Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Today's Headlines

HP Temporarily Resumes Productions of Doomed TouchPad
The Wall Street Journal
HP said it will temporarily resume manufacturing of its ill-fated tablet computer just 11 days after killing its iPad rival as part of a sweeping corporate overhaul.  The resurrection of the TouchPad follows a spike in demand after H-P, desperate to clear out unsold inventory that had piled up at retailers, slashed the price of the low-end model from $399 to $99.

More iPads for Cabin Crews as BA Joins theTablet Frenzy
AllThingsD
British Air will initially outfit just 100 crew members with iPads. But if that initial deployment is successful, it plans to give them to 1,800 more in the coming months.

Toshiba Launches Chunky Thrive Tablet in Europe
The Register
In the U.S., Toshiba may be preparing a slender new Android-based tablet call the Excite, but Europeans are going to get the current chunky model, the Thrive - here to be prosaically named the AT100 - instead.

Production of Amazon's 10-Inch Tablet to Start in Q1 2012
DigiTimes
Mass production of Amazon's 10.1-inch tablet PC reportedly will be conducted in the first quarter of 2012 with Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to handle the orders, according to sources from upstream component suppliers.

One Fifth of Barnes & Noble's Revenue Comes from Digital
BNET
The company said in its latest quarterly report that its Nook business, including “sales of digital content, device hardware and related accessories,” increased year-over-year by 140 percent, which is almost two and a half times larger than it was. The total of $277 million is roughly 20 percent of total revenue.

First Look at Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet
MobileBurn
Critic Dan Seifert:  "Lenovo is positioning the ThinkPad Tablet for business users, but it has included a number of consumer-friendly apps such as Netflix and Angry Birds out of the box. While the hardware offers some cool functionality that is missing from other Android tablets, the usability of the tablet is hampered by the sluggishness of the interface."

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Today's Headlines

Why Amazon Could Sell 5 Million Tablets in 3 Months
AllThingsD
According to Forrester Research, the tablet would have to be priced below $300 and Amazon would have to take steps to avoid supply chain problems that plagued the e-tailer in the past. 


Are Low Price Points the Key to Tackling Apple's iPad?
Padgadget
It looks like tablet makers still have a big hill to climb if they want to catch up to the iPad in terms of sales figures. The problem is that companies can’t supply consumers with what they want as an alternative; high-quality products at rock bottom prices.

OMG!  There's a Sub-$200 7-Inch Tablet
San Jose Mercury News (via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
Critic Troy Wolverton reviews new $190 tab from the Dublin-based manufacturer:  "I've been testing out one of these tablets, the Pandigital Nova, to get a sense of what consumers can expect. I wasn't impressed. With this tablet, you get what you pay for."

Tablet Popularity Surges with Women and Seniors 
Wired

Mobile devices aren't just catering to the under-35 set now. Image: Nielsen If you thought tablets were being used only by Angry Birds-flinging youngsters or guys between 25 and 34, think again. Turns out tablets are all the rage with women and seniors.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Today's Headlines

Samsung May Be Losing Ground with Tablets
Paidcontent.org
A mixed bag of news for Samsung today that underscores the ups and downs it has faced in its bid to overtake Apple and the iPad in the tablet market.

Hard Tablet Choices for Tech Critic:  Seven Inch or Ten Inch?
Computerworld
Critic Sharon Machlin:  "I discovered that since I've become used to the real estate of a full 10-inch (Samsung Galaxy Tab) display, it's hard to downsize"

The Lesson to Be Learned from the $99 Tablet Pricing
The News & Observer
When the TouchPad news broke and HP tablets started showing up for $99 for a 16 GB model, the reaction was so intense that HP's servers and call centers were overwhelmed. That price for a tablet sounds too good to be true and perhaps acts as a wake-up call to those pondering the true value of technology.

