Photo: Amazon

Hot on the heels of news that Apple may be launching a streaming service in the same timeframe as YouTube’s reminted video pay-per-view service, it has emerged that Sony and Amazon are looking to make a play for the streaming video-on-demand market, too.

Amazon: all-you-can eat online TV

A Reuters report indicates Amazon has approached media giants Time Warner, Viacom and CBS proposing an all-you-can-eat online TV streaming service. Those same sources have told Reuters talks are still in their preliminary stage, so we may be sometime away still from anything concrete.

Sony going for the big dog – iTunes

Sony’s service will not so much be a video pay-per-view service, as opposed to a more rounded music and videos marketplace, with sources close to the rumours saying the Japanese company is gunning for the industry mahot – iTunes. Sony will reportedly use its PS3 and PSP platforms as content gateways, before expanding the service to Sony’s other web-connected devices like their Internet-enabled Bravia television sets, laptops, radios and so on. It’s a bold move against an aggressive and exceptionally powerful competitor, but why be afraid, right?

Crowded market place

Photo: Sony

If all these rumours pan out – and all signs indicate they will – the streaming video market will suddenly become a very crowded space. You’ll have Netflix, still the king and everyone’s favourite service, Hulu, iTV, YouTube, Amazon’s streaming service and Sony’s streaming service. That doesn’t even take into account the numerous niche services already available and competing in the space, too.

Somehow I see Amazon succeeding, since it has a keen network of loyal users who give it a platform to deploy new products as they become available. But how Sony will beat Apple and its ridiculously selling iOS line of devices is unclear to me. This is not to say they won’t but how they will isn’t at all obvious.

Video pay-per-view, online TV, and the digital push may mean that the age of purchasing a physical disc may actually, believe it or not, be coming to an end.

Photo: goXunuReviews / Flickr

In a fascinating interview with the Cnet Crave blog, Ian Freed, a vice president over at Amazon, claimed Amazon held 70-80 per cent of the eBooks market, as well as revealing a host of other tidbits on the Kindle business.

The market share truths and lies

The very first thing Ian Freed revealed is Amazon’s ‘double triple’. The first of which is ‘the number of e-books sold in the first quarter of 2009 versus the first quarter of 2010’ which saw the latter period’s volume triple over the former. Amazing. He added that ‘the other is after we dropped the price of the Kindle to $189, we saw a tripling of the growth rate year over year [of the device itself].’ Remarkable what a price drop does for an eBooks reader, or any product, huh?

Freed also spoke about market share, wherein he said Amazon owned 70-80 per cent of the market, even though Barnes & Noble claimed to own 20 per cent and Apple 20 per cent. Coyly Freed offers that ‘something doesn’t add up’ and that he encourages the interviewer ‘to do some research’ on the matter. We’ve done our own research in the past, and can attest to at least one of those Amazon competitors duking the stats.

User distribution

Ian Freed also went into details about what percentage of Kindle store users are actually Amazon Kindle owners. From Amazon’s findings, ‘80 percent of Kindle books we sell are sold to Kindle owners’, therefore 20 per cent do not own a Kindle device. They’re purchasing Kindle books from other apps hosted on smartphones, PCs, and tablet computers. This, explains Freed, in indicative of ‘…the health of both businesses. The device business continues to grow with a device [the second-generation Kindle] that’s over a year old, and then the content is growing both with the device sales and independently with the apps’.

iPad denial, and market share fabrications

The interrogators interviewers over at Crave asked Mr. Freed the inevitable iPad question, which he then roundly dismissed. Similar to Amazon’s strategy in the past, he simply calls it a different kind of device, which Amazon loves because people purchase goods off of the digital retailer using it. He then goes on to discuss why it’s an inferior reading device to the Kindle. It’s almost as if Amazon’s strategy is to ignore it, hoping it will go away.

What we make of this

Outside the very slight iPad deflection, this interview is riveting stuff if you care about this eBook readers space.

This Crave interview is commendable for getting Freed to speak so freely about the Kindle business. Granted when you’re winning, it’s easy being open and candid, but this interview is ‘child locked in the candy store’ stuff for stats junkies and eBooks lovers both. It’s well worth a complete read to get further insights into the future of the Amazon Kindle business and the eBook readers business in general.

