Amazon inviting Apple's iOS developers to port apps to Kindle
Amazon is actively enticing Apple's iOS App Store developers to bring their efforts to the Kindle platform, particularly educational apps, in a strategy that attempts to push ebook readers up into competition with more sophisticated, general purpose tablets.
Henri Hansen, the developer of Atomium, a periodic table reference app that sells for $0.99 in the App Store, contacted AppleInsider to note that Amazon had invited him via email to bring the app to Kindle, noting that the company was especially interested in educational apps.
The company has arranged a March 29 conference call to discuss its Kindle app plans with third party developers.
Amazon's Kindle is based around an E-Ink display that gives the device a long battery life while promoting clear text, less eye strain and glare compared to a conventional LCD display. However, the technology is also slow to refresh and is limited to black and white content.
That prevents the Kindle from running many general purpose apps or fast-paced games, leaving the company mostly interested in reference apps related to education, where Kindle already has some traction as an ebook reader.
Microsoft similarly hoped to poach iOS developers for its Windows Mobile, Zune and WP7 platforms, but despite reports of having paid developers to bring their apps over, appears to have found little interest.
Google has also worked to recruit Apple's iOS developers, but only a relatively small number of bestselling titles have added Android support, partly due to Google's focus on ad-supported software, and partly due to problems with Google's retailing savvy, issues that Amazon itself hopes to address with its new, independent Android app store.
Kindle racing Nook to apps
While sales of Amazon's Kindle have been compared to Apple's iPad, market research firms have stated that consumers are more likely to buy both for separate uses than to choose between them. As a low cost ebook reader, the Kindle appears to face more direct competition from Barnes & Noble's Nook, which offers a color display on its newest model and is based on Android (Kindle uses Linux, but is not Android based).
After first attempting to stop users from converting the Nook into a general purpose Android device, Barnes & Noble recently announced through the Home Shopping Network it would be pushing out a Nook Color update in April that would essentially upgrade the $250 ebook reader into a basic 7 inch Android tablet similar to Samsung's Galaxy Tab.
In December, the company was rumored to release an upgrade for the Nook Color that would bring Android 2.2 by January 2011, but this update never materialized and the company insisted at the time that it had no plans to upgrade the ebook reader into a general purpose small tablet.
HSN now markets the Nook Color "with Apps" for $329.90, with a regular price of $379.96 and a "Retail Value" of $504.
Henri Hansen, the developer of Atomium, a periodic table reference app that sells for $0.99 in the App Store, contacted AppleInsider to note that Amazon had invited him via email to bring the app to Kindle, noting that the company was especially interested in educational apps.
The company has arranged a March 29 conference call to discuss its Kindle app plans with third party developers.
Amazon's Kindle is based around an E-Ink display that gives the device a long battery life while promoting clear text, less eye strain and glare compared to a conventional LCD display. However, the technology is also slow to refresh and is limited to black and white content.
That prevents the Kindle from running many general purpose apps or fast-paced games, leaving the company mostly interested in reference apps related to education, where Kindle already has some traction as an ebook reader.
Microsoft similarly hoped to poach iOS developers for its Windows Mobile, Zune and WP7 platforms, but despite reports of having paid developers to bring their apps over, appears to have found little interest.
Google has also worked to recruit Apple's iOS developers, but only a relatively small number of bestselling titles have added Android support, partly due to Google's focus on ad-supported software, and partly due to problems with Google's retailing savvy, issues that Amazon itself hopes to address with its new, independent Android app store.
Kindle racing Nook to apps
While sales of Amazon's Kindle have been compared to Apple's iPad, market research firms have stated that consumers are more likely to buy both for separate uses than to choose between them. As a low cost ebook reader, the Kindle appears to face more direct competition from Barnes & Noble's Nook, which offers a color display on its newest model and is based on Android (Kindle uses Linux, but is not Android based).
After first attempting to stop users from converting the Nook into a general purpose Android device, Barnes & Noble recently announced through the Home Shopping Network it would be pushing out a Nook Color update in April that would essentially upgrade the $250 ebook reader into a basic 7 inch Android tablet similar to Samsung's Galaxy Tab.