Sony's Tablet Now Has a Name and a Launch Date
Endgadget
The official name of the S1 is the Sony Tablet S, which is currently projected to bring its 9.4-inch (1280x768) screen to market in the first two weeks of September.Endgadget doesn't know the price, although the reporters  heard $599 previously -- but there should be more to say about that and the clamshell S2 tablet soon.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Today's Headlines

Nielsen Data:  Guys Prefer Tablets; Ladies Like E-Readers
Gigaom
According to Nielsen’s second-quarter survey, 61 percent of e-reader owners are women, up from 46 percent in the third quarter of last year. Meanwhile, men make up 57 percent of tablet owners, which is down from 61 percent in the third quarter.

Flipboard Goes After Film and TV Content
Reuters
Flipboard, the social media magazine whose investors include actor Ashton Kutcher, plans to add television shows and films to move it beyond the online articles that it offers now. 

Samsung to Unveil Revamped Galaxy Tab Next Week
The Register
There are rumors of Galaxy Tab 7.7 and something called the Galaxy Note, which could be anything from an ultraskinny notebook to an e-book reader.

Why Apple Dominates the Tablet Marketplace
The Economist
Tablets based on Google’s Android, Hewlett-Packard’s webOS, Microsoft’s Windows, and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry operating systems—have failed dismally to capture consumers’ hearts and minds the way Apple has with its iconic iPad.

Sub-$200 Tablet Now on the Market
CNET
Yet another hardware maker joined the Android tablet  fray this week when X10.com began selling its 7-inch AirPad, proclaiming the device to be the "best tablet on the market for under $200." It's also one of the only tablets at that price. So is the AirPad worth considering? The answer depends on your needs.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Today's Headlines

Steve Jobs Steps Down as Apple CEO
The San Jose Mercury News
Steve Jobs, who built Apple into the world's most valuable tech company by revolutionizing how people relate to technology with devices like the iPad, resigned as CEO yesterday, stunning the tech world while raising questions anew about his health and the future of the company he founded at age 21.

Shares of Samsung and LG Rise on Steve Jobs News
AFP
Shares in Samsung Electronics, whose Galaxy tablet is sparring with the iPad, jumped 2.4 percent, while LG Electronics surged 1.27 percent.

Big Jump in Tablet Ownership Among Those 55+
AllThingsD
Nineteen percent of all tablet owners are 55+, according to Nielsen, up from ten percent a year ago.  


1,000 Galaxy Tablets Gifted to Southern Mississippi Students
The Student Printz
Southern Miss officials announced that McNair Scholars, Southern Style members and SGA elected officials will also received the tablets, which are valued around $530 each. The recipients of the tablets get to keep them.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Today's Headlines

Lesson of TouchPad Failure:  Sell Big or Die Quickly
The New York Times
Big tech companies — especially those in the tablet and smartphone space — are starting to resemble Hollywood film studios. Every release needs to be a blockbuster, and the only measure of success is the opening-weekend gross. There is little to no room for the sleeper indie hit that builds good word of mouth to become a solid performer over time.

Another Lesson of the TouchPad Demise:  Price Matters
PCWorld
 Even though the TouchPad failed at going toe to toe with the Apple iPad before it even got out of the gate, now--at $99--the HP tablet has basically no competition. If nothing else, this shows there's still a real market for a competent bare-bones tablet at the bottom end of the market.

CNN May Acquire Aggregation App Company Zite
TechVibes
The biggest story coming out of the GROW conference in Vancouver was that Vancouver's Zite is apparently in the process of being acquired by CNN for $20-25 Million.

United Airlines Plans to Give 11,000 iPads to Its Pilots
AllThingsD
United Airlines, which plans to give iPads to its roughly 11,000,  replacing the approximately 38 pounds of manuals, charts and logbooks that accompany them on every flight with a single 1.5 pound tablet.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Today's Headlines

Demise ofTouchPad Is Zune Moment for Tablets Says EW
Entertainment Weekly
For those of us old enough to remember the last time Apple invented/dominated an entire consumer market, the demise of the HP Touchpad is conjuring up vivid memories of Microsoft’s Zune. The Zune was, by all accounts, as good or better than the 2006-era iPods. People I know who are deeply invested in loving technology and hating Apple assured me that the Zune would satisfy all my music-listening needs. And yet the Zune never recovered from the sense that it was an also-ran.