Photo: Amazon

It was recently reported that the Amazon Kindle eBooks pricing of $9.99 crumbled due in no small part to Apple. Apple promised publishers it would support an alternative pricing model to Amazon’s that came with a pricing ceiling of $14.99. In doing so, Apple undermined Amazon’s Kindle pricing strategy.The Market-maker Kills the Market-maker.

Amazon, until recently, was the market-maker in this industry, with what is believed to be over 80% of the eBook pie. What they were attempting to do by pricing bestselling eBooks at $9.99 was to  follow on in the footsteps of Apple’s offering of songs on iTunes at $0.99, so as to encourage publishers and users to favour their Kindle device. The long-term goal was the consolidation of power, in an attempt to eventually be the unassailable leader in the digital books business, much like Apple did with iTunes and the music business.

Photo: Apple

Book publishers knew what Apple had done to the record business and were afraid of the same outcome with Amazon at the helm of eBooks. Then Apple appeared on the scene. With an alternative retailer who could in the short term mean loss of income, but in the long term more profits, publishers pushed back against Amazon and made their own prices, with threats to remove content if not adhered to. Amazon balked, the publishers flocked to this new pricing and with that Kindle’s eBook hegemony ended.

Why Did Apple Do This?

Apple is, in Steve Jobs’ own words, the “world’s largest mobile devices company“, so their goal is to sell portable devices. The iBook store, to this effect, is a mere means of selling more iPads. This, if one remembers, is the same for iTunes, which has been a vehicle for selling iPods. Amazon, on the other hand, is a retailer whose Kindle business is to sell content. Thus, Apple’s willingness to cannibalize content – at a decent profit, mind you – in the interest of selling more mobile devices butted heads with Amazon’s content-focused business.

Where to for Amazon

Amazon’s response in the coming weeks will be telling. They’ve acquired a start-up touchscreen technology company, meaning that the Kindle Touch is an inevitable development. Even then, what are the competitive advantages of a touchscreen device that does one thing, compared to the flexibility of the iPad? One cannot rule Amazon out, though, considering they revolutionized not just an industry but how people shop altogether with their online store. The difference, this time, is that they’re up against a strong competitor.

As for the publishers, they would do well to question if Apple is really the solution they think it is.

Photo: Amazon

The eBook pricing upheaval has occured at an astonishing pace. Last week Amazon removed book publishing giant MacMillan’s entire catalogue off of its website due to MacMillan demanding the right to price their bestsellers at $12.99 and $14.99 on the Amazon Kindle store. A few days later, presumably crumbling to the sheer weight of MacMillan’s catalogue, Amazon reposted the publisher’s books to its site as well as sent out an accompanying passive-aggressive statement to its readers about the decision.

When It Rains It Pours

Once the Macmillan concession occurred, Harper-Collins soon followed suit and now Hachette has become the third book publishing juggernaut to adopt the agency model for eBook pricing instead of the Amazon’s pricing.  The remaining book publishers, Simon & Shuster and Penguin, will inevitably follow suit soon.

What Went Wrong

For Amazon, clearly something went wrong. The Amazon Kindle team, long riding the wave toward eBook hegemony, has been tasked with figuring out what that is. The Internet’s collective wisdom is Apple happened.  Apple, with its iPad and iBook store and given its track record with iTunes, is the only company (other than Google) that can compete with Amazon at this type of scale and in this type of game. The rumour mill suggests Steve Jobs first suggested this pricing model to book publishing executives during negotiations in the buildup to the unveiling of the iPad. The publishers, in turn, felt this was an opportunity to either pressure Amazon into changing its pricing structure or abandon Amazon altogether. Once collective action was coordinated, it only took one publisher’s boldness to force Amazon’s hand, and then the floodgates opened.

