Even when Apple is losing, it wins
The Department of Justice, as anticipated, filed suit Wednesday against Apple and five of the Big Six publishers over alleged price-fixing. Three of those publishers have entered into a proposed settlement with the DOJ, but Apple is still on the hook.
We won’t know until we know whether Apple will win, lose or settle (and now there are 16 states piling on the charges, too), but in a way it’s a sort of hapless victim. If the DOJ theory is correct, Apple did participate in a sort of conspiracy, but one driven (again, according to the allegations) by publishers that were determined to keep controlling e-book prices. In the beginning of the e-book industry it was the publishers, not Apple, that had the upper hand.
It’s important to remember the climate in which this alleged conspiracy unfolded. Amazon, against publishers’ wishes, was going rogue with $10 e-books. The mammoth online retailer – which got its start in print books but essentially created the e-book business – was widely thought to be making nothing, or next to zero, on its proprietarily encoded e-books, the better to boost demand for the Kindle.
It was classic razor-and-blades: You want to make money on the razor, so you almost give away the blades, except only your razor can hold the free blades. But in e-books it’s an even better deal. Amazon doesn’t make e-books, and they are virtual goods, requiring no inventory and little overhead in the traditional sense.
But the publishing industry was displeased with Amazon’s new $10 regime. While it was beating on Amazon to change its ways, Macmillan – whose titles at the time included the best sellers Wolf Hall and The Gathering Storm – and Apple were negotiating terms for the iPad maker’s new offering: iBooks. Apple, unlike Amazon, was willing to play by Macmillan’s – and thus the publishers’ – rules.
In Apple’s agreeing to terms from publishers that Amazon had resisted for as long as it could, a number of things occurred. It was high-stakes poker, with most of the cards still face down:
- Apple, always fearsome in prospect if not in practice (can you say iAds?), got all the deals it needed to be a credible e-book player with its new platform.
- The publishers got a new, and potentially fearsome, retailing partner that agreed to see things their way.
- That new dynamic had the immediate effect of making Amazon’s market power less fearsome.
Tech wrap: New RIM CEO says no drastic change needed
RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins, who joined RIM in 2007 and previously served as a chief operating officer, said during a conference call that he would hone the current strategy rather than abandon it. “I don’t think that there is some drastic change needed. We are evolving … but this is not a seismic change,” Heins said. RIM’s U.S.-traded shares tumbled as investors wondered whether Heins could reverse the BlackBerry maker’s decline, closing the day down 8.5 percent.
The founder of file-sharing website Megaupload was ordered to be held in custody by a New Zealand court, as he denied charges of Internet piracy and money laundering and said authorities were trying to portray the blackest picture of him. U.S. authorities want to extradite Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz, on charges he masterminded a scheme that made more than $175 million in a few short years by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorization. Megaupload’s lawyer has said the company simply offered online storage.
The Supreme Court ruled that police cannot put a GPS device on a suspect’s car to track his movements without a warrant. The high court ruled that placement of a device on a vehicle and using it to monitor the vehicle’s movements was covered by U.S. constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures of evidence. “A majority of the court acknowledged that advancing technology, like cellphone tracking, gives the government unprecedented ability to collect, store, and analyze an enormous amount of information about our private lives,” Steven Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union said.
YouTube is streaming 4 billion online videos every day, a 25 percent increase in the past eight months, according to the company. Roughly 60 hours of video is now uploaded to YouTube every minute, compared with the 48 hours of video uploaded per minute in May, Google said. The jump in video views comes as Google pushes YouTube beyond the personal computer, with versions of the site that work on smartphones and televisions, and as the company steps up efforts to offer more professional-grade content on the site.
The number of Americans owning a tablet computer or e-reader nearly doubled over the holiday period as Kindles, Nooks and iPads proved to be popular gifts, a new study found. In early January, 19 percent of Americans surveyed by Pew owned an e-reader, up from 10 percent in December, with identical results for tablets, according to a report released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Tech wrap: RIM under fire ahead of results
Research In Motion faced renewed calls for a change in its leadership on Thursday, hours ahead of the quarterly results that could fuel criticism over the BlackBerry maker’s poor performance and sagging share price.
Jaguar Financial, an activist shareholder that has asked the BlackBerry maker to sell itself in whole or parts, once again called on two of RIM’s independent directors to push for a separation of the roles of chairman and chief executive.
Bloomberg reports that Zynga updated its initial public offering filing to expand on the risks of losing its chief executive officer after Google Chairman Eric Schmidt called him a “a fearsome, strong negotiator.”
