Tag Archive for Amazon Kindle

RB | April 22, 2011
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Tablet Notes

Forrester Report Casts Doubt on iPad Competitors

ForresterThe New York Times cites a recent Forrester (FORR) report on the state and near future of the tablet marketplace titled “iPad Challengers Have Flawed Product Strategies.”

The report’s main conclusion was that Apple (AAPL) iPad competitors have not addressed pricing, distribution and product differentiation adequately to make a case to consumers.

  1. The new tablets are too expensive.Apple has, unexpectedly, kept iPad prices comparatively low.The Motorola (MMI) Xoom starts at $100 more than the iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab can be had for $250, but that does not include a two-year contract with a mobile carrier. Someone should be coming in to undercut this market, but that has proved harder than it looks.
  2. The new tablets are sold through the wrong stores. Forrester’s research shows that one of the least-desirable places to buy a tablet is at a cellphone store. But many tablet makers continue to rely on wireless carriers as a primary retail channel, which Forrester’s report concludes is a bad bet.
  3. The new tablets are not distinguished enough.  The average users does not care about specs because it’s about the apps that run on these toys.
  4. The new tablets are not Windows. Forrester’s survey said the N0. 1 operating system people want on a tablet is Windows. If Microsoft (MSFT) is not going to release a true tablet-ready OS until late-summer 2012, those who want a Windows tablet may have to wait two generations of tablets.

Forrester speculates that an Amazon (AMZN) tablet could change the market. Amazon could offer more attractive terms to media partners than Apple. It already has scads of credit-card numbers for easy one-click app purchases. It has media offerings like streaming video. It now has some experience designing, marketing and selling its own hardware with the Kindle.

Cisco Cius

CiscoDoes anyone remember Cisco’s Cius? In case you don’t No Jitter has an article from June 2010 by Zeus Kerravala of the Yankee Group. The Cius was purported to be a tablet that can dock into a base station and can act as video phone. When undocked the device operates as a tablet computer that can be carried around and shared between workers.

Mr. Kerravala says the Cius tablet isn’t really meant to be a replacement for a laptop or an Apple (AAPL) iPad type of tablet. It’s a communications-centric tablet that can provide an easy interface into vertically specific applications, make videoconferencing portable and create a new way for people to interact with one another. The Cius will be centered on visual communications and not productivity applications like word processing and spreadsheets.

The Cius uses  Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, perhaps to attract developers. The article says the Cisco (CSCO) of the few years ago would the company have chosen to build its own interface. Android is a key to the success of Cius. The likelihood of developers building applications for an Android-based Cisco device is higher than developers creating applications for a Cisco operating system.

According to the article, the Cius is to be priced under $1,000, comparable to a high-end Cisco IP phone. While no network operator partners were announced at the time, Cisco said that the device was WiFi, 3G and 4G capable.

Are the End Days Nearing for PCs (and Macs)

Apple iPad 2 GigaOm‘s Ryan Kim recently wrote that the glory days of the PC’s are fading with the rise of more nimble smartphones and tablets. Wi-Fi provider JiWire confirmed this trend over the Christmas holidays. JiWire, which operates 35,000 public Wi-Fi hot-spots in the U.S., saw new iPad connections increase by 33.8 percent and new Android (GOOG) users were up 47.9 percent while new Mac users were down 28.1 percent and new PC connections were down 12 percent over the Christmas holidays. Mr. Kim writes that this trend marks people’s dependence on computers is waning as they find more utility and portability in smartphones and tablets.

This trend is shaking up the computer world according to GigaOm. Gartner (IT) recently predicted that PC sales would decline 10% in the face of increased tablet sales. And as mobile networks ramp up to 4G and Wi-Fi usage grows, it’s only fueling the interest in mobile devices. This is a major shift that is forcing all the big players to adjust. The author points out that:

  • Microsoft (MSFT) re-entered the smartphone game at CES 2011 with Windows Phone 7 with Windows OS on ARM (ARMH) designed chips.
  • Intel (INTC) is working hard to get its chips to run on mobile devices though it’s still an uphill battle displacing ARM-designed chips.
  • HP (HPQ) bought Palm last year and is prepping a line of WebOS tablets and smartphones.

Apple (AAPL) is forcing these changes on the industry according to Mr. Kim. the iPhone and the iPad made mobile computing more user-friendly. Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted that overall PC usage would decline and suggested that lightweight devices like the iPad would do most of the tasks people needed. GigaOm says that companies that embrace this new reality, are the ones best positioned for the future. The new iFuture means PC manufacturers will have to accept that the switch to mobile devices may come at the cost of traditional computer sales. The article concludes that manufacturers can let someone else lure their PC customers away with a tablet or smartphone or they can build one themselves.

Tablets Are Hammering The Notebook Market: Acer Sales Off 10%

AcerThe BusinessInsider reports that Acer (ACEIY) has warned that its 2011 Q1 sales will be off 10%. The Taiwanese PC maker is blaming Apple’s iPad and it tablet cousins for devastating its key netbook business.

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RB | January 28, 2010
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Privacy Day

International Data Privacy Day is January 28, 2010.   Data Privacy Day is an international celebration of the dignity of the individual expressed through personal information according to its sponsors . In this networked world, in which we are thoroughly digitized, with our identities, locations, actions, purchases, associations, movements, and histories stored as so many bits and bytes, we have to ask – who is collecting all of this – what are they doing with it – with whom are they sharing it?

For its part, Google has released a video highlighting the ways it uses some of that personal data it collects about you to make your life easier, and then explains that you can opt out of some of Google’s data collection policies.

Microsoft has released the results of a study on data privacy.  According to the Microsoft survey the results illustrate how we, as a society, are still grappling with the intersection of privacy and online life. For example, 63 percent of consumers surveyed are concerned that online reputation might affect their personal and/or professional life, yet, less than half even consider their reputations when they post online content. Finally, Fewer than 15%  of consumers in any of the countries surveyed believe that information found online would have an impact on their getting a job.  The Microsoft study found 70% of surveyed HR professionals in U.S. have rejected a candidate based on online reputation information. Reputation can also have a positive effect as in the United States, 86% of HR professionals stated that a positive online reputation influences the candidate’s application to some extent; almost half stated that it does so to a great extent.

For its part, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published, “The E-Book Buyer’s Guide to Privacy ” which outlines six elements of E book readers’ privacy policies of:

The EFF surveyed the polices and found that Google Books and Amazon Kindle will monitor what you’re reading.  The EFF also found that all of the E-book readers will keep track of book searches and book purchases.  The Kindle, Nook and Reader shared  information collected on your book selections, searches, and purchases is shared outside the company without your consent. The good news is that the  a free, open source FBReader (for Windows/Linux) does not collect data on your book selections or searches.

These privacy issues are important for citizens and businesses. Firms have to consider whether they are complying with laws and regulations requiring consumer privacy protections. They know that customers have to trust their technologies and services before they will use and pay for them.

Category: Data protection | Tags: , ,
 

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