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Survey shows misunderstanding of iPad's place in e-reader market

Publié: novembre 30, 2010, 10:45pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Market research company ChangeWave released the results of a survey on Tuesday that attempts to illustrate some of the recent consumer trends in the e-reader business.
ChangeWave said Amazon's Kindle holds a "rapidly diminishing lead" over the Apple iPad in the e-reader market, and that the iPad's overall presence in the space has doubled since August.
According to buying intent stated by consumers, ChangeWave also concludes the iPad "will be the biggest beneficiary of the expanding e-Reader market this holiday season, followed by the Amazon Kindle."
Naturally, this has led to headlines today declaring that the Kindle is somehow "losing" to the iPad.
Unfortunately, the entire survey is based on an unsound premise, because it seeks to compare hardware e-readers with software e-readers.
It compares the iPad with the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader, and "smart phones with eBook capability." The three dedicated e-reader devices -Kindle, Nook, and Reader- cannot run third-party e-reader applications on them like the iPad and smartphones can.
The survey did not ask iPad or smartphone users which e-reader software they were using to consume their e-books. It is entirely plausible that the iPad may be gaining popularity as a device that consumers use to read e-books, but they could be buying books in Kindle or Nook format and consuming them in their related iPad apps.
Interestingly, the survey goes on to illustrate exactly why the iPad and smartphones should not be placed in the same category as hardware e-readers.
ChangeWave asked consumers "which of the following types of content do you currently read with your e-book reader?" Unsurprisingly, the majority of Kindle users said they're reading e-books, while iPad users said they tend to read newspapers, magazines, blogs and RSS feeds.
In short, this shows not that the iPad is stealing market share from the Kindle. But instead that consumers who read e-books are buying e-readers, and consumers who read colorful and web-derived content are buying tablets.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
FCC getting involved in Level 3, Comcast Internet traffic spat

Publié: novembre 30, 2010, 7:56pm CET par Ed Oswald

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Comcast is being criticized after it has decided to charge Level 3 Communications a surcharge for 'excessive' bandwidth usage. According to the cable provider, Level 3 is sending about five times as much data to Comcast as is going the other way, it said in a statement.
Under protest that it violates open Internet principles Level 3 is paying the surcharge. It claims Comcast essentially gave the company an ultimatum to accept its terms, which Level 3 had no choice but agree to or face possible disruptions. Comcast's move has also spurred the FCC to ask for more information on the deal.
Level 3's core business previously entailed the carriage of Internet traffic across the US, but it has increasingly turned to a distribution model in order to expand its business. Netflix's popular streaming video service being one of its chief customers in this space. Obviously this change will also boost the amount of bandwidth that Level 3 would require.
"Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content," Level 3 chief legal officer Thomas Stortz said in a statement. "This action … is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access markets."
The cable provider returned fire in a competing statement, with its own legal counsel Joe Waz saying Level 3 had misrepresented negotiations, and wants increased bandwidth for its own customers for free, with Comcast's customers footing the bill.
"We are happy to maintain a balanced, no-cost traffic exchange with Level 3," Waz said. "However, when one provider exploits this type of relationship by pushing the burden of massive traffic growth onto the other provider and its customers, we believe this is not fair."
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said at a press conference Tuesday that the agency would be seeking more information on the dispute, however he did not elaborate on whether the FCC would take any further action at this time.
Net neutrality advocates were quick to jump on Comcast's move as proof of why network access needs to be regulated, but even went as far to suggest that it validated "tendency to exercise control in the video marketplace" according to Media Access Project's policy chief Andrew Jay Schwartzman.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
EU opens Google antitrust probe after price-comparison sites cry foul

Publié: novembre 30, 2010, 4:46pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

The European Commission Tuesday announced it has launched an investigation into Google's practices, to determine whether the Mountain View, California company is abusing its power as Europe's number one search engine.
The case will examine whether Google violates European Union treaty Article 102, which states:
Any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the internal market or in a substantial part of it shall be prohibited as incompatible with the internal market in so far as it may affect trade between Member States.
Such abuse may, in particular, consist in:
(a) directly or indirectly imposing unfair purchase or selling prices or other unfair trading conditions;
(b) limiting production, markets or technical development to the prejudice of consumers;
(c) applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage;
(d) making the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.
The issue at hand is Google's treatment of vertical search services, which are specialty search services that index and compare only very specific pieces of information. An example of a vertical search service would be something like Kayak, which only indexes airfare, hotel, and travel-related data.
Google has been accused of a handful of misdeeds regarding placement of search results for these services and related issues with their advertisements. First, it's been accused of putting its own vertical search services ahead of competitors to shut them out of competition.
Secondly, it's been accused of lowering the "quality score" for sponsored links of competing services, effectively driving down their value to advertisers by burying these sites in keyword searches.
Thirdly, Google has been accused of imposing exclusivity obligations on its advertising partners, which prevents them from running certain types of ads, namely those of Google's competitors in the vertical search market.
Finally, Google allegedly restricts its customers' advertising campaign data from being used by other advertising platforms.
This investigation comes nearly a year after European vertical search services Foundem, Ciao!, and eJustice.fr, filed antitrust complaints with the European Commission.
Addressing the investigation today, Google's Senior Vice President of Product Management Susan Wojcicki, and Vice President of Engineering Udi Manber said, "Given our success and the disruptive nature of our business, it's entirely understandable that we've caused unease among other companies and caught the attention of regulators. Today, the European Commission has announced that they will continue to review complaints about Google's search and search advertising. We respect their process and will continue to work closely with the Commission to answer their questions."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Microsoft says Kinect sales steady: more than 100,000 units per day

Publié: novembre 30, 2010, 2:45am CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Microsoft on Monday announced that Kinect, the sensor attachment for the Xbox 360 that supports motion-based controls, has been sold to more than 2.5 million customers worldwide in just 25 days.
"We are thrilled about the consumer response to Kinect, and are working hard with our retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments of Kinect to restock shelves as fast as possible to keep up with demand," said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.
Sales of the Xbox 360 attachment have remained relatively steady since its introduction on November 4th. Ten days after it launched, Microsoft announced that it had already sold one million units and said it expected to sell 5 million during the holiday season. Today, the company repeated its belief that it would reach that goal.
Worldwide sales of the PlayStation Move, Sony's attempt at motion-based gaming, haven't been presented as a single figure. In late October, Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) president and CEO Jack Tretton said one million units sold in its first month of availability. Earlier in the month, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) CEO Andrew House said 1.5 million Move units sold in its first month on the European market.
Both Microsoft and Sony introduced their motion gaming controller concepts at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2009, with the intention of delivering an experience superior to the Nintendo Wii, the innovator in motion gaming whose lifespan is expected to be somewhat shorter than the 360 and PS3 due to its weaker processor, limited storage, and lack of high-definition graphics.
Even though the Nintendo Wii has been available for four years, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime today said about 600,000 consoles sold between November 21 and 27.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010