Go mobile, go viral, and get mobbed.
Samsung Tablet with Retina-Beating Display?
Dec 10th
Samsung is developing an 11.6-inch tablet with a 2560×1600 pixel display, which might put the display of Apple’s next generation iPad to shame, Boy Genius Report claims, citing a “trusted source.”
The tablet will reportedly run Android 4.0 with a 2 GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 CPU, and it’s likely to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in February 2012. This latest rumor goes hand in hand with rumors of Apple’s next generation iPad. Its A6 CPU will reportedly be very similar to the one in Samsung’s upcoming tablet.
As far as display resolution goes, the iPad 3 is rumored to have a 2048 x 1536 display, which would make Samsung’s rumored tablet superior in terms of pixel density (depending on the size of the iPad’s display).
For comparison, the pixel density in iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S Retina display is 326 pixels per inch on a 3.5 inch screen. It’s been matched by a few competitors – namely the HTC Rezound and the LG Optimus LTE – but it happened over a year after iPhone 4 first hit the market. If the rumors are true, unlike the iPhone 4 at its launch, Apple’s next-gen iPad might not have the distinction of having the most advanced display on the market.
Ebook Sales Expected to Triple
Dec 2nd
Ebook sales are expected to generate $9.7 billion worldwide in 2016, more than three times the $3.2 billion the category is expected to generate this year, according to forecasters.
Strong demand for tablets will drive the growth, UK-based Juniper Research said in a report published Thursday. Nearly 30% of all ebooks in 2016 will be downloaded to tablets.
Lately, Amazon — which dominates the ebook market in the U.S. — has been setting its sites on the growing global market, rolling out dedicated ereaders and stores for French, Spanish and Italian readers.
Tablet Owners Are New Category of Shoppers
Nov 27th
The increasing number of tablet owners in the U.S. is changing the way people shop, with 20% of all mobile e-commerce sales now from tablets. Sixty percent of tablet owners have purchased goods using a tablet. Tablet users spend an average of one hour and 35 minutes on their devices daily and typically spend 10-20% more on purchases than shoppers without tablets.
This is a tremendous stat for e-publishers and authors. As is this:
By 2016, mobile commerce is expected to increase to $31 billion in the U.S. – a tremendous jump from only $3 billion in 2010.
Since using a tablet from the comfort of your own sofa is preferred to long lines at stores, tablet owners are willing to spend more time and money shopping online.
Check out the infographic below courtesy of Vertic to see how tablets are directly affecting ecommerce in the U.S., a trend that is expected to continue for the next five years.
iPad Readers Want More
Nov 20th
After an initial wave of excitement about iPad magazines, readers who have actually downloaded them like them quite a bit.
So says a survey commissioned by a publishers’ trade group: It finds that two-thirds of people who read magazines on tablets and e-readers think they’ll be spending more time with digital issues over the next year. Many of them — 46 percent — are consuming more magazines — both in print and digital form — than they did before they got their hands on an iPad.* And 63 percent of them want more digital stuff to read.
Overall, the survey has generally sunny news for the magazine business, though it’s fair to wonder if the Association of Magazine Media would release a survey that had glum news.
The report does offer some guidance for the industry: 89 percent of readers want publishers to adopt a uniform way of navigating magazines, and 69 percent like watching in-app videos that run less than minute. The survey isn’t explicitly about iPad magazine editions — in theory, it covers all tablet magazine apps, as well as magazines consumed on e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. But the majority of these things are being read on Apple’s device.
79% of Consumers Want Tablets More Than Laptops
Nov 16th
Picking the right holiday gift is never easy, but between a tablet or a laptop, a new survey from PriceGrabber might make the decision simpler.
According to research conducted by the company, 79% of consumers would rather receive a tablet than a laptop this holiday season.
When consumers were asked whether they would rather receive a tablet computer or a laptop as a holiday gift this year, an overwhelming 79 percent indicated that they would rather receive a tablet. Seventy-two percent of shoppers also indicated that they believe tablet computers will replace e-readers as gifts this year. Conducted from Oct. 18 to 26, 2011, the survey includes responses from 3,574 U.S. online shopping consumers.
When those who indicated a preference for tablets over laptops were asked to select all of the reasons why, portability and light weight appeared to be dominating factors. Eighty-five percent of these shoppers said they preferred tablets because they are easy to carry and transport, 73 percent preferred the tablet’s light weight, 67 percent cited convenience, and another 67 percent enjoyed the touchscreen. Sixty percent preferred the tablet’s smaller size, 56 percent said that they can use the tablet for reading on the go, 49 percent cited speed, 42 percent liked its multimedia features that are similar to a smartphone, and 41 percent cited an exceptional battery life.
iPad is the top-ranked tablet and e-reader
The power of the Apple brand is likely to remain in full force this holiday season. When consumers were asked which tablet they would prefer to receive as a gift this year, an astounding 83 percent said they preferred the Apple iPad or iPad 2. This was followed by only 5 percent who said the Amazon Kindle Fire, 4 percent who said the Samsung Galaxy Tab and 2 percent who said the HP TouchPad(TM).
iPhone favored too
PriceGrabber’s survey data revealed that consumers’ love for Apple extends to smartphones as well. When asked which smartphone brand they would prefer to receive as a gift this holiday season, 72 percent of consumers said Apple’s iPhone. Seven percent said Samsung, 6 percent indicated that they prefer HTC, 5 percent said BlackBerry, and another 5 percent said Motorola. Brands including T-Mobile, Sony Ericsson and Google Nexus ranked lower.
