Posted by John Patrick on Dec 26, 2011 in
e-Business,
Go Figure,
On Demand 
All the retailers are trying to become e-tailers so that Amazon doesn’t take all their business from them. They have a very long way to go to get with the program. Amazon has been honing their web presence for 16 years and they have it down to a science — and to putting the customer first. Seems everything they do makes sense. Amazon Prime, for example, is fantastic. Some of the things aspiring e-tailers do make no sense. My wife ordered a pair of gloves for one of our daughters-in-law. The unbreakable product arrived in a box that could have contained a suitcase or a television. The unbreakable unscratchable gloves were surrounded by enough packing material to handle a few table settings worth of dishes. Go figure.
Tags: amazon, e-tailers, online retail, prime shipping
Posted by John Patrick on Dec 21, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
iPhone,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile,
Music 
Thanks to Mary Keough, over at IBM, for reading my post and correcting me on the weight of the Kindle Touch. I was thinking of the new $79 Kindle when I said six ounces. I weighed four devices this morning to make sure I got this right. Here is what I found.
I have to admit that I am vascillating a bit between the Kindle and the Kindel Touch. They are both very light and a pleasure to read on. The touch screen is nice, but the simple buttons on the Kindle create a certainty about your intentions. When I swipe, sometimes I go back a page to make sure I had not swiped two pages. With the Kindle, a click is always “a” click. All the Kindle devices are great, and I suspect the Fire will keep getting better with software updates and follow-on models.
Mary asked about the advertising and quetioned whether it is worth the extra $30 on the Kindle or $40 on the Touch to get the device “without special offers”. My opinion is that it is not worth the extra money. The special offers appear as a screen saver when you stop reading. They are totally unobtrusive. You can easily not even notice them. If you want to look more closely and are interested in something being offered, you can go for it. Speaking of reading, the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson was really great (see Apple at Grand Central Terminal). I am now reading Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. I have read most of his books, and this one too is really good so far.
Other patrickWeb stories related to the Kindle
Tags: amazon, apple, fall of giants, fire, founders hall, ipad, iPhone, isaacson, ken follett, Kindle, kindle fire, kindle touch, steve jobs
Posted by John Patrick on Dec 20, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
iPhone,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile,
Music
On September 28, Amazon announced three new Kindles — a $79 Kindle, the $99 Kindle Touch, and the $199 Android-based color touch screen Kindle Fire tablet. Technology pundits have criticized the Kindle Fire’s touch screen and various aspects of the user interface (see Daily Report: Kindle Fire Attracts Critics, and Buyers – NYTimes.com). I have observed the shortcomings also, but I think the device has a market niche that will be well served — people who like to read books. At $199, it is less than half the cost of an iPad. Amazon will relentlessly promote the Fire on its site and is rumored to be nearly ready to provide software updates for better performance and improved user interface.
I remain a believer in purpose-built devices. The iPad is great for documents, weather, stocks, surfing the web, and reading books at the kitchen counter. The Kindle Fire is great for reading books. That is what it does best. It can also do most everything the iPad can, but not everything. I don’t see myself giving a slide presentation with a projector and the Fire. I don’t plan to put 40 gigtabytes of dropbox folders containing all my data on the Fire. The Fire is great for reading a book, listening to music, or watching a movie. It is basically a media player. You can do many tablet computing tasks, but that is not what it is best at. The device I like the best for reading books is the new Kindle Touch. It weighs six ounces and has no moving parts. Turning pages and setting bookmarks is as easy as a touch. You can change the font size to the optimum and read comfortably for long periods of time wherever you may be — incuding outdoors in the sun, which you can do with an iPad. If I am at the kitchen counter and want to read for ten minutes, I launch the Kindle app on the iPad and it automatically takes me to wherever I left off on the Fire or iPhone or wherever I last read — a seamless experience. So many gadgets, so little time! I plan to donate the entry-model Kindle to the senior center.
Tags: amazon, apple, fire, founders hall, ipad, iPhone, Kindle, kindle fire, kindle touch
Posted by John Patrick on Nov 17, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
Travels,
WiFi There are many reviews out there already about the new Kindle Fire (see Nook’s Specs Are Exaggerated, Again). I would not glority this posting by calling it a review — it is simply my first reaction upon receiving the kindlefire this afternoon. The fire was actually delivered to the Marriott Atlanta Century Center on Tuesday. I have been in Florida for the last few days and when I got notice of the shipping, I had the Kindle diverted to where I would be staying during the weekend for a University of Phoenix residency (more on that later).
