PepsiCo wins fight with Coca-Cola in German court over bottle design.

Foxconn sees arrests after unrest at Apple plant in China.

Samsung names new CEO.

Alibaba foresees strong growth.

ASKY pan-African airline faces tough take-off.

Baker & Taylor signs e-books distribution deal with Harry Potter-based Pottermore site.

Bob Evans looks to restaraunt remodels and value pricing for sales traction.

Facebook faces scrutiny as it goes for younger kids as NASDAQ chief apologizes for stock exchange's role in IPO debacle.

Fanatics.com sports-apparel site valued at $1.5 billion.Continue reading...

Kids and Young Adult (YA) e-book sales in the U.S. grew by triple digits in February, reports the Association of American Publishers, as compared to relatively flat adult e-book sales figures. The total for e-book sales in the category is close to 25 million sold in January 2012.

The key contributing factor: adults are devouring YA e-books like The Hunger Games trilogy, and — still — Harry Potter. The Hunger Games franchise held the top three spots for the month of January on both the physical bestseller list and the Kindle paid bestseller list, appearing on USA Today’s bestseller list and taking first place for Amazon and Kindle sales. With the March release of the movie, stats on e-book sales to be released next month could be record-breaking.

On the Pottermore e-hub, which was announced last June, Harry Potter e-book sales reached close to 525,000 in the first month, totaling about $4.8 million. The Pottermore e-bookstore launched on March 27 as the exclusive place to buy Harry Potter e-books and digital audiobooks followed by the full Potter digi-verse on April 14.Continue reading...

“Alohomora!” J.K. Rowling's Pottermore website to keep the world of Harry Potter alive on digital has finally opened its e-bookstore.

While Rowling's books have sold an estimated 450 million physical copies and been translated into more than 70 languages, the author had retained the digital rights as part of her book publishing contracts, so the e-book editions weren't immediately available — until the Pottermore (think "Potter" plus "ever more") digital brand extension plan was announced last June. Already, Slate is calling it a game-changer for publishing.Continue reading...

For a generation of muggles, the Harry Potter brand has defined childhood.

Thousands of those fans camped out this week in London's Trafalgar and Leicester Squares, just to catch a glimpse of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as they and their co-stars hit the red carpet today for the worldwide premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the eighth and final film in the quintessential battle between good and evil wizarding.Continue reading...

Ending the rumors and speculation, J.K. Rowling today revealed the Harry Potter brand extension fans only found out last week would be called Pottermore.

It's an interactive, immersive website that aims to bring the Harry Potter book series to life, as she just announced at noon London time via YouTube (watch below), following clues on Twitter and Facebook — and at Pottermore.com, which fans discovered after a street-view search.Continue reading...