HP Destroys Non-iPad Tablet Market by Killing TouchPad
ZDNet
After less than two months on sale, HP has pulled the plug on the TouchPad tablet and is so desperate to get rid of them that it is having a firesale,selling the device for as low as $99. But not only has HP killed the TouchPad, it has also single-handedly destroyed the entire non-iPad tablet market.

TouchPads Sell Like Hotcakes After HP Drops Price
The Wall Street Journal
HP's decision to drop the price to as low as $99 for its TouchPad tablets touched off a weekend buying rush that the company called "overwhelming."

How Amazon Can Beat Apple in the Tablet Space
Business Insider
Price.  It would would sense for Amazon to sell a tablet for $200. They badly want a tablet. Selling things at cost, or even at a loss, is nothing new for them. And they have a huge global distribution platform (i.e., their website), which should also lower costs.

Refurbished iPads Selling for Under $300
TUAW
Apple has a new price on a refurbished iPad (that's an iPad 1, not the latest 2), and it's likely the lowest official price you'll ever pay for the tablet. $299 is the new magic number, for a 16GB iPad Wi-Fi.   

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Today's Headlines

HP's TouchPad Turning into Worst Buy at Best Buy
AllThingsD
A source who’s seen internal HP reports, tells AllThngsD that Best Buy has taken delivery of 270,000 TouchPads and has so far managed to sell only 25,000, or less than 10 percent of the units in its inventory.

Some U. of Kentucky Freshmen to Receive Free iPads
Lexington Herald-Leader
A group of University of Kentucky freshmen will arrive on campus in the next few days as members of a new technology-based learning community.  The 175 freshmen will be given new iPads and have access to touch-screen technology in the front lobby.

Bloomberg Businessweek
A class-action lawsuit contends that Apple illegally maintained high prices for e-books when it agreed to the publishers' "agency model."
 
PCMag
ViewSonic announced the latest in its line of tablets, the dual-booting ViewPad 10pro.The tablet runs Android and Windows 7, but it does so a little differently. Android 2.3 (a phone-optimized operating system, but at least the most recent one) runs as an app on top of Windows 7, and can be launched just like any other app.

Dell Expects Windows 8 and Android to Lift Tablet Market
PCWorld
Dell expects both Windows 8 and Android to be credible options for tablet customers next year, and indicated it plans to offer products built around the two operating systems, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Today's Headlines

ABI Research Estimates That 20% of Tablets Are Android-Based
eWeek
Google Android tablets now occupy some 20 percent of the market, according to new data from ABI Research. In recent months, Android tablets have entered the marketplace in ever-greater numbers.

Bio on Man Behind the iPad (Jobs) Gets Earlier Release Date
The New York Times
“Steve Jobs: A Biography,” written by Walter Isaacson, was originally scheduled for release in March 2012, but Simon & Schuster, the book’s publisher, said Monday that it would now be available on Nov. 21, 2011.

iPad 3 Launch Pushed Back to 2012
DigiTimes
Apple has recently canceled its iPad 3 supply schedule for the second half of 2011, forcing other tablet PC brand vendors that are set to launch same-level product to compete, to follow suit and delay their launch.  Sources believe that the yield rate of the 9.7-inch panel that feature resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 may be the major reason of the supply delay since such panels are mainly supplied by Japan-based Sharp with a high price and Apple's other supply partners Samsung Electronics and LG Display are both unable to reach a good yield.

