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Barnes & Noble Unveil High Definition Nook Tablet

September 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Barnes & Noble has expanded its tablet offerings with a pair of new offerings including the first high definition models as the company is once again going head to head with rival Amazon and its tablet offerings.

The latest from Barnes & Noble is the Nook HD and the Nook HD+, with the Nook HD seeking to stake out the low cost leader in the 7-inch high definition space and the 9-inch Nook HD+ seeking to do the same in the larger screen space.

The Nook HD features a 1440 x 900 display that is capable of 720p HD video playback, with a standard 8GB of storage that is expandable to 16GB, running a version of Android 4.0 operating system and powered by a dual core 1.3GHz OMAP 4470 processor. It does not feature a front facing camera or NFC capabilities.

The Nook HD+ features a nine inch display that has a 1920 x 1280 pixel resolution and comes with 16GB storage as standard that can be upgraded with a microSD card to 32GB. It is also powered by the TI OMAP 4470 processor, this one running at 1.5GHz.

The arrival of these tablets was not that big of a surprise for two reasons. The first was the simple need to keep up with the Jones, or in this case Amazon and the second was that the company had announced its streaming video service and that almost certainly meant having a HD device to view the video. Both tablets are due in late October and the Nook HD will start at $199 and the Nook HD+ will be available at $269.

Barnes & Noble is touting the wide array of content for the devices including its large catalog of digital books. The Nook Store has been revamped and features 3 million books including nearly 3,500 children’s interactive picture books as well as a growing collection of comic books and graphic novels.

The streaming video service will be called Nook Video and will launch in late October. The service will feature TV shows as well as HD movies that can be downloaded and viewed. Among the studios that they have licensed content from are HBO, STARZ, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers Entertainment.

The latest generation of Nook devices can also be connected to a television so that a user can view the videos in full 1080p. The content can also be viewed on tablets and smartphones via the Nook video app.

Other areas that it has either added new features or support are in its UltraViolet support enabling the integration of physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs that have the UltraViolet logo from Barnes & Noble with the Nook.

The Newsstand has been revised with a new look and allow you to select only specific sections of a paper if so desired. The Magazine 2.0 allows readers to cut out pictures and just read text if they want and has a feature called Nook Scrapbook for clipping pages and saving them. The Nook Apps offers a range of apps for the tablets, with currently around 6,000 available.

The move comes both in time to help maintain its position as a top provider of tablets at a time when the competition, now from Amazon but soon from others as well, is increasing. It still trails rival Amazon in apps available, as well as Amazon having a huge set of additional services that are well established and familiar with its customers, something that will help propel Kindle HD sales.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apps, Barnes & Noble, Kindle, Nook, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Barnes & Noble Expected to Offer Nook Video Services

September 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

Barnes & Noble is planning on offering a video streaming and downloading service later in the fall as it faces increased competition not just from Amazon but also from the expected Apple iPad Mini and the upcoming Windows 8 tablets from Microsoft and its OEMs.

The company, which has been pondering the fate of its Nook e-reader for some time despite its popularity when released, said that the service will enable Nook users to buy movies and television shows from Time Warner’s HBO; Viacom; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; and Walt Disney Studios. It said that it is planning to add additional media content in the future.

It is commonly viewed that Amazon’s Kindle platform is the primary rival to the Nook and recently Amazon provided a huge upgrade to that platform in terms of quality of tablets and added a new larger model.

However the physical tablets are only part of the equation as Amazon offers both a streaming video service via its Prime offerings, but users get two day shipping on many items purchased using Amazon. Amazon has added a huge new library of videos via a deal with Epix as it seeks to also steal customers from Netflix as to help differentiate its offerings.

Aside from the Amazon threat is the looming issue of just additional competition in the overall tablet space. Intel has said that there are almost two dozen new tablets pending using its processors that will be running one of the versions of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.

Microsoft will also be entering the space with its own tablet, called the Surface. Google’s Nexus 7 was released just a few months ago to very favorable reviews and looks to be a long term contender. Then Apple, the overall market leader in the tablet space, is expected to enter the smaller form factor sector next month with a 7-inch iPad.

