Barnes & Noble is challenging Amazon's Kindle e-book service with an expanded online store that will carry more than 200,000 e-book titles for both laptop computers and mobile devices like the BlackBerry and iPhone. It will also provide free access to about 500,000 titles available on Google Books whose copyright has expired, Jonathan Birchall reports, and will be the e-book store for a wireless portable e-reader being developed by Plastic Logic that is scheduled for launch next year.

William Lynch, head of BarnesandNoble.com, says the retailer is pursuing "an every-device strategy," and expects to expand to more than 1 million titles "in the near future," adding availability on more devices as it goes. Many of the books will sell for the same $9.99 that Amazon charges for bestsellers.

The headline on Business Week's Douglas MacMillan's item about the announcement minces no questions: "Can E-Books Save Barnes & Noble?" The number of bricks-and-mortar shops operated by B&N, Borders and Books-a-Million shrank by 19% between 2002 and 2008, he points out. But "e-books are not enough to save any publisher or retailer," says Michael Norris, an analyst for Simba Information. Norris says, however, that the super-thin Plastic Logic reader "has the potential to blow the Kindle out of the water." Read the whole story...

Blaming complacency and arrogance, Yoshimi Inaba, the new chief of Toyota's North American operations, admits that the Japanese automaker lost touch with its customers in recent years and is planning to overhaul how it does business here, Kate Linebaugh reports.

"Our sense has been always that we listen to the market, we listen to customers, we listen to the dealer. That element is a little bit lost," says Inaba.

The automaker's most immediate problem is dealing with overcapacity, analysts say, but Inaba disagrees with those who say that Toyota expanded too fast. "We were having a tough time catching up with demand," he says. He also stresses that the U.S. auto market "remains the most important market for Toyota" and hopes to gain some incremental market share as a result of the restructuring of GM and Chrysler. Read the whole story...

The 2010 Buick LaCrosse, targeted at late boomers aged 46-55, will be a critical launch this summer for the post-bankruptcy General Motors as it attempts to lure younger consumer into its showrooms. The Buick nameplate is currently "associated with plush, easy-driving sedans favored by retirees," Noreen O'Leary and Steve McClellan report. Buick sold just 137,197 vehicles in the U.S. last year for a 1.04% share of market.

Cheryl Catton, general director, advertising and promotion for the Buick-Pontiac-GMC division, says that use of non-TV media will be "proportionately higher" in the launch campaign. It will use traditional media to drive awareness, she says, but also will use "micro-local media" such as digital, direct, in-home and events to drill deeper into the target demographic.

"The perceptions are certainly still tough," Catton admits, but she notes that GM had its best sales month in June since September 2008. "Our goal is to get out and show the new product to people as proof that we're a company that's moving forward." Read the whole story...

Growth in most retail sectors may be chilled by the recession but frozen yogurt shops are as hot as the midday sun in Southern California, Katrina Brown Hunt reports. The frozen dessert industry has grown by 16% since 2003, according to Market-Research.com, to become a $12.1 billion business -- and much of that growth has been from frozen yogurt.

Fro-yo outlets -- especially pump-it-yourself shops -- are expanding at a rapid pace, challenging "full-service" stars Pinkberry and Red Mango, Brown Hunt writes, as well as an increasing number of mom-and-pop (or just dude-and-dude) establishments. "The frozen yogurt business is kind of like basketball," says Amit Kleinberger, ceo of self-serve chain Menchie's. "It's a great sport, and so everyone wants to compete."

But the frozen treat business may be a zero-sum game, as Cyndia Zwahlen reports in the Los Angeles Times. Ice cream truck sales are down as the recession ices discretionary spending. "I have a good route, but people always complain, 'Why so expensive? I can't buy right now because I've been laid off from work for three months,' " says Ricardo Lara. Plus there's more competition as laid-off workers, lured by low start-up costs and minimal skill requirements, get into the business. Read the whole story...

Ray Hoffman of the Wall Street Journal has been interviewing Bob Seelert, chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi and author of Start with the Answer: And Other Wisdom for Aspiring Leaders, on his "CEO Radio" segments for the past week.

A few days ago, Seelert recalled how he successfully defended the Maxwell House, Cool Whip and Stove Top dressing brands against attacks by Procter & Gamble, Kraft and General Mills, respectively, when he was an executive at General Foods.

Seelert's advice to listeners who are facing competitive sieges of their own? Don't bother calling in a consultant and spending $250,000 for a hundred-page report. Buy his book for $16.47 on Amazon and read the chapter "How To Defend Against a Competitor's" attack. Now that's an old-school hard sell. Read the whole story...

Its pending acquisitions of Frontier and Midwest airlines will elevate Republic above the regional contractor level, but it also puts it into direct competition with some the big airlines that now contract with three of its subsidiaries. Read the whole story...

It's the latest salvo in the world's largest retailer's five-year battle to build a supercenter store in the Chatham neighborhood. Read the whole story...

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Scott Anthony poses three questions to ask if you're a considering a low-end play yourself. Read the whole story...