Top Mags Will Be Free to Kindle Fire for 3 Months
Nov 14th
About 400 magazines and newspapers will also be made available when the device goes on sale Tuesday, some through extensive free trials, Amazon announced on Friday.
Magazine publishers appear to be particularly bullish about the content consumption device, which they hope will bolster middling digital sales on the iPad and Nook Color. The Kindle Fire’s $199 price tag will help many publishers get the digital editions of their magazines into the hands of their core readers.
Conde Nast appears to be particularly confident about the platform.
The publisher announced that 17 of its magazines, including Glamour, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired, would be available for free on the device for the first three months. Many titles from Hearst, Time Inc. and Meredith will be available on theKindle Fire Newsstand from day one as well.
E-Readers Should Be Much More Affordable Next Year
Nov 12th
The days of e-readers priced in the triple digits are coming to an end.
Barnes & Noble announced Monday that it would lower the price on its signature Nook Touch e-reader from $139 to $99, following in the footsteps of Amazon, which introduced a $79 Kindle Touch e-reader with ads and a $99 e-reader without ads in September. By doing so, the two leaders in the e-reader market have set a new standard that these products must be priced below $100 to be competitive.
And in the next year, that price mark will likely drop even further.
In fact, e-readers could be priced around $60. Crazy? Not so — consider just how quickly the price of these devices has dropped. When Amazon first launched the Kindle in 2007, it originally retailed for $400; now, consumers can buy a Kindle for less than a quarter of that price.
These retailers have long recognized the need to be increasingly aggressive in pricing in order to attract more casual users, but their ability to lower prices was limited by the production costs. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have embraced the option of subsidizing some of the cost of these devices and making more money in the books and accessories sold with it.
Amazon Makes a Siri-like Move
Nov 10th
If the Kindle range of tablets — led by the Android-based Kindle Fire — is going to compete with the iPad in the long term, then having some strong competition to Siri is a must. Siri is currently baked into the iPhone 4S, but plenty of users have been able to get her up and running on an iPad 2, and there seems little doubt that Apple will be officially incorporating her into the iPad 3 in 2012.
So with that in mind, Amazon just bought a startup called Yap. And Yap’s founders have said their technology will more than compete with Siri.
With strong voice recognition, Amazon could push the Kindle as a supremely easy device for accessing your media hands-free. Finding songs, playing and pausing movies, even turning pages in a book (or buying a new one) could all be done via voice. Indeed, given the Kindle’s much-touted video mirroring capability, this could be a back door into making the Kindle a voice-based remote control for your TV.
Would you consider buying a Kindle with Siri-like functionality?
Amazon Debuts Kindle Lending Library
Nov 4th
Amazon has introduced a lending library for Kindle owners that lets them borrow one ebook a month for free — assuming they have an Amazon Prime membership.
Amazon is offering more than 5,000 titles, including New York Times bestsellers, that Prime members can borrow. The offer, however, requires you own a Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard or Kindle Fire. User cannot borrow books if you use a Kindle app on another mobile device. What you’re getting in effect from Amazon is a free ebook per month, according to Mashable. You can, however, only borrow one book at a time.
The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is the latest enticement for Prime. Prime members already get “free” shipping and streaming video via Prime Instant Video. Amazon introduced Prime in 2005 and continues to add perks like expanded streaming content from Fox and others.
The move shows how much Amazon values Prime. Since the company reportedly loses money on the actual sale of Kindles, it’s gambling that it will make up the deficit as consumers buy ebooks. Amazon’s penchant for forgoing short-term gains in favor of a long-term strategy was also in evidence in its third-quarter earnings, where net income fell 73% as the company built fulfillment centers and expanded its Kindle offerings to pave the way for future growth.
Does this new feature make you want to buy a Kindle or sign up for Prime?
iPhone 4S Will Debut in Hong Kong and 14 Other Countries Next Week
Nov 3rd
Apple has announced that the iPhone 4S will make its debut in Hong Kong and 14 other countries on Nov. 11.
In addition to Hong Kong, the new iPhone will make its debut on the same day in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea. The device will be available for pre-order in most of these countries on November 4. The iPhone 4S is already available in 29 countries, but Apple promises that 70 countries will have the phone by the end of the year, according to Mashable.
Apple is looking to do more to tap into the massive Chinese market.
Currently only one service provider, China Unicom, officially has the phone, but Apple is hoping to strike a deal with China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier. Roughly 9.5 million people already use the iPhone on China Mobile, despite the fact that China Mobile’s network doesn’t currently support 3G for the iPhone.