Barnes & Noble has not yet provided a pricing structure for the video service. Amazon offers its streaming video by the year while Netflix has a per month charge.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google, Intel, iPad, Microsoft, Nook, Surface, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Kickstarter Rules, Wal-Mart Kicks out Kindle

September 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Kickstarter has imposed a set of rules that will limit the type of products that can be promoted for funding on the crowdfunding site. Gone now will be renderings of projects that are being promoted and instead the site will require an actual working prototype of the project.

It will now also require that the project creators provide a “Risks and Challenges” section that will enable potential investors to have the needed information to make an informed decision about the obstacles that the development might face. In other words, you need to let potential “kickstarters” know that your cool idea may, in fact, not ever happen.

Wal-Mart dumps Amazon’s Kindle
Many smartphone users have probably “showroomed’ — used their phone to check out a price of an item that they are looking at in a store against what Amazon offers it for, and retailers have been seeking ways to slow this trend.

One way is to make Amazon less welcome and now Wal-Mart has said that when its current supply of Amazon Kindle Fire Tablets is sold it will not renew the product offering. The fact that there is almost no profit on the product may have helped with the decision. Target ceased selling them several months ago.

Apple asks judge for more
Apple has requested an additional $707 million in damages from Samsung, on top of the $1 billion that it was awarded by the jury. Among the parts of the request was for an enhanced award of $535 million for willful violation of Apple’s designs and patents, approximately $172 million in supplemental damages using an enlarged period of time for the violations and it is asking that the court to review damages that the jury awarded that were less than Samsung’s expert calculate that the damages actually were.

Apple loses two in Germany
Apple’s cases against both Motorola Mobility and Samsung were tossed out in a Mannheim court after it ruled that the two companies did not infringe on patents that Apple owns relating to touch screen functions.

Other bad news for Apple
One of the bigger pieces of news prior to the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 introductions was that Apple was jettisoning Google Maps, a preinstalled app since the beginning of time, or the first iPhone hit the market at any rate.

Instead Apple was including its own map technology, which with its elimination of some towns and the moving of other landmarks it is apparently the company’s most advanced software ever as it can see into the future. Or it is terrible. It is unusual for Apple to release something this raw and unfinished and the company it is now saying it is still a work in progress.

To make matters worse Google is mocking Apple’s failure with an ad that shows an Android phone using Google Maps showing an accurate vision of a street while Apple’s app shows a basically barren road.

Google sued for patent infringement
Of course it is not all smooth sailing for Google either as, for the second time in as many years it finds itself being sued by Skyhook Wireless, this time over patent infringement. The issue revolves around geolocation technology and WLAN-based positioning systems.

There are a total of 9 patents involved in the case, which was filed in US courts in the District of Delaware by Mass.-based Skyhook, according to Foss Patents.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Google, iOS, iOS 6, iPhone, Lawsuit, Motorola, Samsung Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report Grab Bag: New Tablets from ZTE & Huawei and MNF Flop

September 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Toys 'R' Us Tabeo

Tired of losing your pricey iPad to your kids and then they yell when you try and take it back? Well Toys “R” Us has stepped in with a product that just might save the day with its Tabeo offering. A 7-inch tablet that runs the Android operating system will be available in stores Oct. 21, but will start shipping Oct. 1.

The $149.99 device will feature 4GB of storage that is expandable to 32GB, but the big plus for parents is that it will come with more than 50 books, games and educational apps preloaded including such popular ones as Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. The Tabeo is now available for preorder.

Chinese vendors ZTE & Huawei catching tablet fever?
DigiTimes is reporting that both Huawei Technologies and ZTE have both shown a good deal of interest in entering the tablet space. The move is seen as an effort to expand their respective footprints globally as well as take advantage of the huge Chinese market.

First Monday Night Football game of season a flop with fans
The first MNF games have come and gone, and thank goodness if you were forced to watch them. Apparently not that many did as Sports Media Watch reports that the opening game, a Ravens blowout of the Bengals only managed an 8.1 rating.

Monday Night Football

The season opener, shown on ESPN, was down 21% from last year when the Patriots and Dolphins played and down 23% from the Jets vs. Ravens in 2010. It was the lowest rated MNF broadcast by ESPN since it took over broadcast duties of the iconic show in 2007.

However just a few days later the NFL Network, with a much better matchup with the Packers vs. Bears, received the highest rating in its short history. However its numbers, at 6.3, are hurt because it still is not carried anywhere near as much by cable operators as ESPN.