In December, the company was rumored to release an upgrade for the Nook Color that would bring Android 2.2 by January 2011, but this update never materialized and the company insisted at the time that it had no plans to upgrade the ebook reader into a general purpose small tablet.
HSN now markets the Nook Color "with Apps" for $329.90, with a regular price of $379.96 and a "Retail Value" of $504.
Comments
Either that or allow people to change the white background to a gray color. Has almost the same effect of less eye strain.
I could be wrong but I thought Amazon was positioning Kindle as a dedicated e-reader that is less heavy, easier on the eyes, and has longer battery life than an iPad. Basically taking the "we do one thing and we do it better than everyone else" approach. Calling for developers to port apps to Kindle seems to be a 180 degree turn from that strategy.
Well, this is what happens when sales are stolen when the "other stuff" is enough to pay extra bucks. People think, "Oh, I want an e-reader, but this iPad is so popular, maybe I'll pay more and see what the fuss is about."
I could be wrong but I thought Amazon was positioning Kindle as a dedicated e-reader that is less heavy, easier on the eyes, and has longer battery life than an iPad. Basically taking the "we do one thing and we do it better than everyone else" approach. Calling for developers to port apps to Kindle seems to be a 180 degree turn from that strategy.
It seems likely they will keep an inexpensive eInk-based Kindle, but it also seems likely that Amazon will leverage its cloud storage, internet presence, video store, music store, book store, and now Android Appstore to take on the iPad for this newly reborn tablet category utilizing Android Honeycomb.
I don’t think Amazon’s interest in Android apps will be solely as a distributor. There best option is to use grow their Kindle brand into a proper tablet option that will rival the iTunes Store ecosystem. If they don’t they could see themselves losing out on their movie and music digital investments and eventually even being rivaled by Apple’s iBookstore.
Keep in mind that the less than instant-refresh screen has an advantage, it consumes no power when simply displaying text. That makes is very useful for daily calendars, as well as shopping and to-do lists. Amazon has also improved the designed enormously from the Kindle 1. The only real irritation left in the Kindle UI is the dreadful keyboard and that could be fix by simply adding Bluetooth keyboard support.
Amazon is making a good move. Given the budget restraints that schools are under, a Kindle ereader (at less that a third the price of an iPad) is a good deal, particularly given the fact that savings from using ebooks could recoup that cost.
If the Kindle includes apps for typing papers etc then you might have something.
As for costs, schools aren't worrying about that as much as you think. Grants from all sorts of sources cover these pilot programs. And when they can show that the iPad system is cheaper than textbooks it is pretty easy to get a shift in funds
I could be wrong but I thought Amazon was positioning Kindle as a dedicated e-reader that is less heavy, easier on the eyes, and has longer battery life than an iPad. Basically taking the "we do one thing and we do it better than everyone else" approach. Calling for developers to port apps to Kindle seems to be a 180 degree turn from that strategy.
I don't see it that way. As tech improves Amazon can add new features without adversely affecting the device. In the end consumers will gravitate to more flexible and feature complete devices. However both the Kindle and the Nook need a user interface overhaul before they can compete with iPad.
Amazon is making a good move. Given the budget restraints that schools are under, a Kindle ereader (at less that a third the price of an iPad) is a good deal, particularly given the fact that savings from using ebooks could recoup that cost. And seeing kids struggling home with packs loaded with 20-30 pound of books, a slender and light Kindle is an excellent idea. But to win with schools, Apple needs more than digital textbooks. It needs to offer a total education experience. If millions of school kids start carrying Kindles, app developers could do quite well.
Keep in mind that the less than instant-refresh screen has an advantage, it consumes no power when simply displaying text. That makes is very useful for daily calendars, as well as shopping and to-do lists. Amazon has also improved the designed enormously from the Kindle 1. The only real irritation left in the Kindle UI is the dreadful keyboard and that could be fix by simply adding Bluetooth keyboard support.
