Archive for July 2009
Apple reportedly talking to publishers about a new Tablet
The Financial Times reported today that Apple is hurrying to get a tablet-sized computer on the market for Christmas. Analysts expect the new tablet to have wi-fi but not necessarily phone network access -like the iPod Touch. It is predicted to have the ability to browse the web, listen to music and see liner notes, probably watch movies or TV. The Tablet screen could be up to 10 inches diagonally.
The FT also says:
Book publishers have been in talks with Apple and are optimistic about being included in the computer, which could provide an alternative to Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader and a forthcoming device from Plastic Logic, recently allied with Barnes & Noble.
“It would be a colour, flat-panel TV to the old-fashioned, black and white TV of the Kindle,” one publishing executive said.
Information Week has some interesting analysis on the proposition.
Apple’s success with the iPod, which redefined the market for portable music players, and the iPhone, which did the same for the smartphone category, has shown that the company is capable of bringing game-changing technology to market. But the tablet as described in media reports is not considered a slam dunk by some analysts.
The first issue is the price tag….For the device to be successful, it would have to be an affordable alternative to a netbook, the popular mini-laptops that typically sell for less than $500, and low-end full-size laptops. Wi-Fi would probably prove more popular for connecting to the Web than a wireless connection from a carrier.
What do you think? Will a large, flat-screen multipurpose tablet beat the Kindle in ease of use or readability?
Kindle Price drops to $299
Publishers’ Lunch reports that Amazon has lowered the price of the basic Kindle reader by $60 to $299.
“Having previously insisted that they could not afford to lower the price, spokesman Drew Herdener now says, “Whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we pass the savings along to our customers.”"
Is Kindle II slower than 1st gen?
Just back from a long weekend in Bermuda, where we met three (!) Kindle readers at our tiny beach. One couple (She: The Girls From Ames, on her Kindle II; He: a thriller, can’t remember what, on his 1st gen.) told us they buy several books per week between them, and report that the Kindle II has much slower download speed.
My wife and kept our manuscript-laden Kindles safely packed away, while I dug into a good old-fashioned paper copy of David Grann’s THE LOST CITY OF Z and a galley of the new Jonathan Tropper novel THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU. (I’m a new fan). She read & loved the very creepy Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, in paperback.
