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Quoted – Amazon’s Kindle May Crash at the iPad

March 23, 2010 by 5 Comments
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Amazon’s Kindle May Crash at the iPad

Amazon is developing an app that will let iPad owners have the Kindle e-book reader experience — including access to the Kindle bookstore, of course. It’s not a given that Apple will approve it, but Cabrini College marketing professor Scott Testa believes it’s likely. “That FTC investigation over Google Voice really spooked Apple,” he said.

mazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) has announced it is readying an app to read Kindle e-books onApple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad, as well as on other tablet computer devices. There are alreadyKindle apps for the Mac, PC, iPhone and BlackBerry.

The Kindle app for the iPad will aim to marry the best of both offerings. Users will be able to read their books on the bigger form factor of the iPad while taking advantage of Kindle’s whispersynch technology to download content.

The app will have the same features found on the Kindle e-book reader, such as the ability to create bookmarks, make notes and highlight text.

Amazon is not the only e-reader manufacturer developing an app for the iPad. Barnes & Noble(NYSE: BKS), which rolled out the Nook e-book reader at the end of last year, is also developing an app for the iPad.

A number of publishers have announced iPad apps in the works as well, including The Associated Press, Conde Nast and The Wall Street Journal. The Journal reportedly was supplied with a rare prototype of the device — kept under lock and key — for development of its app.

The FTC Looms

Apple probably would reject the Amazon app for the iPad — and the Barnes & Noble app as well — “but that FTC investigation over Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Voice really spooked Apple,”Cabrini College marketing Learn how SugarCRM will improve your business. Free Trial. Click here. professor Scott Testa told MacNewsWorld. “For that reason, I think these apps are going to be approved.”

Apple also doesn’t want to deal with the barrage of criticism it would get from the public if it kept the Kindle off the iPad, he added.

Enemy Territory

Amazon’s motives in developing an app for enemy territory are equally compelling, Testa added. “Basically, it is a book seller. They may make money off of the hardware, but they also do selling the content. They have a vested interest in making their platform as open as possible to keep their customers — who may well want to own more than one e-reader device — as happy as possible.”

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Amazons-Kindle-May-Crash-at-the-iPad-69602.html?wlc=1269364240

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Quoted – Can Apple’s tablet spark a textbook revolution? – ESchool News

January 26, 2010 by 11 Comments
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Can Apple’s tablet spark a textbook revolution?

Can the release of Apple’s eReader tablet do for textbooks what the iPod did for music: combine an online store for purchasing books with sleek hardware that holds every text a student needs?

That’s the question many educators are asking as anticipation of Apple’s new tablet mounts.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is widely expected to unveil his company’s eReader Jan. 27 in San Francisco, and industry insiders expect the product to have a large touch screen that is smaller than a laptop screen but larger than an iPhone.

Education technology advocates say students’ allegiance to Apple and the familiarity of buying music or applications from the company’s online store and downloading those purchases on an iPod or an iPhone could make the new Apple tablet an instant hit on campus.

“This is huge for electronic print,” said Scott Testa, a business professor at Cabrini College near Philadelphia who tracks campus technology trends. “Ten years from now, the idea of having a physical textbook is going to be very limited. … I really think just having the ecosystem in place for content delivery will be a very appealing aspect for consumers.”

In what technology analysts say is a response to the buzz about Apple’s tablet, Amazon recently announced that developers outside the company could begin making programs for the Kindle—the same way Apple officials encourage outside development of iPhone apps.

Testa said even if the Apple tablet is similar to the Kindle DX, college students could flock to the product simply because it sports the largely beloved Apple logo.

“I think from a marketing perspective, Apple is a spiritual brand,” he said. “Students will buy it based upon their prior experience with Apple. … That can’t be overstated.”

If Apple’s tablet propels the popularity of eBooks the way iPod did for online music, Testa expects illegal web sites for downloading textbooks to proliferate.

This would follow a pattern established with the rise of illegal music downloading sites on campuses to avoid the costs of the iTunes store, and it could create more headaches for university IT officials who have struggled to stop illegal downloading on campus.

“The Limewire of books is coming,” Testa said, referring to the popular illegal music site. “You can count on that.”

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/01/26/can-apples-tablet-spark-a-textbook-revolution/

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