I dunno. I think once you get a taste of real apps on a machine designed to run them (ala the iPad), trying to slog through app-like anything on a device like the Kindle is just going to be an exercise in frustration.
As a single purpose eReader the Kindle's display has advantages. Trying to make that work for anything more is just barking up the wrong tree, IMO. We're entering the era of tablet computing, and trying to make a tablet out of a Kindle goes against the tide. It'd be like trying to boost the fortunes of some old monochrome PDA by pretending like it can do some limited subset of smartphone things. I'd warrant most people wouldn't bother.
If the Kindle includes apps for typing papers etc then you might have something.
As for costs, schools aren't worrying about that as much as you think. Grants from all sorts of sources cover these pilot programs. And when they can show that the iPad system is cheaper than textbooks it is pretty easy to get a shift in funds
hmmm.... so.. If I can handle 100 high schools for $1Million dollaers with iPads, or 300 High schools with kindles... which is a more effective grant?
I love my iPad2, but I wouldn't vote for you on my school board or my non-profit foundation.
If you can show that a $400ish tablet is cheaper than books, it's even easier to show that a Kindle at $120 with the minimum specs would be even cheaper.
We need a small gadget to hold a years worth of books, be fairly indestructable, allow for the taking of standardized quizzes/tests, and play a few simple learning games/apps. Typing isn't a requirement schools are required to provide now. Notetaking... all of a sudden, your 'tablet' isn't sharable, and now requires an infrastructure to support it (backups/recovery... Wait until 'you provided the typing App and no backups? Then flunked this kid when he lost his iPad? The Court rules that you must provide a data backup/recovery and D/R plan and Device Encryption for your fleet of iPads....' ). Think Minimum necessary.... learning materials, and a test taking platform. Static and totally replaceable by a trip down to the A/V center.
The Kindle would be adequate... The iPad2... the same, but at 3 times the price. Now... once you go to college, then let's make every student buy an iPad2 [and a macbook air, and an iPhone5, and ATV3];-) (yeah, I'm long AAPL ;-))
I dunno. I think once you get a taste of real apps on a machine designed to run them (ala the iPad), trying to slog through app-like anything on a device like the Kindle is just going to be an exercise in frustration.
As a single purpose eReader the Kindle's display has advantages. Trying to make that work for anything more is just barking up the wrong tree, IMO. We're entering the era of tablet computing, and trying to make a tablet out of a Kindle goes against the tide. It'd be like trying to boost the fortunes of some old monochrome PDA by pretending like it can do some limited subset of smartphone things. I'd warrant most people wouldn't bother.
The issue is that in the 'real market' that's a great argument, however, in the edu market, 'real apps on a machine designed to run them' doesn't fly. I'd love everyone to have a a Cray-2 [yes, I'm that old] in their pocket with a HUD and a T3 wireless connection, but as a property tax owner, I'd prefer my school district to spend as little as possible on something that will likely have a shelf life of about 1.5 school years (how many tablets will be thrown into urinals? no really... I went to high school... I know what goes on there... ;-) How many will fall out of backpacks in the rain? How many will have the dog gnaw on them?
Bottom line: we don't need limosines when a bus will do when it comes to publically funded personal computing. I'm all for replacing the cost of 1000's of 3lb books with 100's of personal readers, especially if they can also do test taking (multi-choice), and also run some educational apps/games. But I'm not paying for iPad2s, unless someone can show me they are more durable, more cost effective for the required set of duties a school needs them to do, and/or someone proves an iPad raises the lower quartile SAT scores by 20%.
Let them eat kindle. ;-)
hmmm.... so.. If I can handle 100 high schools for $1Million dollaers with iPads, or 300 High schools with kindles... which is a more effective grant?
I love my iPad2, but I wouldn't vote for you on my school board or my non-profit foundation.
Penny wise, pound foolish people like you are part of the reason why the US is failing in education.
