Thoughts On Amazon, Apple and E-Books

If you had been a e-book reader, didn’t it really rub you the wrong way when you saw the price of e-books rise to the same cost as hardcovers? It sure as hell grated me. Wasn’t it cheaper to produce a digital book than its paper counterpart? And wasn’t distribution, catalog availabililty and storage issues now less expensive?

Well apparently this happened because Apple got serious about digital book distribution and was giving the publishers a more comfortable payment model than the competition, Amazon. Learning about the Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple and the major publishers was a surprise to me and then again, it wasn’t.

Smartphone Field Continues To Level

With the underestimated growth of Android, good advances on Windows Phone 7, WebOS 2.0 , and an ongoing slew of new models coming off the assembly lines from: Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Blackberry, et al., how much longer can Apple hold smartphone throne with one model released a year with a proprietary OS? Ultimately, the consumer wins this one.

Motorola Smacks Back At Steve Jobs

Let’s give Motorola credit for their current ‘No Jacket Required’ ad and its smack at Steve Jobs’ statement at the ‘Antennagate’ press conference, that all smartphones suffer reception problems. In a recent interview, Motorola CEO, Sanjay Jha stated that “the most popular voice message on the new iPhone was “Sorry, I can’t answer your call, but I’m holding my phone!”

The Publishing Tortoise and the Technology Hare

For a long time, I have been critical of the book publishing industry’s procrastination in accepting the web as a sales, marketing and distribution force. It was almost as if publishers believed that the internet was some fad that was going to go away and that people would always want to read their books printed on paper. In light of the financial losses that the music, newspaper and motion picture industries were dealing with due to digital conversion of content, the book publishers’ apprehension was somewhat understandable, yet also frustrating in that they seemed to be avoiding the obvious and needed to develop their own digital content strategy.

Apple and Google Fight It Out Over Mobile

A recent New York Times article relates the growing tensions between Apple and Google over future of mobile phones and operating systems. For Apple up to this point, it has been a profitable market with little competition. The iPhone has set the standard for smartphones and their app store is a wild success. Much as they have done with the music industry and their iTunes store, Apple would like a gated marketplace where apps for all OS’s can be sold. This would obviously increase profits of what has quickly become a very successful area of Apple’s business.

2010 Looking Great For Smartphones

From last year’s advances, to recent developments, it appears that 2010 will certainly become a significant year for smartphone growth:

• Smartphone Sales – As contracts expire for regular cell phones, many buyers will make their first smartphone purchases.  With advancements in mobile technology, prices will continue to decrease and smartphone sales will grow.    
• The Application Industry — Apple has created a new, profitable industry with its app store business.  Currently, Apple has over 99% of a business which last year had sales of over 4 billion dollars, with nearly one billion dollars profit for the company.  It’s only natural that Android, Palm and Windows want some of that action.  The consumer could benefit from the competition.
• Social Media & the Smartphone –The smartphone versions of Twitter and Facebook successfully duplicate the user experience of their web counterparts.  A recent Ruder Finn study states that 91% of mobile users spend more time socializing than non-mobile users (79%).  Smartphones and social media are made for each other and will both benefit from each other’s success.

Digital Content Pricing Issues

In the glare of last week’s iPad press circus, a case example of the conflict between old and new media content pricing, may have been lost in the glare.

The CEO of one of the world’s largest publishing companies, Macmillan, delivered an ultimatum to Amazon “We want the prices of our digital content to be increased, or else! 

Verizon Plays Hardass With Apple

I was hoping Verizon was going to pick up the iPhone next year, and though it looks like my hopes have been squashed, I’m pleased to say that it’s not bothering me like I thought it would.

Verizon is showing allegiance with Googles’ entry into the mobile market with its Android OS phone, called the ‘Droid’. We will soon be learning about its’ multitude of features, but as a Google phone, one is not surprised to see a ‘Quick Search’ box located at the top of the browser, allowing users to search the web directly from the home screen.

Android’s free ‘Open Source Project’ platform, will be developer-friendly and insure an extensive quantity of applications. Google has even offerred $250,000 in price money for best new applications.

And if you think Verizon is being delicate about superiority to the iPhone, check out the ad

This competition will be interesting to follow, with the consumer the ultimate beneficiary.

It’s the Economy, Stupid.

Even for high quality brand name products, pricing is an issue in tough economic times. Despite the popularity on college campuses of the ubiquitous MacBook, students are accepting less expensive Netbooks for their computer needs and may never look at a $999.00 laptop again.

I’m not one to take away the cool factor of a MacBook, but Netbooks from companies like Acer are economical, attractive and effiecient. d that money that you’re saving? Maybe it’s time for your first smartphone.

iPhone App Creates Magazine Cover

The current issue of ‘The New Yorker’ can lay claim to being the first cover of a major magazine, created by an iPhone application. The artist, Jorge Colombo, says it took an hour. The iPhone application is called ‘Brushes’ and does not betray a digital “look” to its’ result. In addition, the cover also fits quite well into ‘The New Yorker’ oeuvre. If no one told us, who would’ve thunk? Take a look at the video.