Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Gadgets / Other, ebooks  Amazon cannot hold onto the e-book market with the entry of Apple with the ultra-hyped iPad and the specter of a Google tablet, according to Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang. Wang’s research paper shows the three companies will each split the e-book market, dropping Amazon’s marketshare from 90% to 35%. Ouch.
Near term, we suspect that the iPad and the new eBook agency pricing model, which requires that Amazon increase retail prices to be more consistent with Apple's pricing, will provide Kindle with the most market share headwind. Going forward, we can envision a scenario where Apple, Amazon, and Google eventually split the market. Therefore, we expect Amazon's share of eBooks business to fall from 90% currently to about 35% over the next five years.
The iPad is coming, the iPad is coming! But is the iPad really that much of a threat? According to Steve Jobs, the iPad won’t even ship with the a e-reader application on the device. Users will have to sift through the 150,000 apps to find a suitable e-reader and download the app themselves. The positioning of the e-reader falls in line with what Jobs said back in 2008: "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore."
GTablet Fearing Google in the market might make even less sense. A concept image was floated around the net but we’ve not anything concrete about a tablet or e-reading device has been even suggested by Google. The company is selling it’s first phone after years of Android development. Google’s interest has always been opening up data, especially when it comes to books. An e-reader for them is any device that connects to the net. If Google has a tablet, it won’t be optimized for e-reading. Kindle is King In talking about e-readers for a few years, there is one thing I’ve learned: readers are ferociously loyal to their Kindle. E-ink, low battery drain and a wide selection of high demand content should keep Kindle-rs locked in. If Kindle owners pick up an iPad, I suspect it will be for everything but e-reading. In summary, I have a hard time agreeing with this analyst. To be far, Wang expects this 3-way split will happen eventually. Even long term, the idea of e-books catching on the iPad seems hopeful and to throw Google into the mix at this point seems more than hopeful - it’s fanciful. Read: [Wall Street Journal] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking, Web Apps, Websites, Google  The Canadian Privacy Commissioner is now investigating if Google violated more than just users trust when it threw the switch to turn Google Buzz on for everyone. The Commissioner is actively pursuing Google and was in talks with the company over the weekend regarding Buzz and the privacy concerns of Canadians. Buzz is increasingly becoming more of an eyesore for Google.
Our Shawn Ingram noted, ” Buzz at first glance comes off as a bit of a Twitter-clone built into Gmail. It's a service for sharing short messages, photos and videos with your friends. Of course, unlike Twitter and Facebook, there's theoretically a way to automatically include everyone as it just takes your friends from Google Contacts. Buzz makes it possible to link to other web services like Picasa, Flickr, Twitter and Google Reader, which looks to be a nice feature. “ Privacy concerns erupted as soon as Buzz was turned on. Instantly, Buzz added users most popular contacts as followers, inadvertently adding good with bad. Many complained this was not the way to build a social network. Now, Buzz has caught the interest of the Privacy Commissioner. Google Canada spokesperson, Wendy Rozeluk, commented, “we’ll be making some significant product improvements over the next few days based on user feedback,” she said. “The user always comes first.” Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has been active with social networking sites like Facebook, recently forcing the site to modify some of its practices. Read: [CBC News] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Gadgets / Other There are always those little gadgets that, when you see them it makes you wonder why you have never seen one of those in the past. And for me, this is the case with a little device from Scosche that fits on your keychain. The gadget is called the flipSYNC and just as the name implies it flips apart and reveals a USB connector that you can use to charge and/or sync your USB devices. The nice part here is that it looks to be small, and is designed to fit on your keychain which means it should almost always be with you. That means you are likely to never get caught out without that charging cable again. There is always the issue of losing your keys, but that is another issue entirely. Anyway, the flipSYNC is available in two models, one that has micro and mini USB 2.0 and one that works with the iPhone or iPod touch. Both are going to retail for $19.99. Pre-orders are currently available and units are expected to begin shipping in the early Spring. Product [Scosche and Scosche] Via [Lifehacker] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Websites, Google  When Google Buzz originally launched it had the support for webOS devices listed as “coming soon” which upset some of the geekier users that wanted to be able to Buzz on the go. Thankfully that “coming soon” was not entirely accurate and it turns out Buzz works just fine on the Pre and Pixi—as long as you know the web URL to visit.
https://m.google.com/app/buzz?force=1
So just grab you webOS device, launch the web browser and point it to the above address and you will soon be buzzing. That said, there is a shortcoming in the features, it seems that at this time you are not able to take advantage of the location based features. But that is not a limitation of Goog Buzz but the webOS browser. Via [PreCentral.net] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Video, Content, Gadgets / Other, Household, Web, Online Music/Video Sony originally unveiled the Dash during CES and it is expected to be available in April at which time it will retail for $199. As far as what the Dash does, well, think Chumby—but for grown ups. In reality it will allow the user to do things like have access to the weather, Facebook, Twitter, a calendar, Slacker, Pandora, photo slideshows and more. In terms of content I would have said it was designed for quick-at-a-glance style stuff. However this latest announcement changed that up a little bit and could have you sitting in front of your Dash for a few hours at a time. Sony, along with Netflix has just recently announced that the Dash will be able to stream Netflix Watch Instantly content. Of course, whether or not people will want to watch movies on the 7-inch display will be another story. Read [Sony] Via [Hacking Netflix and Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
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