already includes such highly regarded reporters as Brent Schlender, David Kirkpatrick, Joel Dreyfuss, Andy Kupfer, and Jodi Mardesich. We believe we're the best in the business, and Eric's addition will let us take journalism about technology and business to another level." Prior to working at Forbes, Nee served as editor-in-chief of the computer magazine Upside. Nee also was the west coast bureau chief for Computer Systems News and reported for Electronic News and MIS Week. He received a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Also joining the tech team at Fortune as a contributor is Adam Lashinsky, who will write a monthly tech stocks column, debuting February 15. Lashinsky, the tech stock columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Champain-Urbana, Lashinsky spent five years reporting for Crain's Chicago Business. In addition, Fortune reporter Jane Hodges will relocate to the magazine's Silicon Valley bureau where she will report on new media and small companies. Hodges came to Fortune in June 1998 after a two-year stint at Advertising Age. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and a B.A. from Dartmouth College Elizabeth Corcoran Joins Forbes Magazine to Head Up its Silicon Valley Bureau Elizabeth Corcoran, an award-winning journalist who has covered the high tech world for more than a dozen years -- most recently for The Washington Post, based in Silicon Valley -- has joined Forbes magazine to head up the magazine's Silicon Valley bureau. Bill Baldwin, Forbes' Editor, said: "Elizabeth Corcoran has a compelling style of storytelling. She will inject an even greater sense of urgency and drama into Forbes' coverage of the premier industry of the next decade." Corcoran, who established a Silicon Valley bureau for the Post in September 1997, originally joined the Post in June 1994. Previously, Corcoran was a Fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1993-1994), served as a member of the Board of Editors of Scientific American (1988-1992), and was an associate editor at IEEE Spectrum magazine (1985-1988). Live@ Web Site Provides Surfers with Guide to Live Programming "Channel surfing" has an entirely new meaning with the introduction of a new online event directory from At Point Technologies. Live@ is a web-based program guide for live audio and video events on the Internet. The directory allows web surfers to find live broadcasts in practically any subject area, including live theater performances, Discovery Channel's "Science Live" webcast, health and wellness information, Army Sports Radio, assorted live radio broadcasts from Broadcast.com and the daily activities of Alex the Welsh Terrier. "On This Week", Live@'s weekly program listing, provides information on some of the most interesting broadcasts each week. Events listed range from the Calder Race Course and the United Nations' Daily Press Briefing to Dr. Dean Edell's health show and "Thunk!", the world's only animated trivia game show. 'Must-see' Internet broadcasts are highlighted in Live@'s "Specials" section. Borders, Toyota Sienna, and Parenting Join to Host Reading '99 Borders Books & Music and Parenting magazine have once again joined together to launch Reading '99. The program, which is sponsored by Toyota Sienna, focuses on family literacy, inviting parents and their children into Borders stores across the U.S. to listen to storytellers read their favorite stories. Borders stores will be the venues for Reading '99 family story hours during one of two designated weekends: February 20-21 or February 27-28 (for more details call 888-81-Books). Families are invited to come and listen to stories, pick up a family bonus bag, participate in a raffle to win Borders gift certificates, and possibly meet a costume character. "Following the success of Reading '98, which attracted approximately 7,000 people to our story hours at 50 different stores, we are very excited to be extending these fun reading events to almost all of our stores and their customers this year," said Marilyn Slankard, vice president of Borders Marketing. Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