Amazon.com said on Thursday it is selling more than one million Kindle devices a week, an unusual disclosure from the largest Internet retailer that comes in the wake of some negative reviews of its new Kindle Fire tablet.
Chris Maxcer of MacNews World has a look at the most momentous moments the past year at Apple.
Finally, U.S. soldiers facing emotional problems and contemplating suicide may soon be able to use a smart phone application to connect them to help.
But MS don’t need RIM
RIM is a software company, it live on SW, if it live on device manufacturing like MOTO, it has been died 10 death, that is why RIM quick down whenever their SW got problem, RIM got problem,
Device manufacturing need abilities like efficient process, low cost high performance design,….., when new hired employee introduce efficient concept to RIM, they lay them off, they don’t think those is important for a device producer in their mind, they dont want to change, they are software student from university,
google is a software company, they want hardware like moto, nokia, they dont want RIM, so will microsoft want RI
The bearable lightness of tab-lites
But fixing something seems to be what Amazon and Barnes & Noble are doing with new tablets which burnish their stable of e-readers beyond e-ink and into an entirely new arena still dominated by the iPad.
In recent weeks we saw the unveiling of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet, a faster/lighter/smarter version of the discounted, year-old Nook Color. With the high-end becoming even higher it’s now possible to pay as little as $80 for Amazon’s entry-level Kindle e-reader and as much as $250 for a Nook Tablet, with plenty of other options in between.
In other words, e-readers have become so widely accepted that there is room for flavors and price points to be all over the map, just like there are a multitude of iPods when there was once only one.
But does the reading public really need what isn’t so much an improvement on the e-ink reader but an attempt to eat a bit of Apple’s lunch? Is it confusing — or clarifying — to have tablet readers from two of the major innovators in the e-ink revolution?
Jeff Bezos made it clear in an interview with Wired that, as far as he is concerned, the Amazon Fire tablet is clarifying. “They’re going to buy both,” he told Steven Levy, when asked whether his customers would favor the e-ink reader he had previously evangelized to the exclusion of all else. A year earlier he told Levy that tablets and e-ink readers preached to non-overlapping choirs. “It’s a different audience,” Bezos said. “We’re designing for people who want to read.”
That was then. This is now.
Ok, developing relatively inexpensive tablets as e-readings devices with benefits isn’t necessarily a bad idea when the undisputed leader is $500 and, not counting used or late models, isn’t likely to be sold for less any time soon. After all, nobody has yet to come up with something that can last one round against Apple’s tablet, much less be considered an iPad killer.
I think all three devices are the solution although not carried at the same time. My Sony Reader is mostly a stay at home and is used for the heavy duty reading that makes the eInk screen a blessing for the eyes. iPad goes traveling with all its great ability to stay connected. And its screen is OK for the light reading of a trip: travel guide and bedtime novel. And of course the phone all the time.
I think B&N and Amazon have to be careful marketing. A lot of people who would be so pleased with just an eInk reader are going to buy something they will not like as much because it is the “best” or more exepensive one.
Tech wrap: U.S. spies Chinese and Russian cyber spies
China and Russia are using cyber espionage to steal U.S. trade and technology secrets to bolster their own economic development, which poses a threat to U.S. prosperity and security, a U.S. intelligence report titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace,” said. Intelligence services, private companies, academic institutions and citizens of dozens of countries target the United States, the report said. But it only named China and Russia. “Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage,” the report said.
Online retailer Amazon.com added library to the list of services it offers. Kindle tablet owners with the Prime membership can choose from thousands of books to borrow for free on a Kindle device, including more than 100 current and former New York Times bestsellers, as frequently as a book a month, the company said. Amazon will initially offer slightly more than 5,000 titles in the library, including more than 100 current and former national bestsellers, such as Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Eastman Kodak warned that it must raise $500 million in new debt or complete a multibillion dollar patent sale to survive the next 12 months. The photography company also posted dismal third-quarter results, with cash holdings down 10 percent from the second quarter, and it projected deeper losses this year as new printers and digital cameras failed to gain traction. Kodak hired investment bank Lazard in July to help it sell more than 1,100 digital imaging patents, which analysts have estimated could be worth as much as $2 billion to $3 billion.
Apple said it will release a software update to its iOS 5 operating system, acknowledging some customer complaints on the performance of the new iPhone 4S battery. Apple did not provide any more details but a rash of complaints on the new phone’s short battery life have cropped up in online forums.