First Look at the Grid-10 Fusion Garage Tablet
Technologizer
Writer Harry McCracken:  "You can’t accuse Fusion Garage of lacking ambition or shipping me-too products. The Grid devices are built on Google’s Android 2.3 kernel, but Fusion has put together its own user interface and apps, none of which have much of anything in common with the ones on Honeycomb tablets."

Monday, August 15, 2011

Today's Headlines

Sprint Nixes Plans to Sell RIM's Playbook Tablet
Reuters
More problems for Canada's Research in Motion.  Sprint Nextel Corp has decided not to offer a high-speed version of RIM's PlayBook tablet because of  withering demand.

R.I.P. Dell Streak 5
PCWorld
The five-inch Dell Streak, an oversized smartphone masquerading  to be a tablet, is officially heading to the tech graveyard (hello Sony Betamax!) as the computer giant bets on larger-format tablets that can compete better with Apple’s popular iPad.  Dell is now relying on its seven- and ten-inch tablets, much closer to iPad's form factor.

Possible September Launch for ASUS Eee Pad Slider
Endgadget
Judging by a recent report from Notebook Italia and the tab's new product page, it's possible that there will be a September launch for the 10.1-incher -- in Italy. Contrary to prior rumors, the company will be offering the Slider in two storage configurations -- 16GB and 32GB at potential €479 and €599 price points overseas, while $400 and $550 models should hit the United States.   

Friday, August 12, 2011

Today's Headlines

Tablet War Turning Into Rout for Apple
The Wall Street Journal
People don't have tablet fever; it seems they simply have a mania for iPads. The latest evidence: Hewlett-Packard Co. is dropping the price of its TouchPad tablet by 20% little more than a month after it hit stores, as the computer giant tries to goose sales of its answer to Apple Inc.'s iPad.

Samsung Goes to Court Protesting Tablet Ban
CNET
On August 25, a German court will hear arguments on whether it should overturn a temporary ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the European Union. 
 
AllThingsD
With what is likely to be the first of many smaller-screen Honeycomb tablets to hit store shelves, Acer on Friday is launching its seven-inch Iconia A100 line of tablets.  The new tablets run Android 3.2, the first version of Honeycomb to support the smaller screen resolution.  

Hyundai Cuts Tablet Give-Away Program for New Car Buyers
Padgadget
Hyundai has announced that with the start of the 2012 model year, expecting to roll out to dealerships next month, the free iPad program will be eliminated.

Amazon Takes E-Reading to the Clouds
Technology Review
Yesterday, Amazon launched Kindle Cloud Reader, a Web browser-based version of its popular e-reading platform. Built using HTML5, an emerging standard that lets Web applications function like desktop ones, the Kindle Cloud Reader looks and acts a lot like the Kindle apps created for the iPad, Android tablets, and PCs, even offering the ability to store content so it can be read in the browser offline.

 

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Today's Headlines

Journalist Reads One Book on Dozens of Device
The New York Times
Nick Bilton:  "...I didn’t just read a book in print, on an e-reader or even on a mobile phone. Instead, I read a book on dozens of devices...I wanted to answer a question I often hear: which e-reader or tablet is the best for reading books?"

Amazon and Walmart Offer Content for iPad That Avoids Apple's Fees
AP (Via Siliconvalley.com)
Wal-Mart Stores and Amazon.com on Wednesday revealed new video and book-reading services that are designed for the iPad but bypass Apple's  fees on content sales.  Wal-Mart started to stream video from its Vudu service to the iPad's Web browser, and Amazon announced the Kindle Cloud Reader, which lets users read e-books.

iPad Streaming Battle Between Viacom and Cablevision Gets Resolved
PaidContent 
Just seven weeks after Viacom filed a lawsuit  against Cablevision’s TV-over-iPad app, the companies have resolved the issue. And they’re keeping mighty quiet about the terms.  