My first reaction on taking the fire out of the classicly simple Amazon packaging was that it was heavier than I expected. It is not as heavy as the first Nook, but it is heavier than the other new Kindles. After a few hours of using it, I would say it is lighter than the iPad and not really so heavy after all. Speaking of the iPad, the obvious question from many will be “how does it compare to the iPad?” My son reminds me that the fire “is not an iPad”, and it should not be compared to something that is totally different in design and intention. I agree — the two are different animals with different purposes.
I had some difficulty setting up the fire because of the marginal WiFi signal in my room at the hotel. The fire wants you to confirm your Amazon account after getting a WiFi signal, but the Marriott wants you to confirm your room # before it activates your wireless. It took a while to figure out how to get around the Catch 22. The fire is clearly a content device — it is designed for reading books and the news, watching movies, and listening to music. There is a large selection of apps but I have not yet had time to try many. The free enhanced email program available in the Amazon app store works very well.
The fire navigation is a bit awkward but I think that is a matter of getting used to a different paradigm. The text entry mode has a nice movable cursor for use in corecting entries that is very nice. I need more time to experiment with it, but as a first impression, I think that text entry may be better than the iPad in that respect. I know — don’t compare the fire to the iPad! They are both great and I look forward to more experience with the fire and will share that as the days progress.
Tags: amazon, fire, ipad, Kindle, kindlefire
Posted by John Patrick on Oct 1, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile 
There are quite a few stories here in patrickWeb about the Kindle and about Amazon (see the links to the left for indexes to both topics). I confess that I am a fan of both. I also love the iPad — but for different reasons. The media loves to write about arch rivals and head-to-head competitors. They want to speculate about whether Fire will win out over the iPad. I don’t see it that way. In fact I see them both as winners. There is not going to be one device that is best for all things for all people. That is the great thing about consumer technology — there is something for everyone. Some will be happy to have an iPad as their sole “computer” and use it for reading books, writing stories, doing their email, and shopping on the Web. Others will want more purpose-centric devices. If you read a lot of books, you will want a Kindle. If you like to read outdoors, forget about using an iPad. On Saturday I received the new $79 Kindle. (I ordered the Kindle Touch and a Fire also but they will not be available until November). The new Kindle is great. It has no keyboard and is therefore smaller. You can hold it in your hand and read to your heart’s content and never get a sore wrist. It weighs next to nothing. The e-ink makes the words clear as a bell indoors or outdoors. If there is something you need to type, it has an onscreen keyboard that lets you select with the cursor. If you are going to write a story, that would be no good but to enter the SSID of your home WiFi network to get started, it is no problem. The new Kindle is #4 for me. I sold the Kindle DX on eBay and handed down one to my wife who doesn’t care about having the very latest model like I do. When the Kindle Touch and Fire (Kindles 5 & 6) arrive, I plan to donate a Kindle or two to the local senior center. What will Fire be like? I can’t wait to try it, but I expect it will be great for consuming media and for shopping — probably better than the iPad. When it comes to syncing my board papers between Dropbox and Goodreader, I expect the iPad will continue as the preferred solution. I expect the apps for CNBC and Bloomberg financial reporting, aviation and healthcare apps and many other apps will continue to be best on the iPad. I don’t see a replacement for FaceTime with the grandchildren. The best news is that we have some competition for tablets. That may make Apple the first company to have a market value of a trillion dollars, or it may mean that there are enough differences in the preferences of billions of people in the world that there is room for at least a handful of very successful products and companies. My bet is on the latter.
Tags: amazon, apple, book, books, dropbox, goodreader, ipad, Kindle
Posted by John Patrick on Jul 12, 2011 in
e-Business,
Media,
People 
Jim Milliot’s article, Amazon As Publisher, Publishers As E-tailers, opened with the key point that in the rapidly changing publishing industry, the once clear lines between the various parts of the business have become blurred. Last week’s announcements from Amazon and from Bookish–the soon-to-be launched online book platform backed by Simon & Schuster, Penguin, and Hachette Book Group–is the start of a major transformation. Amazon’s launch of Montlake Romance brought the company deeper into the publishing business than ever before, while the launch of Bookish gives publishers their first destination site where titles from all publishers will be available for sale.
