Amazon.com has opened its Kindle Lending Library, which it announced in late April. The new service makes the Amazon Kindle the first e-book reader to support "checking out" books from public libraries, and works with over 11,000 libraries nationwide.
In a press release, Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle said:
"Starting today, millions of Kindle customers can borrow Kindle books from their local libraries. Libraries are a critical part of our communities and we're excited to be making Kindle books available at more than 11,000 local libraries around the country. We're even doing a little extra here - normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're fixing this by extending our Whispersync technology to library books, so your notes, highlights and bookmarks are always backed up and available the next time you check out the book or if you decide to buy the book."
The Kindle Lending Library leverages the already existing third-party service OverDrive. In addition to supporting the Kindle and Kindle apps, OverDrive has what could be called "generic" Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry apps, as well as desktop clients that link to specific libraries.
Users can head to the Kindle Lending Library page on Amazon.com's website for more information. The actual "checkout process" will be done at the associated library, though. The library also has to support Overdrive's services, too.
Strangely, Amazon.com hasn't made it easy to discover if a library supports Overdrive. Instead, you have to go to Overdrive's site itself, where users can search for at search.overdrive.com. There, in addition to searching for a library, you can search for books, too ... as well as bookstores, if you'd like to buy an e-book.
Once you've determined your local library supports the Kindle Lending Library, you go to their website to search for and select a book to borrow [you still need your library card, by the way].
Once they choose a book, customers can choose to "Get for Kindle." They will then be redirected to Amazon.com's, where they login to their Amazon.com account so the book can be transferred to their Kindle.
The length of the loan will vary. Three days before the end of the loan period, the Kindle Lending Library will send users a courtesy e-mail to remind them about the expiration of the lending period.
Nicely, even after a loan expires, a user will be able to access your notes and highlights at kindle.amazon.com. And if the book is checked out again, or purchase it from Amazon.com all of the notes and highlights will appear in the book as before the loan expired.
Amazon.com has several ways to read Kindle e-books, including apps for Android, iDevices, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Windows Phone, as well as the Web-based Kindle Cloud Reader.
It's widely expected that Amazon.com will release a 7-inch Android-based e-book reader / tablet before the end of the year. It's said, however, that the tablet will be based on a forked version of Android, pre-Froyo (Android 2.2). It's unclear how this version of Android could continue to support new apps as the main Android codeline moves forward to Ice Cream Sandwich and beyond.
Android, iOS, and RIM seem to be in stasis, in market share, according to Nielsen's latest U.S. market share report. Nielsen said that its April survey of mobile consumers showed 36 percent of consumers holding an Android device, while 26 percent had an iPhone, and 23 percent held a RIM BlackBerry device.
This new survey covers the February - April timeframe. The Android and iOS numbers held still, unchanged, while the RIM number rose 1 percent from 22 percent, virtually unchanged.
Is that a bad sign for Android? It's unclear, but it could have something to do with the Verizon iPhone that was launched just around the time this Nielsen survey period began. While only a single snapshot, there could be more impact if Apple releases T-Mobile and Sprint versions of the iPhone, has has been rumored.
Windows Phone continued to lag, at 1 percent. That puts it in a tie with the now defunct Palm OS (not webOS). Meanwhile, Windows Mobile is at 9 percent, the highest outside the "big 3."
It's been noted before, but the latest Nielsen survey re-emphasized it: Android users are more hoggish in terms of data use than iPhone users. Past reports have indicated that iPhone owners are more likely than Android users to download apps, stream music or watch videos, but past reports also indicated that Android users tend to use more data.
A Nielsen analysis of nearly 65,000 U.S. cell phone bills showed Android owners using an average of 582 MB of data monthly, while iPhone users sucked up a "mere" 492 MB on average.
The average number also shows that AT&T's minimal data package, with 250MB of data, isn't sufficient on average to handle average usage. On the other hand, it would appear that the higher end 2GB data package is enough ... for now. As we've said repeatedly, today's outlier will be tomorrow's normal user, and both wired and wireless broadband providers need to be preparing for that day.