Amazon Reportedly Readies Two Color Tablets
Information Week 
Sources are saying that Amazon is entering the tablet market -- starting the tablet wars for real later this year -- with at least two of a line of color tablets targeted directly at Apple’s iPad. Amazon declined comment. The two tablets, 7.1 and 10.1 inches, are reportedly code-named Coyote and Hollywood. The smaller tablet will cost less than $250, sources close to the company said.

Vizio's 8-Inch Tab Now Selling for $299
The Los Angeles Times 
Vizio is hoping to do with tablets what its done with TVs -- become a market leader by selling millions of lower-priced units with higher-end features.  But, in typical Vizio fashion, the company is taking an unorthodox approach to just about everything, including the release of the $299.99 Vizio Tablet.
For example, there's no solid release date. Some stores already have the tablet, others have yet to get them.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Today's Headlines

Apple Blocks Samsung's Tablet in Europe
TheTelegraph
The Regional Court of Dusseldorf has granted Apple a preliminary injunction  against the sale and marketing of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 across all of Europe except the Netherlands. The tablet, which launched in Britain last week, must now be removed from shelves and Samsung must stop marketing it. According to some retailers, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 became the fastest-selling tablet since the iPad 2 when it launched in Britain.

Apple Briefly Becomes World's Most Valuable Company
The New York Post
Boosted by sales of devices like the iPad, Apple at one point overtook Exxon Mobil to become the world's most valuable company yesterday, closing a multibillion market-cap gap during the day's trading before dropping back to second place

Kno Bringing Electronic Textbooks to Facebook and the Web
AllThingsD
After shifting its focus to software, electronic textbook seller Kno now has its sites set on making college students’ homework a lot more social and interactive.The company is this week announcing plans to allow those who buy textbooks from Kno to read them on Facebook and via the Web, in addition to its current iPad app. On the iPad front, the company is also adding things beyond just an electronic version of a traditional textbook.

Publisher Developing Its Own Tablet
CNN
The Tribune Co., one of the largest U.S. news enterprises, is working on a touchscreen tablet that it plans to offer to newspaper subscribers, according to people briefed on the plans.  The tablet is expected to run a modified version of Google's Android operating system and prominently feature software for the owner's hometown newspaper, according to interviews with more than half a dozen current and former Tribune employees.

Shipments of Non-Apple Tablets Expected to Surge 134% in 2012
DigiTimes
Despite Apple's iPad shipments are expected to achieve strong growth of 55% in 2012, shipments of non-Apple tablet PCs in 2012 are forecast to see an even better increase of 134% on year, according to market watchers

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Today's Headlines

Barnes & Noble Promotes Back-to-School Sales of Nook with Free Books
PaidContent
Here's the deal:  Buy any Nook today through September 11, get free classic books, study guides and apps. The interesting part is that all the included books are published by Barnes & Noble.

 Will Publishers Leave RIM's PlayBook Out in the Cold?
The Wall Street Journal 
Last week Time Inc. said all its 21 titles will be available on all "leading tablet platforms" by year end.  Absent from Time's announcement, and from other major publishers as well these days, was RIM's PlayBook tablet computer. Since the PlayBook was unveiled last fall, RIM, which has long targeted corporate customers, has struggled to get developers to create consumer apps for the device.

Vizio's $300 Tablet Now Being Shipped
Unwired View

Monday, August 8, 2011

Today's Headlines

Price of HP's TouchPad Drops to $399
International Business Times
HP cut the price of its TouchPad tablet computer again, highlighting the uphill battle manufacturers will need to overcome as they go head-to-head against the dominant Apple iPad line of tablets.  At $399, the TouchPad is now $100 less than the iPad. 

Tablets Are Short-Term Fads Says Founder of Acer
DigiTimes
Acer founder Stan Shih has commented that the fads for ultrabooks and tablet PCs are both short-term phenomena and urged companies in the notebook supply chain to come out with more value-added products through innovation.

2011 Remains the Year of the iPad Despite Competitors
AllThingsD
According to Needham analyst Charlie Wolf, the iPad will dominate the tablet market for the better part of the next decade. It will end this year with an 85 percent share, and while that percentage will decline gradually over the ensuing years, it will never fall so much that Apple loses the lead it claimed when the device first debuted.