The tip of the emerging iceberg may be Amazon’s announcement that it had acquired 47 Books from Award-Winning Mystery Author Ed McBain. Amazon Publishing has acquired the publication rights of 35 titles in the 87th Precinct Series–including “The Con Man” and “The Mugger”–by author Ed McBain. Amazon’s approach is the publish once, and make available for reading in multiple formats — the McBain books will be published by another of Amazon’s genre imprints, the Thomas & Mercer, and will be available in print, digital and audio formats this Fall. A significant element of Amazon’s move is that this is the first time any of these books have been available in digital format. I have to admit I am not familiar with Ed McBain or his books, but my nephew is. “McBain is a master of the mystery genre and we are thrilled to be able to repackage, publish and promote his unrivalled body of work,” said Philip Patrick, Head of Rights & Licensing, Amazon Publishing. Patrick said that one of the things Amazon Publishing can do is offer signature authors a “new life for great backlist titles.”
I am no expert in publishing by any means, but one thing I am quite certain of is that Amazon’s approach of giving customers the choice of where, when, and how they want to consume content is the right one. Many major companies act as though they control their customers; that they can decide what customers want and what they will pay. Amazon continues to gain market share in e-tailing because they have built their entire business around the concept of walking in the customer’s shoes. Ever hear of someone complaining about Amazon’s web site or customer service? This same philosophy will surely change the game of publishing. The gauntlet has been thrown down.
Tags: 87th precinct, amazon, mcbain, philip patrick, publishing
The annual Apple worldwide developer conference opening keynote drew a crowd of 5,200. It would have been much larger if the auditorium had the capacity. The extraordinary video is a “must see” if you are interested in either the Apple products or the marketing that surrounds them. The two-hour video is an exemplary model for how to communicate. Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them. Not a new idea, but executed by the Apple executive team with incredible precision, enthusiasm, and clarity. They also added an important element to the classic three-element communications model. Demo it to them. You get the feeling that the executive team knows exactly what they are talking about and are passionate about it.
Next month we get to see Lion and I for one can’t wait. It sounds like Apple is really listening to what customers want. For the iOS 5 update, we will have to wait until “the Fall”, but it also has a large number of exciting features. The big one is integration with iCloud. The immediate question many people have is what does iCloud mean for Dropbox? There are many unanswered questions. Google, Apple, and Amazon are at war to win our hearts, minds, and bits for their clouds. Some will say that iCloud is a makeover of MobileMe but I believe it is much more than that. iCloud will be continuously streaming billions of bits to all of our Apple devices — songs, photos, emails, web page and reading material bookmarks, calendar updates and reminders, contact information, tweets, and much more. While Google, Apple, and Amazon will strive to get our more and more of our loyalty, there are many parts of our digital lives that they don’t touch.
Every Saturday morning, I update my Quicken data on the MacBook at the kitchen counter. After I close Quicken, the file is immediately updated at dropbox.com. A bit later, I head into my office and access Quicken on the iMac. All the data is there, updated and ready to use. The same file is also on the iPhone and iPad and a handful of ThinkPads that are scattered around the house. Cloud computing does not mean putting everything in the cloud instead of on your computer — it means putting data in the cloud so that it can be replicated to all your devices. Your data is no longer where you PC is — your data is where you are. Some photo afficianados will prefer to use Picasa instead of iPhoto. Some will use Google Docs instead of Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Some will use Amazon for their music. For me it will be Pandora. I plan to try iCloud as soon as possible and will surely use it for my purchased music, probably for photos, and probably not for documents. Definietely not for Quicken and various specialized files like my web site content, GPS data, etc.. All the boards I serve on distribute materials via pdf files. When I receive those by email I detach them to dropbox.com folders. I then synchronize Goodreader with dropbox on the iPad so that all the pdfs are local on the iPad for use at board meetings. I am enthusiastic about iCloud but I do not see it taking over my digital life, at least not yet.
Tags: amazon, apple, cloud computing, dropbox, google, icloud, imac, ipad, iPhone, lion, mac osx, twitter
Posted by John Patrick on May 1, 2011 in
Gadgets,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
Mobile
TechCrunch reported that Kindle Books Overtake Paperback Books To Become Amazon’s Most Popular Format. Last July Amazon’s Kindle eReader books had surpassed hardcover books in terms of sales, selling 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books. Paperbacks have now also fallen behind with the Kindle selling 115 books for every 100 paperbacks. Hardcover books are now half of Kindle e-books, and there are now more than 800,000 e-books to choose from.
