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Business Wire: >With increased consumer demand for both no-annual contract wireless plans and faster data speeds, Walmart and T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced today that T-Mobile will launch a $30 unlimited web and text monthly 4G prepaid service plan — providing customers great value on a no-annual contract 4G data offering. That’s a clever move by…
Business Wire:
>With increased consumer demand for both no-annual contract wireless plans and faster data speeds, Walmart and T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced today that T-Mobile will launch a $30 unlimited web and text monthly 4G prepaid service plan — providing customers great value on a no-annual contract 4G data offering.
That’s a clever move by T-Mobile. (Note that “unlimited” here actually means 5GB.)
Six touch based apps and 20GB of free “cloud” storage. Photoshop touch looks nice.
Six touch based apps and 20GB of free “cloud” storage. Photoshop touch looks nice.
Speaking of the simple formula Apple uses, here’s Clayton Morris’ take: >Polish is what Apple does, showing us something we’ve seen before in a new light. He was responding to the notion that Apple needs to “bring sexy back” — a notion that is absurd.
Speaking of the simple formula Apple uses, here’s Clayton Morris’ take:
>Polish is what Apple does, showing us something we’ve seen before in a new light.
He was responding to the notion that Apple needs to “bring sexy back” — a notion that is absurd.
Fascinating data from Luke Wroblewski on iPhone usage. Don’t read this as someone trying to state why the iPhone is better, because this is showing how users are using the devices differently. Anecdotally in my day to day observation of western Washington I have noticed that I typically only ever see BlackBerry users and iPhone…
Fascinating data from Luke Wroblewski on iPhone usage. Don’t read this as someone trying to state why the iPhone is better, because this is showing how users are using the devices differently.
Anecdotally in my day to day observation of western Washington I have noticed that I typically only ever see BlackBerry users and iPhone users with their phones out being used to pass the time. Mostly I just see Android users using the phones to make calls.
For whatever reason, it seems to me, that iPhone users just enjoy using their iPhones as more than just phones.
I can’t say that, as a user of the service, I feel confident this is a good thing for Typekit. **UPDATED** (on Oct 3, 2011): Typekit now has a [post up on their blog](http://blog.typekit.com/2011/10/03/adobe-acquires-typekit/) about it. The team is staying together (that’s good) and Typekit says that they will remain “a standalone product”, whatever that…
I can’t say that, as a user of the service, I feel confident this is a good thing for Typekit.
**UPDATED** (on Oct 3, 2011): Typekit now has a [post up on their blog](http://blog.typekit.com/2011/10/03/adobe-acquires-typekit/) about it. The team is staying together (that’s good) and Typekit says that they will remain “a standalone product”, whatever that means (it doesn’t necessarily mean and independent company.
The good is that Typekit gets tons of cash, the bad is that it is coming from a company that makes seriously impressive products that have seriously confusing interfaces — also they make Flash. If Typekit can remain independent and just use the money as they want, this is nothing but a win. *If.*
“Monolithic, inflexible and unable to keep up with the shifts and turns of disruptive technology, once great companies like Kodak can’t survive without exhaustive restructuring.” — David DiSalvo
Tom Simonite with an incredibly accurate view on how Apple makes amazing new products: >The formula is simple: take a bunch of neat technology that has never lived up to its promise, rethink what it’s for, do some secretive hard work, and then release a natural, retrospectively obvious experience that redefines what computers can do.…
Tom Simonite with an incredibly accurate view on how Apple makes amazing new products:
>The formula is simple: take a bunch of neat technology that has never lived up to its promise, rethink what it’s for, do some secretive hard work, and then release a natural, retrospectively obvious experience that redefines what computers can do.
It’s the last bit of that sentence that Apple has done extremely well with in recent years.
Simonite also, on page 2, has a great little thought about the rumored “Assistant” voice control:
>I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Apple gets a cut of anything sold through Assistant, whether movie tickets or restaurant bookings.
I would be surprised if they did, unless of course Apple was providing some sort of back end support — meaning Apple builds the tools you need to integrate support for Assistant into your product, not the other way around.