Advice for Traveling Abroad with an iPad
TUAW
Writer Gary Arndt offers some useful tips including:  Not all countries have the iPad yet. If you are going somewhere that is less developed, check ahead to see if there is a carrier which has micro SIM cards which you can use.

iPads Drive Productivity at MicroStrategy
MacWorld (from Network World)
Software vendor MicroStrategy has realized that 2,300 corporate iPads create a time machine. Employees now have instant access, via Wi-Fi or 3G, to the company’s real-time business data and processes.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Today's Headlines

Apple $16 Billion of Being World's Most Valuable Company
The New York Times
Helped by the sale of devices like the iPad, Apple is now only $16 billion shy of passing Exxon Mobil, the energy company, as the most valuable company in terms of market capitalization.

Competitors Chase iPad as Tablet Market Explodes
AllThingsD
The tablet market is exploding — thanks largely to the runaway success of the iPad. And while there don’t seem to be any new winners beyond Apple’s first-to-market device, there are enough competitors (and losers) to force Wall Street to raise its tablet forecasts on their sheer number alone.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Today's Headlines

HP Cuts Price on TouchPad Tablet Again
AllThingsD
Writer Ina Fried notices the device on sale at Costco for $120 off its standard $599 price.


Critic Approves of the Update for Samsung's Galaxy Tab
Business Insider
Writer Steve Kovach:  "Samsung will release a new update for the Honeycomb-powered Galaxy Tab 10.1 that fixes a lot of common problems with Android's tablet OS...I've only been using TouchWiz on the Galaxy Tab for a few hours, so this is far from a full review. But I can safely say that Samsung did a great job at targeting many of Honeycomb's flaws and making them better."

21 Time Inc. Magazines to Be Available on Tablets
The New York Post 
Time Inc. will make all 21 of its magazines available on Apple's iPad and across a variety of tablet devices by year-end, making it the first major publisher to have tablet editions for all its titles.


How Content Companies Are Coping with Apple's In-App Subscription Policies
PaidContent
Apple’s deadline for app owners to run content subscriptions through iTunes or not at all may have passed on June 30, but compliance is emerging unevenly - or not at all.  The article offers a list of a dozen companies (New  York Times, Spotify, The Economist, etc.) with details on how they are complying. 


Incoming College Freshmen Face Tough Choice of Tablet or Laptop
ABC15.com
The technology options for college students continue to grow with netbooks and tablet PCs as potential alternatives to the traditional laptop computer.Which device is best suited to your child’s needs depends on a number of variables including the course of study, the software programs that are necessary, your budget and the complexity of the tasks to be performed just to name a few.

Tips on Getting Free Books for Your Kindle or Nook
CNET
Many Kindle and Nook owners will agree: having an e-reader makes you read more. The problem is that e-books aren't cheap--in fact, they don't cost much less than their hard-copy counterparts.  Luckily, the Internet is pretty good at making otherwise expensive things free.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Today's Headlines

Kindle Offers Subscription Plan for SciFi Fans
PaidContent
Science fiction is one of the strongest e-book categories and Amazon’s Kindle Store is luring fans with a new offer: A free subscription to the “digest edition” of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine.

Facebook Buys an E-Book Company
The New York Times
Is Facebook getting into the e-book business?  Yesterday, the company announced that it was buying Push Pop Press, a digital book maker that specializes in interactive books for the Apple iPad and iPhone.

AOL Develops Personalized iPad News Service
AdWeek
Like digital magazine apps Flipboard, Zite, and SkyGrid, the free AOL iPad app Editionss pulls in content from across the Web and presents it in a personalized, streamlined, and easy-to-navigate format. But Editions includes a couple of key differences: It doesn’t provide news in real time—it only delivers one edition a day.