Nearly a year ago, I posed the question of whether the
iPad would dethrone the
Kindle? I don’t claim to have the answer but I may have some clues. I selected one of
David McCullough‘s outstanding pieces of work and read chapters alternately on the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and Kindle on iPad. Not that many years ago I said in speeches that I “would never read a book on my cell phone”. I was wrong. Reading a whole book is unlikely for me but reading a chapter here and a chapter there is for sure. Standing in line at the supermarket or waiting for a subway train or maybe sitting on a park bench offers a chance to consume something you are really anxious to read. The iPhone Kindle app provides a landscape view and it is quite readable and simple to navigate. The beautiful thing is that when you later pick up your Kindle or the Kindle app on the iPad and open the reader it asks you if you want to continue where you left off on your iPhone. The Amazon
Whispersync feature is innovative and extends your reading time and enjoyment. Apple will have something similar or better and Google Android readers will no doubt have a sync feature as well.
One disadvantage of the iPad as a reader is that at one and a half pounds — not a lot compared to a laptop or even a netbook — it is five times heavier than a Kindle. The weight is concentrated in a thin flat device and I find it uncomfortable to hold after a while. The other thing is the back-lighting. The iPad screen is actually bright — perfect for flipping through photos, watching a movie, or surfing the web, but for a couple of hours of reading it can be hard on your eyes. The positive aspect of the iBook reader is the graphical representation of the bookshelf and the flipping of the pages. It is truly incredible that as you slowly “flip” a page with your finger you can see the words on the back of the page. You have to see it to believe it. The processing power to perform the page turning is equivalent to what was called a supercomputer not long ago. The iBook reader also has some very nice content related features. The brightness can be adjusted — helps with eye fatigue — and there are five selectable fonts with variable sizes. I really like the display at the lower right of each page that shows how many pages remain to be read in the current chapter. An icon at the top brings you the table of contents of the book and a listing of all your bookmarks. Adding a new bookmark is very simple. You tap tap on a word and a menu pops up asking if you want to look up the word in a dictionary, search the book for occurrences of the word, or make the word be a bookmark. When I show someone the iPad iBook reader I always make sure to place a bookmark so that after they get finished paging around I can get back to where I was. The Kindle 3 just makes everything I said even better.
The Kindle reader on the iPad is an updated version of the iPhone reader. It takes good advantage of the larger screen and also allows you to change the color of the pages — white, black, or sepia. The content controls are good but not as slick as the iBook reader. Ditto with the page turning. The Kindle reader has the graphical page flip but it doesn’t show the words on the back of the page. Certainly not something you need but it makes a distinction for the iBook reader that people find impressive.
Last but certainly not least of the four is the Kindle itself. The Kindle uses e-ink — it is reflective — like paper. The more light the better. Like millions of others, I am Kindlzed — since 2007. The 5 once device never burdens the wrist. The Kindle is monochrome but we don’t need color to read a novel. The Kindle is simple and intuitive to use. Not flashy, compared to the iPad, but dependable with long battery life. For extended reading sessions the Kindle remains best, in my opinion — for now. I expect things to change. The multi-purpose ability o
f the iPad is important. I find myself jumping over to check or send an email when I think of something while reading. Rather than just look up a word in the built-in dictionary I sometimes want to visit theWikipedia or explore a web site. The iPad has personal appeal and you get attached to it. Publishers are busy working with authors to create multimedia content to be integral to new and backlisted books — audio in the background, video interviews with the author or clips of content relevant to the topic of the book may make books more appealing and also may make them worth more — which brings us to the pricing.
The McCullough book was $9.99 on Amazon and $14.99 through the iBook store at Apple. Same book. No multimedia content. Is Apple’s version of the book worth 50% more? Publishers really don’t like the idea of people getting used to paying $9.99 for a book. They want a new model. Apple is accommodating them — so far. Time will tell how things are going to shake out. Ken Auletta’s piecefrom the April 26, 2010 issue of The New Yorker explores the state of book publishing with excellent analysis of the strategies of the two digital behemoths — Amazon and Apple, and also describes how Google will soon follow with it’s readers and online store. There is a very large fight beginning for control of the e-books market.
