Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"The share of adults in the United States who own an e-book reader doubled to 12% in May, 2011 from 6% in November 2010. E-readers, such as a Kindle or Nook, are portable devices designed to allow readers to download and read books and periodicals. This is the first time since the Pew Internet Project began measuring e-reader use in April 2009 that ownership of this device has reached double digits among U.S. adults."

I'm betting the deep discounts in e-book readers such as the Kindle have a little to do with this, as you can see the growth of those types of hardware are outpacing the growth in the tablet sector. Further down in the survey the real surprise is that laptops are almost even with desktops when it comes to the number of adults that own them, 56% for laptops versus 57% for desktops. Personally I'm surprised that it took this long to catch up but I have always preferred a laptop for convenience and haven't done all that much in the "power user" realm such as video editing, etc. As far as what I own, it's one of everything except for the desktop, how about you?

"Apple issued a surprisingly timely response to a claim made by the New York Times that suggested the company might bar iOS apps that sell content outside of Apple's software market within iTunes."

It's been quite the story since yesterday, with Sony coming in late to the e-reader app game and getting shut down by Apple, while existing e-book apps such as Kindle and Nook are still allowed to go out of app for purchases. And it took less than a day for Apple to issue a response, and in fact it came out the same day as they tried to do damage control with the "end of the world" story lines that were cropping up. According to Apple, and also independent developers, the guidelines have not changed but they have changed how they are making developers comply with them. Apple wants apps to allow users to purchase in-app obviously since they get a 30% cut, so if they can purchase outside the app Apple wants the option for the same purchase to be available in-app. Seems reasonable since Apple is bringing the infrastructure for sales to the table, all they ask is the "option" for a piece of the pie. That being said, I do see why developers would be upset about it because, if the price were the same either way, why wouldn't I take the easy route and go in-app, thus cutting into the developers payment. While some would pay attention to this and make sure developers got their share by going outside the app, most people would go in-app due to convenience. What are your thoughts now that the dust has settled on this issue? Any predictions about what will happen to the existing apps such as the Kindle?

"Barnes & Noble today alerted Nook buyers that new orders now won't ship until December 11th (subscription required). The delay from the original November 30th date follows a recent push back for some until December 7th and is credited by spokeswoman Ellen Keating to sales that have "surpassed our expectations." The book retailer hasn't said how many pre-orders it has taken."

Kindle killer may be a bit dramatic, but competition is a good thing, especially in a market where one product has been dominating. This is the case when it comes to e-book readers and the Kindle. I know, I know, Sony has had one for awhile, but the Kindle has been dominating so if this shakes up the status quo I'm all for it! The key, in my opinion, is the infrastructure surrounding it and if they make it as easy as Amazon has done with the Kindle.

"Following Amazon's announcement of Kindle software for Windows users, the company has acknowledged that it is also working on a Mac version, according to Fast Company."

It's well documented that I love my Kindle, as well as the accompanying iPhone app. This is welcome news, since I was a little disappointed that when they announced the Windows 7 version, a Mac version wasn't mentioned. I don't know how much I would use it since I have my Kindle in my laptop bag, but I'm all for having options.

"An e-book submitted to Apple's App Store has been approved after the author removed language that apparently offended Apple. CNET's David Carnoy wrote a book called Knife Music last year, and attempted to submit it to the App Store as an e-book. Apple rejected his application for containing "objectionable content," which appeared to be a couple of uses of that four-letter word that starts with F."

Having never read any of the documents pertaining to submissions to the iTunes App Store, I was a little surprised by this. The author apparently wasn't, said the words didn't materially change the story, and removed them. I understand that it is their store and they can set up the guidelines however they wish, but I wonder why they didn't label it with the explicit tag (like they do for music and podcasts) and let it go at that?