By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Today, AT&T announced that, starting March 6, it will carry Amazon's Kindle reader in its retail stores nationwide. Timing is interesting, given iPad 2's imminent launch and Apple App Store subscription changes that could compel Amazon to curtail or even stop distribution of Kindle software for iOS devices. Buyers considering iPad in AT&T stores will now have option of the lower-cost and ebook reading-dedicated Kindle.Retail distribution isn't new for Kindle, which I've seen available here in San Diego from Best Buy and Microsoft Store. Given that Barnes & Noble and Sony sell their readers at retail, Amazon levels the competitive field for people that want to hold and experience Kindle."Every product with mass appeal benefits from offering its customers a wide range of distribution choices," Stephen Baker, NPD's vice present of industry analysis, told me this morning. "Every product needs to balance that against the cost of adding distribution but for a product like Kindle, as successful as it was from Amazon direct, it has benefited from being in stores where more customers can see and become aware of it and easily compare it to competing devices."While touting record ebook and Kindle sales, Amazon refuses to release numbers (kind of like Verizon and iPhone 4). Last month, IDC tallied them for third quarter, putting Kindle ahead of competitors with 1.14 million unit shipments and 41.5 percent global market share."Amazon has without... Continue reading at 'Betanews'
[ Betanews | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
By Tim Conneally, Betanews The Android Market has never had any specific ban on carrying and selling straight up text documents, and users could search through the market and find apps that were, in effect, standalone ebooks. Now, however, there is a section dedicated specifically to ebooks... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Late yesterday I asked: "Would you pay $600 for the Motorola XOOM tablet?" Whoa, did you respond. Reaction is mixed, but those of you who own Android phones, particularly Motorola models, are more likely to answer "Yes." However, plenty of readers still wouldn't pay $600... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Somebody call the cops -- eh, antitrust authorities. Apple's subscription plan is here, and it's as bad for many, if not most, publishers as rumored. The first of several key sentences from Apple's press announcement: "Publishers may no longer provide links in their apps... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Yahoo on Thursday announced that it will soon debut a new magazine-style method of digital content delivery especially aimed at touchscreen mobile devices like tablets and smartphones called Livestand."Publishers and advertisers must expand their content to [phones and... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Google on Thursday finally launched a renewed web-based Android Market that integrates with a user's Google account and lets him shop for applications and send them to the various Android-powered devices linked to the account. This new shop marks the industry-wide... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Apple's approach to magazine and newspaper subscriptions and third-party ebook sales stink of the kind of practices that got Microsoft into trouble with trustbusters on two continents during the late 1990s and early 2000s. A year ago, publishers embraced iPad as the... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Sadly, I must reaffirm my position stated during Apple CEO Steve Jobs' last medical leave, in January 2009: His health situation isn't a private matter, and, frankly, it's even less so now. The seeming suddenness of Jobs' more recent medical leave, which this time is... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Responding to widespread civil unrest, the government of Egypt on Thursday evening ordered all private network operators to shut down their services, both wired and wireless.At around 12:30am local time, Egypt's outbound connections to the Internet hit a brick wall,... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Tim Conneally, Betanews Wednesday, Web retailer Amazon launched its Kindle Singles line of literature designed specifically for consumption on e-readers. The works, priced between $1.00 and $3.00, include original works of prose, essays and theses, and the the first TEDBooks.Last October,... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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