There will be much more to say about the book market but in the meantime the iPad will be selling briskly. No doubt in my mind that there will be very large adoption — tens of millions for sure — and it will make a big dent in PC’s. Also, more to say about what the iPad can not do and about the bigger question of iTunes. When will it be in the cloud? The iPhone will continue to be an important part of my life — for calls and picture taking. This morning I had an appointment at a place that had no WiFi (fewer and fewer of such places) so I turned on the iPad and took a minute or two to download my email inbox and the Wall Street Journal before leaving the house. It was more than enough to occupy my subsequent idle time.
Tags: amazon, books, ipad, Kindle
Posted by John Patrick on Feb 3, 2011 in
Favorites,
patrickWeb I have been experimenting with the Amazon aStore and decided to add books that I have read. After I complete a book, I will add it to the patrickWeb aStore so to make it easy for followers of my blog to buy books I have enjoyed, if they choose to. The first book I will add is Bill Bryson’s At Home. Like all Bryson books, it is extraordinary. Bryson takes you on a tour of his home in England room by room–living room, dining room, basement, kitchen, etc. and in each room he delves deeply into the history of things. For example, reading the dining room chapter you end up learning about the history of food, cooking, servants, and many other things in incredible detail just like all his books. I can highly recommend this latest one. Feel free to visit the patrickWeb aStore and take a look. Feedback welcome.
Tags: amazon, astore, book, books, bryson, john patrick
Posted by John Patrick on Aug 29, 2010 in
Favorites,
ipad,
Kindle,
Media,
WiFi The new Kindle 3 — “Smaller, Faster, Cheaper“” — arrived on Friday morning, a few days earlier than Amazon had promised. I would say that the new device will assure Amazon’s lead for some time. It is really fantastic. I had no complaints with the Kindle 2 — in fact I love it — but the new one has a nicer feel to it. The slightly smaller size allows you to truly read “one handed”. The power switch was moved to the bottom from the top and I find that much more convenient. The new color seems more with the times. A few other button changes but overall it is pretty much a refined version of the Kindle 2 which was a refined version of the Kindle 1. I am sure we won’t have to wait a year for the Kindle 4.
The Kindle 3′s new no glare screen has increased gray-scale contrast — it is clear as a bell and it loves the summer sun. The battery life is supposed to be one month. The migration from Kindle 2 to Kindle 3 was trivial. Took the new device out of the box, plugged it in, and turned it on. I clicked “register” and gave it my Amazon account id and password. I also gave it the SSID of my Wireless Access Point here at the Lake and that was it. In seconds I was reading the book that I had started on the Kindle 2 (and read parts of on the iPhone 4 and the Kindle app on the iPad).
I still love the iPad but when it comes to reading books the Kindle is hands down better and with the Kindle 3 that advantage will be multiplied. The new Kindle comes in two flavors: one with WiFi for $139 and one with WiFi and 3G for $189. For most of us the WiFi model is more than adequate. If you are going on a trip you can download your favorite newspaper plus a book or two or more using your home WiFi and you are set. You don’t really need 3G for other applications because the Kindle doesn’t have other applications! That is what your iPad is for.
The magazine, book, and newspaper publishers still haven’t figured out what to do about the rapid adoption of e-readers. The iPad is great for reading news, but which news source is best to read? The New York Times has the worst model. They offer a dozen stories and plan to charge if you want more. The Wall Street Journal charges $3.99 per week for their news on the iPad but if you want to read a WSJ story on the web or your iPhone they want you to take out another subscription. Wired and Time want you to pay $5 per issue of their magazines. I believe people will be willing to pay for good content but nobody yet has the right model. I have experimented with quite a few news “readers” that display the RSS feeds of just about all publishers. I currently like NewsRack the best. None of the news readers are perfect but they are all getting better.
Meanwhile the Kindle DX has found a temporary home on eBay. The auction began Friday evening and already has 13 watchers and eight bids. The Kindle DX has been in use for airport and approach charts on the airplane but is no longer needed now that the pilots have iPads. This is a good example of where a “multi-purpose” device is better. There are many applications that are very handy in the cockpit and the iPad becomes an EFB (electronic flight bag). Hopefully, the pilots are not reading books while flying!
Tags: amazon, author, Aviation, efb, electronic flight bag, ipad, Kindle, kindle 3, kindle 4, publisher, WiFi