Analysts predict 58 million iPhone sales in 2012
The iPhone orders only start today after the introduction earlier this week with the first phones expected to ship next week but analysts are predicting a tsunami of sales for Apple’s iPhone 5 smartphone in 2012.

According to a survey done by Bloomberg and reported in Mashable the consensus from analysts is 58 million sold this year and FBR Capital Market analyst Craig Berger is predicting 250 million over the life of the device.

Is Samsung’s LTE threat an issue still?
Samsung mentioned that if Apple included LTE in its iPhone 5 there was a high likelihood of Samsung suing Apple. Samsung owns a huge number of patents in this area and has a healthy business in the LTE area that is spate from the smartphone business.

Now so far Samsung has not acted but it might just be that the company is looking at the technology that is used in Apple’s LTE offering to make sure that it has it right. We could always hope that maybe the two are actually talking and can settle things out of court.

Samsung & MLB partner on contest
Speaking of Samsung the company has entered into a contest with Major League Baseball called Photo Hunt. It is a pretty basic game, one I think even I would have a decent chance at. Every week MLB, at @MLB, will tweet out a Samsung Photo Hunt item using the hash tag #SamsungMLB.

All a user has to do is take a picture of the item and share it with @MLB. Winners will get a Samsung S III phone and two free tickets to a game of their favorite team.

Kindle opens to lukewarm reviews
I was impressed by what I saw during the Kindle HD press conference last week, but reviewers with hands-on experience with the device have been less than complimentary. Some seems to be valid complaints, such as the speed apps load and a few issues with software.

Some of the complaints appear to be, well it is not an iPad, and that really is Amazon’s fault for proclaiming it the best tablet in the market. I still like it, but it is obviously what Amazon said it was at its introduction: a device that opens up other Amazon services to customers. It seems to me to make a product like that (in hindsight) that there will be features that are not included that a general purpose tablet user might want.

USA Today to look like iPad?
I have not been down to the local newsstand but it appears that USA Today will be sporting a new look starting this morning. The paper, which in many ways revolutionized the way papers look and how much space they devote to a story, is now taking on a sleeker appearance.

The paper took a lesson from the Web and how many sites present information. It will also feature input from social media users, including comments from Twitter and Facebook. Its web page will function more like an iPad, according to a piece in the New York Times.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, ABC, Amazon, Android, Apple, ESPN, Facebook, Gannett, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Mashable, Monday Night Football, NFL, NFL Network, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Kindles this Week?

September 4, 2012 by

It is sounding like Intel is finally landing a major, known customer for its microprocessors targeted at the smartphone space. It is being reported that Motorola Mobility and Intel will be making a joint announcement on Sept. 18.

Actually it had already been announced that they were working together but now we finally get to see the fruits of their joint labor. According to PhoneArena the companies are now starting to send out invites for the event.

Amazon to dump Google Maps
It looks like competition in the tablet business has lost Google another customer for its popular maps program. Apple has already shown that it will not be including Google Maps as a standard feature in its next generation iOS and now Amazon is following its example.

According to a report in Rueters Amazon will instead be using technology from Nokia Oyj as the mapping technology of choice in its next generation Kindle Fore, a device that could be available as early as the end of this week.

Sony launches upgraded tablet
Missed amid preparations for Labor Day last week was news that Sony upgraded its tablets and has rebranded them under the Experia name, the same as it uses for its smartphones. The company also recently showed a trio of Experia smartphones including the Experia T with a 4.6-inch display.

Delays on iPhone 5 due to lack of screens?
http://www.electronista.com/articles/12/08/31/sharp.experiencing.production.glitches.with.in.cell.display.tech/
The Wall Street Journal via Electronista is reporting that Sharp, one of three display manufacturers tapped to provide displays for Apple’s next generation iPhone has been experiencing manufacturing issues.

This is not the first time that Sharp has had issues deploying next-generation technology, and it has hurt the company at its bottom line as its recent $1.2 billion loss testifies to. The lack of these displays could lead to a constrained supply of the phone when it is released.

Apple and Samsung agree on something
Apple and Samsung have agreed that any payment or bond that Samsung may need to make can be put off for at least a few months according to Foss Patents. It seems that since Apple buys significantly more than the amount of the fine from Samsung on a regular basis it sees no reason to burden its partners.