Amazon lights a fire, Apple ices the cake
I can imagine saying that in years to come about the eight days that began on Wednesday with Amazon’s paradigm-busting entry into the tablet business, its deeper walk into the cheaper e-ink e-reader woods with less expensive Kindles, bookended next Wednesday by Apple’s latest iPhone(s) reveal.
Both unveilings have lots to do with “everywhere” consumption, and both have aspects of evolution. But a counter-revolution began this week, and we’ll be talking about for years to come.
Dare I say it: Amazon’s $199 “Fire” tablet may not make us forget Apple’s tablet, but it could very well be the first credible answer to the question: “Why wouldn’t I buy an iPad?”
It helps that this device comes from a very credible source. Amazon pretty much invented the e-book business. Before that, it sold lots of print books (still does). But the vision and seeming conflict that didn’t deter founder and CEO Jeff Bezos from a business then dominated by big box stores, and especially Barnes and Noble, is the same drive that has him now taking on Apple in its strongest suit.
Let’s face it. When you introduce a new tablet there is really only one horseman you are worried about. No offense HP, Samsung, Research in Motion, etc. But that’s the reality of it. The comparison is inevitable, and the only one a consumer cares about.
HP demonstrated that price can matter, when it decided to give up on $500 tablets — the same price point as the entry-level iPad — and emptied the shelves at $100.
Enter Amazon, with a $200 tablet that — no surprises here — plugs you into their eco-system just as well as Apple does (or aspires to) and Google accomplishes with Android and its hardware partners. So, Amazon Prime customers, who are already one-click, free-two-day-shipping junkies (I speak from personal experience) can stream the somewhat paltry but respectable library of media Amazon offers.
Tech wrap: Amazon fights iPad with Fire
Amazon.com Inc introduced its eagerly awaited tablet computer on Wednesday with a price tag that could make it the first strong competitor in a tablet market that has been dominated by Apple Inc’s iPad. The new device, priced at $199, may have the biggest impact on other makers of tablets and e-readers, such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Barnes & Noble Inc, maker of the Nook.
“It’s a Nook killer,” said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell more on websites including Amazon.com. “And it’s a very compelling offering if you’re not in the Apple ecosystem already.”
See how Amazon’s Fire stacks up to Apple’s iPad 2. Also a cool graphic breaking down the top 4 tablets.
Amazon’s debut of the Fire came on the same day that reports escalated that Apple will unveil a new iPhone next week. The new iPhone would be the first major product launch under Tim Cook, who took over full-time as chief executive after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last month.
And just as Amazon was taking aim at Apple, Groupon launched its online retail arm Groupon Goods for its American subscribers, moving beyond daily group discounts to compete with leaders like Amazon.
Is Meg Whitman the right person to lead Hewlett Packard? Entrepreneur, author and former venture capitalist Peter Sims doesn’t think so. He writes about Whitman: “Those who have worked closely with her have a lot of respect for her intelligence, yet the picture that consistently emerges is that she is most interested in power, rather than purposeful leadership.”
Hear the plea of the Kindle orphans
By James Ledbetter The views expressed are his own.
I bought a Kindle in early 2009, which makes me an “early adopter” of tablet e-readers (translation: I overpaid). In addition to downloading books, I eagerly signed up for some heavily discounted subscriptions: The New Yorker, $2.99 a month; Fortune, $2.49 a month; New York Times, $13.99 a month (it later went up); etc. I did this knowing that most of the time the content was free online. But the digital subscriptions were often much cheaper than print and the Kindle provided many conveniences, particularly when traveling.
This year, my wife bought me an iPad2, and my Kindle now feels like a cassette tape in a CD world; I think I last spotted it gathering dust on my desk a few months ago. You might think, though, that years of paying for digital content from America’s publishers would translate into goodwill on the shiny new platform. I envisioned publishers leaping at the opportunity to help me make a seamless transition from the Tablet 1.0 era, especially because they know I’m already a paying customer.
After all, iPad owners are treated like magazine royalty. Just open up The New Yorker’s iPad app, for example, and you’ll be immediately whisked into an elite land of witty cartoons and bon mots—assuming, that is, that you are a print subscriber or have paid for the iPad-only version. But if you’re a Kindle subscriber? As far as The New Yorker is concerned, you might as well be the old lady from Dubuque. In general, having a Kindle subscription buys you very little in the iPad world, except an unshakable feeling of second-class citizenship.