Horace Dediu analyzing iOS and Microsoft: >Microsoft invented the software business and built it to become the world’s most valuable business by the year 2000. It’s still been growing since and after 35 years it is reaching a profit of $27 billion per year. It did this while maintaining enormous margins and a highly disruptive…
Horace Dediu analyzing iOS and Microsoft:
>Microsoft invented the software business and built it to become the world’s most valuable business by the year 2000. It’s still been growing since and after 35 years it is reaching a profit of $27 billion per year. It did this while maintaining enormous margins and a highly disruptive monopoly business model the likes of which the world had never seen before.
>It is scarcely believable then that a device business has been created to overtake it in four years.
You should really take a look at the entire post, it is amazing to see just how big iOS has become in such a (very) short time.
Elinor Mills reporting on Facebooks response to the lawsuit: >”We believe this complaint is without merit and we will fight it vigorously,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told CNET in an e-mailed statement. I know I rag on Facebook a lot, but if you aren’t up in arms about this you really should be. If Facebook…
Elinor Mills reporting on Facebooks response to the lawsuit:
>”We believe this complaint is without merit and we will fight it vigorously,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told CNET in an e-mailed statement.
I know I rag on Facebook a lot, but if you aren’t up in arms about this you really should be. If Facebook gets away with this the flood gates will open — and no one should want that.
>This week Shawn and Ben are joined by our pal Marco Arment to talk about the new Amazon Kindles and home coffee roasting and AeroPressin’. It’s good one, thanks to Marco for joining us.
>This week Shawn and Ben are joined by our pal Marco Arment to talk about the new Amazon Kindles and home coffee roasting and AeroPressin’.
It’s good one, thanks to Marco for joining us.
Michael Pusateri breaks it down, I won’t reveal the answer here. But, he does estimate this: >Doing the math: 11,131 stores * 449 visits per store = 4,997,819 visits per day by Americans. That’s just America… [via Twitter]
Michael Pusateri breaks it down, I won’t reveal the answer here. But, he does estimate this:
>Doing the math: 11,131 stores * 449 visits per store = 4,997,819 visits per day by Americans.
That’s just America…
A letter from Justin Lee to the New Zealand Police on Letters of Note: >For me to have traveled from Porirua to the foot of the Bombay Hills just out of Auckland by six thirty, I would had to have crawled into the first car in the hospital parking lot and headed for Auckland at…
A letter from Justin Lee to the New Zealand Police on Letters of Note:
>For me to have traveled from Porirua to the foot of the Bombay Hills just out of Auckland by six thirty, I would had to have crawled into the first car in the hospital parking lot and headed for Auckland at around 1,000 km/h. For this reason, it is entirely possible that the constable who clocked me back in 1974 was holding his laser equipment upside down and instead of doing 116 km/h as per the infringment notice, it is more likely that I was doing 911 km/h.
This is an excellent letter.
Horace Dediu: >iOS powered devices generate more revenue than all of Microsoft’s products put together That’s almost unbelievable, not to mention [IBM surpassing Microsoft](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2016361398_ibmmicrosoft30.html?syndication) as the second largest tech company by market cap. I bet Ballmer is sweating.
Horace Dediu:
>iOS powered devices generate more revenue than all of Microsoft’s products put together
That’s almost unbelievable, not to mention [IBM surpassing Microsoft](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2016361398_ibmmicrosoft30.html?syndication) as the second largest tech company by market cap. I bet Ballmer is sweating.
Mark Mulligan: >Put simply, Apple is in the business of selling content to help sell devices whereas Amazon is in the business of selling devices to help sell content. That’s about as clear as you can state it.
Mark Mulligan:
>Put simply, Apple is in the business of selling content to help sell devices whereas Amazon is in the business of selling devices to help sell content.
That’s about as clear as you can state it.
