By Siobhan O’Leary

Dani Landolf of SBVV

In Switzerland, the financial crisis has reignited the debate over fixed book pricing, which was expected to go into effect in 2010. Now, in an interview with the Boersenblatt, Dani Landolf, Director of the Schweizer Buchhändler- und Verleger-Verbands (SBVV) (Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association, says politicians are backing off their commitment to the policy, due in large part to the crisis. Landolf says that fixed pricing could theoretically still happen, though the Kommission für Wirtschaft und Abgaben (WAK) (Commission for Commerce and Taxes) is expected to revisit the issue on October 16th or November 5th.

Dutch firm iRex Technologies is planning to release a color e-Reader in mid-2011, reports the Boersenblatt. Color saturation and brightness will be three times higher than existing color e-reader prototypes, giving iRex’s device the ability to display “magazine quality” images according to iRex display expert Alex Henzen.

Berlin is becoming quite the magnet for publishing. With Suhrkamp already preparing to relocate from Frankfurt to the German capital at the beginning of 2010, Blumenbar Verlag has announced that it, too, will leave Munich and set up shop in Berlin. Boersenblatt editor Michael Roesler-Graichen comments on the future of Berlin as a hub of literary activity and notes that it’s no surprise that publishers are moving to the city, given that so many German-language authors also call this “capital of the underclass” home.