The Big Gamble

What is clear is Amazon’s plan of achieving the success iTunes had in the music business with the Amazon Kindle store in the book publishing business is under threat. Not only is Apple intent on making eBooks its next major cash cow, it is already undermining Amazon’s strategy before the iPad is even released. Sadly, in the short term at least, the biggest loser is the consumer. A price increase of 30 to 50% for bestsellers is quite a leap. Amazon, however, has first mover’s advantage as well as an install base of millions and if Apple’s latest crapshoot fails publishers may find themselves at the whim of a very unhappy, very powerful retailing monopolist. An outcome the publishers would gladly trade back for the old days when $9.99 was the known going rate.

Photo: Samsung

For those who want to read on the go, eBooks are the perfect solution. With the ability to store hundreds of books these gadgets, similar in size to the average paperback, also offer Internet and email access. Choosing the right model may come down to picking a brand that works for you, though.

What Features Should I Look for in an eBooks Reader?

The best eBook reader is easy to carry, has a long battery life, and can be read in any environment – whether you’re on a sunny beach or around the campfire. LED lighting, touch screens, and the Read to Me feature on the Kindle 2 make reading a pleasure. Screen size and wireless capability are also important features to think about, as is E-ink technology. E-ink is a special kind of digital paper that uses very little power to be displayed, keeping you reading for longer.

Content

Because many models have similar features, a very important thing to think about when choosing an eBook reader is what kind of reading material you’re after. Amazon claims to have the biggest range of titles, boasting over 285 000 popular books, while eBooks.com is a viable alternative. While Amazon’s Kindle is  not the original wireless reader, it is the first to achieve mass market success, while Sony’s more recent models have the advantage in being compatible with all books on eBooks, as well as open source books on the web. Virtually all eBook readers support HTML, .txt, MP3 and JPG files.

Value for Money

The best eBook readers have the latest features, allow you to read what you want to, and don’t come with a hefty price tag. At the top of the range are Amazon’s latest Kindle 2 and Sony’s Reader Daily Edition. Both are quite pricey, with the Kindle 2 coming in at around £200 and Sony’s Daily Edition being priced at £245, but both have great features. Amazon’s Kindle 2 has a slightly smaller, not fully touch, screen, and a slightly shorter battery life. Both models have 3G wireless Internet connectivity and make use of E-ink technology. An alternative eBook reader is the BeBook Reader (£179), which is lightweight and has a battery life of 9 000 pages, but doesn’t have a touch screen.

There’s a world of choice in the booming world of eBooks readers, and choosing the right one for you is well worth the time spent researching your options. With Amazon claiming that ‘millions’ of people have bought their Kindle since it came out two years ago, you won’t be the only one on the beach reading from a digital screen.

So far the One Laptop Per Child or OLPC project has been popular in developing nations and a few days back it spread its wings to the developed nations (especially USA) as well via Amazon.com. At Amazon citizens of developed nations were offered the OLPC XO laptop, but for the price of two, so that one can be donated to a child in developing region. The good news is that now the OLPC will be coming to the UK also this December.

According to a listing on Amazon.co.uk, UK citizens will be offered XO laptops via the same scheme. This service will be launched on the 16th of December this year, but consumers can pre-order their laptops. The laptops will cost £275. While this is more than, say, the Acer Aspire One, the purchaser is actually paying for two laptops, one of which is sent to a child in a developing nation. Apart from this they will also have to pay a sum of £50 towards packaging and postage. However this charge is set up by OLPC and not by Amazon.

The OLPC XO laptop offers a variety of applications and a good hardware configuration. The one that will be available on Amazon.co.uk will have 1GB NAND flash storage and 256MB DDR RAM. It will be running on the Linux based Sugar operating system only. Neither the Microsoft version nor the dual boot one will be available as those models are meant for the developing countries only.

The much awaited $100 laptops will start selling in Europe on 17th November. These laptops will be sold on Amazon’s outlets online by the organization called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) as a part of their give one get one scheme which has already made its debut in the US where it saw a sales of 190,000 machines.

According to this scheme, every time a person buys a laptop, one machine will be donated to a deserving child in a developing nation. The green and white XO laptops will be sold in at least 27 European nations according to a speech delivered in the World of Health IT Conference, Copenhagen by Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC.