The author speculated that the issue also was influenced by the fact that with cases pending against each other in 10 countries it makes sense to waive posting bonds rather than being forced to do so in a variety of jurisdictions.

While the two are agreeing on some things at the same time Apple is seeking to add both the popular Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Galaxy Note to the list of eight other devices that it is seeking to have banned from import and sale in the United States.

Apple and Google in Patent talks
In some of the least secret talks in recent years, if true, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Google’s CEO Larry Page are having talks about how to settle the patent disputes that have been an ongoing bone of contention between the two companies, and in Google’s place the licensees of its Android operating system.

While neither side is admitting to the talks it has been reported by multiple sources that they talked via phone last week and have additional talks scheduled. It has been viewed that Samsung, Motorola Mobility and HTC, all of whom are fighting Apple in a variety of courts around the globe are simply serving as Google’s proxies in the battle.

Amazon to double its fun with two new Kindle Fire tablets
There have been reports for weeks that Amazon planned to beat Apple to the punch by delivering a next generation Kindle Fore prior to Apple’s expected release of a 7-inch iPad, commonly called the iPad Mini. Now reports are emerging that Amazon will release two new Kindles, and possibly by Friday this week.

Cnet is saying that the company will have a pair of 7-inch Kindles available on Sept 6th, and that contrary to some earlier reports Amazon will not be going with a 10-inch model to take on Apple and others in the larger screen format space.

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Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Google, HTC, Intel, iOS, Lawsuit, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Sony, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Lots of Apple News- NASA uses Android

August 27, 2012 by


NASA satellites to operate using Android phones
Gizmodo is reporting that the brains that will operate a set of tiny asteroids that are being built by NASA will use the smartphones running Android. The satellites, called PhoneSats will be made from off the shelf materials and will only cost around $3,500.

The devices will be approximately 4 cubic inches and the next generation is expected to launch next year. NASA already has tested the first generation that uses a Nexus One smartphone for two way communications and other uses.

iPad Mini in October?
The rumor mill has been churning over the features and delivery date for the expected iPad Mini from Apple. The tablet is believed to be a 7-inch tablet, the first from Apple. Now Cnet is reporting that the device will officially see the light of day in October.

Original reports had the device coming to market along side the next generation iPhone, that is expected in early September but apparently Apple had different plans if the most current reports are correct.

IAC has purchased About.com for $300m
Internet conglomerate InterActiveCorp has reportedly purchased About.com from the New York Times in a $300 million cash deal. The Times was probably happy to rid itself of the money losing property, having taken a $194.7 million non-cash write down on the group last quarter.

However the Times originally purchased About.com for $410 million in 2005. About.com is similar to a property that IAC already owns, Ask.com, and is being positioned as a complementary property by IAC.

Samsung shares drop $12 billion after US Court verdict
Samsung, already stung b

y losing big in its court case against Apple in the US, with as much as $3 billion on the line took another hit after the verdict was read. Its stock dropped like a rock, with shares dropping 7.5%, resulting in a loss of $12 million in the company’s market value, according to a report from Reuters.

Apple still dominates tablet sales according to HIS iSuppli
Apple is slowly expanding its dominate market share in the tablet space according to market research firm IHS iSuppli, and now sells seven out of every ten tablets. Apple's 69.6 percent share in the April-June quarter is up from about 58 percent in the first quarter, helped by the release of a new model just as the quarter began.

HIS iSuppli’s top 5 in the second quarter of 2012Here are the top five manufacturers of tablets in the second quarter, as released by IHS iSuppli:
Apple 69.6 percent share
Samsung Electronics Co. 9.2 percent.
Amazon.com Inc. 4.2 percent
AsusTek Computer Inc. 2.8 percent
Barnes & Noble Inc. 1.9 percent
Other, 3 million, 12.3 percent
It will be interesting to see the next two quarters as the Microsoft Windows 8 show as well as the very popular Nexus 7 could have an impact on the standings.

ITC provides Apple with an additional win
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in Apple’s favor last week wjhen it stated that the company did not infringe on three of Motorola Mobility’s patents, in a complaint that has been ongoing since 2010. The ITC remanded the investigation of a fourth patent that is under dispute by the two to an administrative law judge.

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Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google, iOS, iPad, Kindle, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Nook, Samsung, Tablets, The New York Times, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , ,
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