So, too, should end users, who may feel the pain in their waller (or more so) someday.
Amazon.com announced on Wednesday that they are going to open their own lending library. Unlike already-established third-party lending libraries, which rely on customers lending e-books to other customers, the Kindle Library Lending, which will launch later this year and allow Kindle users to borrow not from other users, but from over 11,000 libraries nationwide.
Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and as well as the free Kindle reading apps available on multiple platforms (Android, iOS, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone).
Users can "check out" a Kindle book from participating libraries, free of charge. In addition, they can make notes and add bookmarks to their borrowed e-books, just as they can with purchased copies. It the reader then decides to buy the book after the borrowing period expires, the annotations will automatically transfer to the purchased copy. If the customer checks out the same e-book again, the annotations will be there, as well.
Amazon.com said it is using OverDrive to power its lending library. OverDrive already has what could be called "generic" Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry apps, as well as desktop clients that link to specific libraries that users can search for at search.overdrive.com.
It's hard to argue that this isn't another example of Amazon.com and its Kindle outflanking the Google and Apple in terms of e-books. When the iPad was announced, Amazon.com's Kindle was pronounced dead by some.
Lower-cost Kindles, as well as the far larger selection at Amazon.com as opposed to Apple's iBookStore kept that from happening. While the library functionality is available from OverDrive, adding it directly to its own ecosystem can only be called a great move on Amazon.com's part.
In terms of the current OverDrive system, you are required to be a member of the library you borrow from. It is not simply that OverDrive or the group of libraries pools their e-books for borrowing purposes.
A quick look at the OverDrive site also indicates that although search.overdrive.com may say a library is part of a system, that is not necessarily the case. Our local library was listed as such, yet when redirected, it was not there.
Hopefully, Amazon.com will make this more seamless and less work. It's actually unclear why you have to be part of a specific library system; after all, many libraries allow cross-library loans of "real" books. If Amazon.com can improve on this part of OverDrive's system when it rolls out the Kindle Lending Library, it could really be a hit.
On the heels of a Canalys report that said that Android had overtaken Symbian to become the top smart phone platform in the world, NPD reported later Monday that Android now owns over half (53 percent) of all U.S. consumer smartphone sales in Q4 2010.
That's not just a leading market share, it's enough to prevent a runoff in some elections. What's good for Android is bad for Windows Phone however: that same report noted that Windows Phone was outsold by creaky, dying Windows Mobile in that quarter.
Some of that might be attributable to the fact that Windows Phone had no CDMA support at launch. Thus, it only debuted at AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S., while all of the Big 4 still carry Windows Mobile devices. However, NPD also noted that Windows Phone 7 entered the market with a lower share than either Android or webOS at their debuts.
Data from NPD showed Android with 53 percent, a rise of 9 points; Apple iOS share dropping 4 points to 19 percent; RIM OS falling 2 points to tie Apple at 19 percent; Windows Mobile falling 3 points to 4 percent, and Windows Phone 7 debuting at 2 percent. Palm’s WebOS held steady at 2 percent.
Meanwhile, as opposed to platforms, the top 5 handsets in Q4 2010 were:
Apple iPhone 4
Motorola Droid X
HTC EVO 4G
Apple iPhone 3GS
Motorola Droid 2
NPD notes that with the Verizon iPhone debuting on Feb. 10, Android will face more competition. It is hard to see one carrier overcoming that large a lead. Still, Ross Rubin, executive director for industry analysis at NPD said:
"At CES there were announcements from several handset providers of the intent to use the Android OS to bring new capabilities to market, including dual-core processors, 4G network speeds, and larger displays that seek to expand on the success of handsets like the Motorola Droid X and HTC EVO 4G. Android will encounter greater competition this year, however, as Apple's iPhone 4 -- the best-selling handset in the U.S. -- debuts on Verizon Wireless."
Electronic Arts has confirmed that it is buying Chillingo, the publisher of Rovio's "Angry Birds," which recently hit the Android Market. Sources told Reuters the deal would pay "under $20 million" in cash plus other undisclosed considerations, but although an EA spokeswoman confirmed the deal, she did not confirm the financial terms.
