Apple

Overheard - Kindle is a platform, not a device

Amazon’s expansion of Kindle to the iPhone makes me wonder if we’ll soon see Kindle as not just a device, but as a full-fledged publishing platform. Nick Mediati, Amazon Brings Kindle to iPhone

Back in 2007, there was a lot of speculation about Apple going head-to-head with Amazon by creating their own “Safari Pad” reader to compete with Kindle.   How very smart of them to PARTNER with Amazon instead. I think Nick Mediati has hit on something important — especially after seeing how very easy Amazon has made it to publish on Kindle. Kindle is a platform, not a device.

My prediction? Short stories will become popular again. Teachers will publish third grader’s stories on Amazon so Mom and Dan can download and send to Grandma.  Nicole Lee compared the reading experience on both devices.  Check it out.

This is just one more reason why Apple is so smart. You see, the key to the iPhone’s popularity is not just its “cool” factor — it’s how well it plays with others.  And that’s a lesson that Apple is using to win the browser wars.

Industry watchers Net Applications recently reported that Safari owns 67 percent or the market share for  mobile browsing.

With the recent release of Safari 4,  Apple is finally making some progress drawing the PC desktop crowd away from IE and Firefox. How are they doing it?  By promising them speed. The official press release states that Safari 4 “executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3.  Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.”

Overheard - Apple chucks DRM but you’re still tied to their hardware

“Downloads from iTunes are still in the AAC file format regardless of whether they are DRM-free. The AAC file format is only compatible with iPods/iPhones and a limited number of other devices. So consumers who buy downloads from iTunes are still restricted to where they can play that music regardless of whether it’s DRM free or not.” Ben Drury as quoted in Apple iTunes tracks go DRM-free

I’m the only one in my family who doesn’t have an iPhone or iPod. I like having a radio on my MP3 player so I use a tiny player by Insignia.  If I want to download something from the iTunes store, I use a third-party tool to convert the file from AAC to MP3.

So when I heard yesterday that Apple was ditching DRM altogether, it caught my attention.  Would that make it easier for me to buy content from the iTunes store? Could I synch up my little Insignia player and not have to stop and covert file formats?

I think the answer right now is “no.”   Besides getting rid of the number of times an iPod or iPhone owner can copy something he’s purchased, I’m not seeing a whole lot of difference for those of us who use Insignia or some other brand of player.  We’ll still be shopping for MP3s at Amazon.

Update: I did find this on the Apple Web site…but it’s talking about CDs.

When you import unprotected WMA files or music from CDs, iTunes saves them as AAC files. Easily convert them to MP3 in a few clicks: Select the song you want converted, then choose “Create MP3 Version” from the Advanced menu.

Overheard - IBM takes a page from Apple when building Blue Business Platform

The model we tried to emulate in the project codenamed Blue Business Platform was to think just like the Apple iPod model — the iTunes Store (Smart Market), iPod (Smart Cube), and the iTunes desktop application (Smart Desk). Thomas Yung, IBM Blue Business Platform morphs into IBM Smart Business

Overheard: iPhone and the Enterprise

The various iterations of the iPhone Configuration Utility could be successfully used in smaller, depot-style support environments, but the tools as currently structured lack the security and remote reach for large deployments to use effectively. Andrew Garcia, Apple’s iPhone Configuration Utility Disappoints

Overheard: Using iTunes as a distributive educational network

Apple just launched K-12 on iTunes U (opens iTunes) that allows schools to use iTunes as a platform to distribute educational content. Not quite sure why a school would find this easier than just posting the stuff on the web, but I do know Apple would love to get all those students spending even more time in iTunes. Jon Robinson, Apple’s iTunes U for K-12 Schools

I can’t think of a single network administrator I know who would recommend putting iTunes on school computers.

Overheard: The future of NAND

Removable flash applications, such as cards for cell phones, drive the bulk of today’s NAND market. NAND growth through 2012 will be driven by the computing segment, such as hybrid drives, and solid-state drives going into notebooks, UMPCs, servers, mobile and enterprise storage and data centers. Ciol, NAND market: Where’s Apple?

I had to look up the acronym UMPC. It stands for ultra-mobile personal computer.

Overheard: Location awareness — is it finally here?

GPS brings a whole new level of precision to the mobile experience. Cell phones have been required to be location-aware for several years in order to comply with the needs of emergency response agencies in the U.S. However, the primitive triangulation system that basic phones use isn’t very precise. With GPS, a user’s location could be pinpointed to within a few feet. Paul Gillin, The Promise and Pitfalls of Location-Awareness

If you do a search on Google for location awareness, you’ll find lot of articles written by people who are excited about the possibilities of mobile devices and location awareness. Advertisers, particularly seem excited. If you look at the dates for a lot of those articles, however, you might be surprised to see they were written in 2001. Will the iPhone really be the tipping point for location awareness 3rd party apps? I’m not going to hold my breath.

Overheard: The iPhone — death by monthly payments

We have had nearly 24 hours to jump out Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field and put common sense behind the announcements made yesterday – especially the company’s iPhone 3G. Christian Zibreg, WWDC 2008: Will the iPhone 3G kill the iPhone?

Christian Zibreg thinks the money iPhone users shell out to AT&T each month is the deal killer. It is for my family.
Just as I was posting this, Verizon called and offered my whole family free phone upgrades and extra minutes. Coincidence? LOL!

Overheard: iPhone vs. Blackberry

I couldn’t type on it and I still can’t type on it, and a lot of my friends can’t type on it. It’s hard to type on a piece of glass.” Mike Lazaridis, as quoted in BlackBerry’s Quest: Fend Off the iPhone

Overheard: We’re locking you in for your own good — the world is a dangerous place.

With enough lock-in, a company can protect its market share even as it reduces customer service, raises prices, refuses to innovate and otherwise abuses its customer base. It should be no surprise that this sounds like pretty much every experience you’ve had with IT companies: Once the industry discovered lock-in, everyone started figuring out how to get as much of it as they can. Bruce Schneier, With iPhone, ‘Security’ Is Code for ‘Control’