This is perverse; we pioneers who showed ourselves willing to pay for digital content—a few thousand souls for most titles, I’d guess—are now cut off by the very publications we supported (during pretty tough times in the newspaper and magazine business, incidentally). Consider me a Kindle orphan. Soon there will be millions like me, abandoned by publications that couldn’t or wouldn’t handle their digital progeny, cast out harshly into a world where we are powerless.
OK, that’s an exaggeration—mostly. Publishers are quick to point out it’s not like they ditched Kindle customers who upgraded to iPads at Apple’s door with a little note saying “please look after this subscriber.” The problem, publishers say, is Amazon’s refusal to let them share custody. In the Kindle’s early days, Amazon insisted on absolute control over the subscriptions that it sold. So in addition to taking a big chunk of all subscriber payments, Amazon wouldn’t give any customer data to publishers: no names, no e-mails, et cetera. Even if The New York Times wanted to e-mail an offer to its Kindle subscribers, they would be no easier to find than the people who plunked a few quarters into a blue metal box on the sidewalk.
Amazon’s data-jail policy is clearly not a sustainable path to tablet glory. Indeed, publishers tell me that the competition provided by Nook, iPad, and other tablets has pressured Amazon to the point where almost no one is cutting the all-or-nothing deals that dominated 2008 and 2009.
@c5karl: I use the Kindle app on both my Ipad and my Blackberry. But unless there are features I’m not aware of, it only works for book publishing. I can’t access the magazines and newspapers I subscribe to that way.
Tech wrap: Facebook, Google mull Skype tie-ups
Facebook and Google are separately considering a tie-up with Skype after the Web video conferencing service delayed its initial public offering, two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. A Skype deal could be valued at $3 billion to $4 billion, the first source said. The discussions are in early stages, and it is not clear which option the companies favor, the first two sources said.
The Internet vigilante group Anonymous denied responsibility for a cyber-attack on Sony’s networks that exposed the personal data of more than 100 million video gamers. “Let’s be clear, we are legion, but it wasn’t us. You are incompetent Sony,” the group Anonymous said on its blog on Thursday.
Sony said the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, the first PlayStation phone, is not affected by the massive data breach of PlayStation user accounts.
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Apple released a software update to fix a problem that enabled its mobile devices to collect and store customers’ location data, making good on a promise it made last week. The update, which is available through its iTunes stores and automatically pops up when an iPhone or iPad is synced, said it “contains changes to the iOS crowd-sourced location database cache.”
Wal-Mart said that it would start selling Amazon’s Kindle at 3,100 of its U.S. stores this week, as Amazon continues to bring the electronic reader into more shops to attract potential buyers.
Why won’t Amazon say how many Kindles it’s sold?
Something about returning from the Christmas holidays makes people want to show off what they received – a new sweater donned, a new gadget subtly pulled out at meetings, a few extra pounds padding the belly.
Jeff Bezos doesn’t like this tradition. He will hint at the generous present that consumers gave to Amazon in the form of surprisingly strong sales, but he won’t offer details.
Bezos wants you to know that his Kindle – the e-book reader that has done a remarkably good job surviving in the age of the iPad – was Amazon’s “bestselling product of all time.” How many Kindles did Amazon sell? We don’t know because Amazon isn’t saying.
What Amazon does say is that the third generation of the Kindle surpassed even the number of Harry Potter 7 books it sold. Which is kind of disingenuous because Kindles are sold primarily through Amazon, while Harry Potter books are available in nearly every bookstore. But it does offer a hint: Some 5 million copies of Harry Potter have sold on Amazon since 2007, one analyst estimates.
Usually, analysts step in to offer sales figures that Amazon won’t. But in the case of the Kindle, they can’t seem to agree. One reckons Amazon has sold 5.4 million Kindles in 2010, while another pegs that number at 8 million.
Either number is impressive, so why doesn’t Amazon share it? Over on Quora, a former Amazon employee suggested it’s because the disclosure would help Amazon’s competitors. But nobody sells Kindle’s but Amazon, and few e-readers are even close to it in sales, unless you count the iPad.
But the iPad is a tablet, and the cheapest version of the iPad costs four times Kindle’s $139 price tag. Besides, Apple makes a point in bragging about how many iPads, iPod Touches and iPhones it sells each quarter, and it only seems to fuel sales.
We all know that the Kindle eBook Reader is a hot item right now. I see that it will continue to be. Amazon’s success is definitely of interest, but if they choose not to tell us how many, so be it. I love my Kindle 3G WiFi. I use it every day. http://www.kindle.co.cc