"Angry Birds" is a top-seller and top download on both iOS and Android Markets. Rovio has announced that on its first day in the Android Market, over 1 million copies of "Angry Birds" were downloaded.
To be clear, however, Chillingo is just the publisher. Rovio develops and owns the rights to "Angry Birds." Addressing the confusion many times on its Twitter feed, Rovio said (1, 2)
@InTroSp3cTiV3 we have not sold out. We have not sold to EA. We are Rovio. We own Angry Birds. [...]
News Flash - Angry Birds is not owned by Chillingo, they are only publisher. @RovioMobile owns Angry Birds and it's rights. Have no fear!
Rovio issued several more "calming Tweets."
Besides publishing Rovio's "Angry Birds," Chillingo publishes several other games in the mobile space, including "Modern Conflict," "Robin Hood: Archer of the Woods," and "Cut the Rope." It's "Cut the Rope," from another third party developer, ZeptoLab, that is Chillingo's second highest profile product.
In addition to iOS and Android, Chillingo publishes content for Windows Mobile and RIM's BlackBerry OS, among others.
Although some analysts have already stated, before any devices hit the market, that Windows Phone 7 will be a failure, there is still a high degree of interest in Microsoft's still to be launched smartphone platform. AT&T and Microsoft will hold a morning launch event on Monday, Oct. 11, featuring both their CEOs, and that one will have a live video feed.
There are multiple events scheduled on Monday, Oct. 11, and one of them is an event featuring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega, in New York City. The dual (as opposed to dueling) CEOs will take the stage at 9:30 AM ET, 6:30 AM PT. That event will have a live video stream available here.
There's also an event in the afternoon involving T-Mobile, also in New York City, scheduled for 3PM ET.
Finally, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 portal has gone live. Although a lot of the content is still "hidden" until Monday, it's still an interesting place to check out if you really, really, want to have more Windows Phone 7 info.
It's clear, also, from the site as well as earlier leaked commercials, that Microsoft's focus with Windows Phone 7 is about freeing users from having to spend long amounts of time checking on their smartphone's information feed. More "grab and go," as the site says. Whether it will grab the hearts of consumers remains to be seen.
Windows Phone 7 is set to make its global debut on Monday, Oct. 11th. When it actually launches to retail is still TBD. However, while some are high on the new platform, research firm Gartner predicts its impact will be minimal.
According to Information Week, which got a look at the research report, Gartner predicted that while Windows Phone 7 will help Microsoft's mobile market share in the short term, it will ultimately fail. It will, in fact, decline to a point even lower than its current share.
Gartner predicts the release of Windows Phone 7 will help bump Microsoft's share of the worldwide market from 4.7% in 2010 to 5.2% in 2011, but says the company's share will ultimately decline to just 3.9% by 2014.
Meanwhile, Gartner said, Symbian, which is much stronger outside the U.S., will barely maintain its global market share lead by 2014, with a 30.2 percent share, trailed closely by Android, which Gartner sees at 29.6 percent by 2014, up from just 3.9 percent in 2009.
Naturally, this is all just the future. However, it is clear that not only has Android surged past Windows Mobile, it's either caught or is catching up to both BlackBerry OS and iOS, depending on the report.
Since Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer saw his fiscal 2010 (ended June 2010) bonus cut in half, due to both the company's mobile woes as well as "new form factors," which we interpret to mean lack of movement in the tablet space, he definitely wants to see both Windows Phone and any upcoming tablets hit the ground running.
While there seems to be interest among manufacturers and media, it's unclear if either initiative will be able to draw consumers from iOS and Android.
After much speculation, we now have official confirmation, direct from the horse's mouth, on its own website. Windows Phone 7's launch event will be next Monday, Oct. 11, in New York City at the Microsoft Technology Center.
There have been many rumors about dates, including possibly a European launch first, and U.S. later, but this seems to peg the time exactly: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada), Monday, October 11, 2010, with welcome time at 2:45 PM.