New Tablet Is Actually Designed for Babies
The Atlantic
For just $389 you can get your kid started on the path to digital literacy before they even know how to read.
This month, Vinci, the seven-inch touch-pad tablet displayed above, will go on sale through Amazon, which is already accepting pre-orders.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Today's Headlines

Skirmish Between Apple and Samsung Tablets Goes Down Under
The Wall Street Journal
Samsung agreed that it wouldn't import or offer to sell a new computer tablet in Australia for now following a legal protest from rival Apple Inc., as the wide-ranging battle between the two electronics powerhouses moved to yet another country.

HP Software Update Aims to Blunt Criticism of Touchpad Tablet
AllThingsD
The free software update has many changes aimed to deliver stability, fix bugs and improve performance. However, the changes don’t address some of the charges agains the product and, of course, can’t address the lack of third-party apps or critiques that the hardware is more like last year’s iPad than this year’s slimmer iPad 2.

Skype Releases iPad App Prematurely
CNET
More than a month after it was expected to make its official debut, the iPad-optimized Skype client began appearing in Apple App Stores yesterday.  However, not long after the app appeared, Skype pulled it, saying it was released prematurely. "To ensure your best Skype experience, we've temporarily removed Skype for iPad which went live prematurely today," Skype said on its Twitter feed.

The Top 15 Apps Consumers Must Download When They Buy Their First iPad
Business Insider
Among the choices:  Kindle, Epicurious, Netflix, The Washington Post (free), and Scrabble.

Conde Nast Publications Generate Nearly 250,000 Digital Downloads
PaidContent
That number includes digital subscriptions, digital single copies, and the 136,000 print subscribers who have opted to add digital editions to their subscriptions. Looked at another way, the publisher drew 106,000-digital only sales not tied to existing print subscriptions, suggesting that it may be finding incremental value by accepting Apple’s iTunes Store terms after all.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Today's Headlines

Dell Offers 10-Inch Tablet in China
PC World
Dell launched its newest 10-inch Android tablet exclusively in China on Friday, with the aim of capturing a slice of the country's growing mobile Internet market.The tablet, called the Streak 10 Pro, has a Chinese interface, and comes pre-installed with popular apps used in the country.  Its price:  $465

Google to Make Websites More Tablet-Friendly
Ghacks
Google is the first company to make its search page finger-friendly for tablet operating systems.  In a move that will be welcomed by almost everybody the new look will be automatically implemented when the website detects you’re using a tablet OS, according to a Google blog.  

Can RIM's Playbook Succeed in Thailand?
ZDNet
BlackBerry devices are, for now, the most popular choice for smartphone users in Thailand thanks primarily to their affordability (the budget device is around a quarter of the price of an iPhone) and the strong brand which RIM has developed using celebrities and other famous figures to generate interest and market desire.

Bugged by the Thrive Tablet?  Toshiba to Fix Soon
PCWorld
Users of Toshiba's latest Thrive Tablet early next week will receive a software update to resolve a bug that causes the tablet to not wake up from sleep mode.

25% of Australian Homes to Own Tablet by 2015
The Australian
PricewaterhouseCoopers analysts Nick Bailey and Jeremy Thorpe said that by 2015 one in four Australian homes will have a tablet device and users will pay for a wide range of content that they would baulk at paying for on a PC or laptop.

Archos Develops 2.8-Inch Tablet
The Wall Street Journal
With a 2.8-inch screen, the Archos 28 might be called an “Internet tablet,” but it’s really more like an MP3 player with a touch screen and Web access. The tablet, which retails for $89.99 but can be found online for less, is the first Wi-Fi Android device below $100.

Words Matter on The New Yorker's iPad App
The New York Times
The New Yorker, a magazine that has always been heavy on text, took a different tack from its peers when it came to designing content for its apps. Instead of loading its iPad app with interactive features, the magazine focused on presenting its articles in a clean, readable format resulting in 100,000 readers.