The XO laptop will be priced at $268 for retail customers will also be available in Russia, Switzerland and Turkey, which is around the same price, or actually a little more, than the Dell Latitude D610. However, the success of this XO scheme was hampered by OLPC’s inability to deliver machines which were ordered on time. This is one of the reasons why an agreement was signed in September 2008 with Amazon.

The idea started with OLPC’s ambition of manufacturing powerful laptops costing less than $100 for school children. When the machine finally made an entry, it was priced at $188 and saw a sale of 600,000 units.

Though there was a lot of interest shown by nations all over the world, the XO was not sold in the numbers as expected by OLPC. 65,000 units have been ordered for recently by Columbia’s Caldas region.

With competition heating up from the Classmate laptop from Intel, we will have to wait and see the impact of this on sale of XO in Europe.

With its mission to spread knowledge among the children of developing nations, the XO has now announced to launch its BOGOF program in Europe. The give one get one (GIGI) is a unique plan that offers you the opportunity to buy a set of bright green laptops: one for yourself and one for a school going child in a developing country.

Developed by OLPC (One Laptop per Child), the scheme is made available through the Amazon.com on its site at amazon.com/xo. Although the offer initiated as a temporary one in the States, it is expected to extend with an overwhelming response. As per the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, sales of $2 million per day inspired them to spread out its scope.

The scheme is quite praiseworthy but the present credit crunch situation might affect its success in the country. People might not prefer to invest in a 433 MHz machine that has certain limitations such as only one SD storage card and a RAM of just 256MB, but these are still comparable to bare-bones subnotebooks, like the Sony Vaio PCG-C1MHP. Moreover, the XO’s social cause and children-centred features are likely to make it a hit among many parents in the Christmas season. These durable computers, based on Linux can actually make a great gift for your child while assisting a noble cause of spreading knowledge.

Nonetheless, if the project is successful, it might encourage other organisations to come-up with such ideas that make this world a better place to live in.

One Laptop Per Child, popularly known as OLPC has achieved great success in developing countries. To further promote this project the world pioneer in e-commerce, Amazon has announced that it will be selling the OLPC’s XO laptops through Amazon.com.

These laptops will be sold in the same way the G1G1 program was carried out. The buyers have to pay for two laptops out of which one will be shipped to the buyer itself and the other one will be donated to a child in developing country. Jim Gettys, vice president, software engineering, OLPC announced that only Linux based XO laptops will be sold through Amazon.com in US as of now.

However, the OLPC is finding out the possibility of extending this service to other countries too. The Linux based XO laptops that are approved for online selling has got an impressive configuration. All the units are powered by Linux Sugar operating system which offers all the necessary applications and a bunch of exciting games to enable the children get hold of the technology in a playful manner.

The hardware too is sufficient enough to handle all the tasks without any glitch. The XO laptops feature a 1GB of flash memory, 256MB of RAM and 7.5 inches of bright LCD. These laptops are optimized to support wireless networking too.

Being different from the crowd is a daring act, but it is often the base for some really great ideas. MSI’s new decision to launch two gaming laptops, in an era when most producers are struggling to outshine the netbook, is definitely an innovative step.

The GX360 and the GT735 are the two machines made by MSI that feature an AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual Core Mobile Processor. The models differ in terms of their LCD screen dimensions. The GT735 has a 17 inch wide screen, whereas the GX360 features a smaller, 15.4 inch display.

Other variations are also clearly marked: the GX630 offers 4GB of RAM, dual speakers and a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics. Obviously this high-end graphics card is the most impressive feature that distinguishes this model from its predecessor, the MSI Megabook GX600-084.  On the other hand, the GT735 has 4 speakers along with a HD audio woofer and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3850. However, the 4 GB of memory and 320 GB of SATA HDD are common in both machines. Moreover, the two machines also share some other characteristics in common, including a card reader, USB ports, a Wi Fi and Bluetooth.

As such, a consumer is presented with an amazing choice, whereby he can buy a notebook that can better entertain his requirements. The best part of launching two different models simultaneously is the option of comparing their performance. The GT735 costs $1,049.99 (around £650) and the GX360 is available for $1,249.99 (around £770), which is not a huge difference. So the consumers are likely to judge the gaming notebooks by the appeal and not the price difference as it is too petty to influence an opinion.