Garrett Murray has a great onslaught of questions about Google+, my favorite of them is this bit: >And if it’s an experiment, what is it trying to test? Whether or not people want a different social network? And also, if the experiment proves people do want an alternative, is Google+ the best one? Will that…
Garrett Murray has a great onslaught of questions about Google+, my favorite of them is this bit:
>And if it’s an experiment, what is it trying to test? Whether or not people want a different social network? And also, if the experiment proves people do want an alternative, is Google+ the best one? Will that guarantee its success?
You should read his entire post, great questions.
A great post by Chris Ziegler that touches on a few really important concepts behind the Kindle Fire: 1. Amazon turning Android back against Google. 2. The idea that Amazon is now, in fact, a hardware competitor. I really like this line from Ziegler: >After all, it wasn’t long ago that we thought it was…
A great post by Chris Ziegler that touches on a few really important concepts behind the Kindle Fire:
1. Amazon turning Android back against Google.
2. The idea that Amazon is now, in fact, a hardware competitor.
I really like this line from Ziegler:
>After all, it wasn’t long ago that we thought it was preposterous that a search engine might create a phone popular enough to take over the world; it’s no more preposterous to think that the world’s largest online retailer could do the same.
That is so very true and exactly what makes Amazon so interesting right now.
Alastair Sharp reporting: >”Rumors suggesting that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued are pure fiction,” RIM spokeswoman Marisa Conway said in an emailed statement. “RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market and the future of QNX in its platform.” I would guess there are a lot of things analysts/investors and RIM Co-CEOs could label…
Alastair Sharp reporting:
>”Rumors suggesting that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued are pure fiction,” RIM spokeswoman Marisa Conway said in an emailed statement. “RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market and the future of QNX in its platform.”
I would guess there are a lot of things analysts/investors and RIM Co-CEOs could label as “pure fiction” right now.
You can now watch a low resolution video of the Kindle presentation on YouTube. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I have been told it was a well done presentation.
You can now watch a low resolution video of the Kindle presentation on YouTube. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I have been told it was a well done presentation.
Derek Kessler has a nice run down of the 7″ version of the HP TouchPad, one that we will probably never see. Of note is this bit from Kessler: >The IPS screen retains the 1024×768 pixel count, but scales it down from 9.7 inches to 6.95 inches. I’d think that would have made for an…
Derek Kessler has a nice run down of the 7″ version of the HP TouchPad, one that we will probably never see. Of note is this bit from Kessler:
>The IPS screen retains the 1024×768 pixel count, but scales it down from 9.7 inches to 6.95 inches.
I’d think that would have made for an excellent reading screen.
There are two huge differences between Apple and most other companies that it “competes with”: Apple has a knack for understanding what the consumer wants — even if the consumer is still not quite sure what they want. To illustrate this point I think it best to recall a story I grew up hearing about…
There are two huge differences between Apple and most other companies that it “competes with”:
Everyone said at the introduction of the iPhone that the lack of 3G would be it’s death. That the closed nature and web-only apps would be a problem. The original iPhone was still a hit despite those limitations — because what people actually wanted, what they actually cared about, wasn’t 3G or native apps.
### Enter Amazon
Up and until today I strongly believed that no major technology company was able to both understand and execute on both of these items in any way, shape, or form close to what Apple does. That’s why most tablets that we see simply look like clones of the popular iPad — albeit a crappy clone in most cases.
Today Amazon showed that they, at the very least, understand the first point above. They seem to get what the consumer wants, or at least are willing to gamble on what they *think* the consumer wants. It’s an interesting and refreshing perspective.
Amazon has never been in the business of providing the second item — the magical technology ((Unless you are Prime member, because that can be magical at times.)) . Amazon seems to understand that they, as a company, will prosper on pricing — that’s their goal, it’s Amazon’s second item ((It too is becoming one for Apple.)) . Amazon wants to ship products that attempt to meet what consumers actually want, at low prices. Apple adds in the magical part, while attempting both of the same things.
It is an incredibly encouraging sign for Amazon, and for consumers, and I for one can’t wait to see how well Amazon executed this vision on the Kindle Fire.
Whether the Kindle Fire is a success or not — it speaks well to Amazon’s longevity in the consumer electronics space.