Don't worry: you won't miss the event because DST ends and you forget to reset your clocks. For those confused about Daylight Saving Time, here's a tip: it's the weekend after Halloween now, unless the U.S. changes things again. Candy makers are quick to deny it, but it's well known that they lobbied for years to get Daylight Saving Time extended into November. In fact, during the 1985 hearings on Daylight Saving Time they put candy pumpkins on the seat of every senator.
In addition to five minutes only (!) of refreshments, it's interesting to note that the fourth largest wireless carrier, T-Mobile, will be on hand for another new mobile platform introduction. You'll recall that the T-Mobile G1 was the first Android phone to hit the market. and the company was there at the Android launch event. According to the invitation, "T-Mobile reps will be present for device showing."
AT&T has been the most prominent carrier to mention Windows Phone 7 support; however, we know CDMA will not be supported at Windows Phone 7's launch, letting out both Verizon and Sprint.
They'll also be a raffle, the invitation said, which possibly means some free Windows Phone 7 smartphones given out. Of course, a launch event does not necessarily mean actual retail sales will take place. This event will probably set the stage for the actual retail launches, detailing partners, devices, and the actual dates when phones will be available.
Microsoft hopes Windows Phone 7 helps is recover market share from iOS and Android, among others. Certainly, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hopes so: one of the reasons his bonus was cut in half was Microsoft's poor performance in the mobile market.
If you are among those who feel that CEOs receive their compensation (including exit packages) regardless of good or bad results, here's some information that may bring a smile to your face. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, 54, is only getting half of the bonus for which he's eligible this year, due to the struggles that Microsoft has in the mobile market.
This information comes via a Definitive Proxy Statement that Microsoft filed with the SEC on Thursday. It's not as though Ballmer will receive a $670,000 bonus in addition to his $670,000 salary.
However, while that figure, which was approved by Microsoft's board of directors, is 100 percent of his 2010 base salary, and a total of $1.34 million is nothing to sneeze at, Ballmer was eligible for 200 percent of his salary as a bonus. A 50 percent cut in bonus compensation does sting. It should be noted that the 2010 bonus exceeds his 2010 bonus by $70,000.
However, contrast Ballmer's income with that of Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment and Devices Division. He received $645,000 as his base salary, and $1.4 million as a bonus, despite departing.
The company's fiscal year runs from July to June, which explains the timing. On the positive said, the board of directors cited the company's $24.1 billion operating income, Ballmer's ability to manage expenses, and the successful launch of several products, including Office 2010, Bing, and Windows 7, as reasons for the bonus Ballmer is receiving.
The negatives, however, focus on some notable failure, such as the Kin phone, loss of market share for Windows Mobile, and "the need for the Company to pursue innovations to take advantage of new form factors." It is unclear what that final statement means, but both Reuters and C|Net believe that the "new form factors" term refers to tablets like the iPad and the upcoming Galaxy Tab.
Some of these issues are targeting for fixing by initiatives like Windows Phone 7, and Windows tablets, as well. However, Microsoft is far behind other platforms in these arenas, and whether or not the company can catch up is an open question.
Two different sets of dates, one for Europe and one for the U.S, have leaked in regards to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 launch. The dates are, of course, unconfirmed.
First, Neowin said that it has been told by "sources familiar with Microsoft's plans" that the company will hold several launch events globally on October 21 to introduce its Windows Phone 7 handsets. Devices will hit retail shelves that same day in the U.K., France, Germany Italy and Spain, the site said. Neowin was unable to confirm a U.S. launch date.
Meanwhile, Windows Phone Secrets said that while unable to confirm a European launch, a very reliable source has told them that Microsoft will have a launch event in the U.S. on Nov. 8. Taken together, the two dates seem to support each other.
Meanwhile, there have been rumors of an Oct. 11 event in New York City, but WPS says that event is an annual one, and unrelated to Windows Phone. Microsoft said that Windows Phone 7 has been released to manufacturing (RTM). There have also been a number of video ads leaked, and Microsoft is expected to go all out on Marketing. It has a long way to go to catch up with Android, much less iOS, however.
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