You think "saving" $250 on a piece of hardware is a big deal, unaware that there is no way for organizations to manage and secure hundreds of Kindles using tools similar to Apple's deployment and configuration tools. Got any idea how much it costs to manage IT? A lot less than an few bucks you save getting crap hardware. You don't know that, but you vote for cheap hardware. Good job proving how uninformed democracy is the best way to dive to the bottom of the pile, as America has been doing ever since Reagan. Of course, that's why corporations have their shareholders vote on everything they do, because the more ignorant people are involved in making an uninformed decision, the better things work out. Right. All we need is a government run by old cheapskates. This Tea Party thing is really working well.
And do you really think that buying obsolete products that can only flicker through black and white pages in super slow mo is a "good deal" at half the price of a device that can actually teach kids something rather than just checking off the "spent some money" box, and hoping that works?
And where's the potential for animation, for color, for hands on multitouch apps, and how about a library of software that actually exists, including textbooks you can actually buy now and use as reference materials?
A Kindle is fine for reading a romance novel page by page, but it's nearly worthless if you're doing research and flipping between pages, or want to watch video or any number of things that make it worth vastly more than 3X the price of the Kindle, not just a purchase but also for subsequent resale.
Do the world a favor and don't vote.
The issue is that in the 'real market' that's a great argument, however, in the edu market, 'real apps on a machine designed to run them' doesn't fly. I'd love everyone to have a a Cray-2 [yes, I'm that old] in their pocket with a HUD and a T3 wireless connection, but as a property tax owner, I'd prefer my school district to spend as little as possible on something that will likely have a shelf life of about 1.5 school years (how many tablets will be thrown into urinals? no really... I went to high school... I know what goes on there... ;-) How many will fall out of backpacks in the rain? How many will have the dog gnaw on them?
Bottom line: we don't need limosines when a bus will do when it comes to publically funded personal computing. I'm all for replacing the cost of 1000's of 3lb books with 100's of personal readers, especially if they can also do test taking (multi-choice), and also run some educational apps/games. But I'm not paying for iPad2s, unless someone can show me they are more durable, more cost effective for the required set of duties a school needs them to do, and/or someone proves an iPad raises the lower quartile SAT scores by 20%.
Let them eat kindle. ;-)
I understand the cost argument, but I don't think the idea of "apps" on a Kindle does anything to enhance the value of going that way. I can't imagine what educational apps or games would be sufficiently engaging to really be anything more than a novelty, on the Kindle's screen.
At some point even a cash strapped school system is best off getting the most bang for the buck. If cost is the entire bottom line, why even mess with Kindles? OTOH, for the cost of two Kindles you get one iPad which does vastly more and can be integrated into a great many more classroom scenarios. There are already bunches of educational and classroom oriented apps for the iPad; I guess someone might bother to write something for the Kindle but it would have to be pretty bare bones. And then again they might not.
As I say, buying Kindles to replace textbooks might make sense. I don't think it makes any sense at all to expect those Kindle's to become poor men's iPads-- that does an injustice to your students.
hmmm.... so.. If I can handle 100 high schools for $1Million dollaers with iPads, or 300 High schools with kindles... which is a more effective grant?
I love my iPad2, but I wouldn't vote for you on my school board or my non-profit foundation.
If you can show that a $400ish tablet is cheaper than books, it's even easier to show that a Kindle at $120 with the minimum specs would be even cheaper.
We need a small gadget to hold a years worth of books, be fairly indestructable, allow for the taking of standardized quizzes/tests, and play a few simple learning games/apps. Typing isn't a requirement schools are required to provide now. Notetaking... all of a sudden, your 'tablet' isn't sharable, and now requires an infrastructure to support it (backups/recovery... Wait until 'you provided the typing App and no backups? Then flunked this kid when he lost his iPad? The Court rules that you must provide a data backup/recovery and D/R plan and Device Encryption for your fleet of iPads....' ). Think Minimum necessary.... learning materials, and a test taking platform. Static and totally replaceable by a trip down to the A/V center.
The Kindle would be adequate... The iPad2... the same, but at 3 times the price. Now... once you go to college, then let's make every student buy an iPad2 [and a macbook air, and an iPhone5, and ATV3];-) (yeah, I'm long AAPL ;-))
Adequate? Is that what you are after?
There is a lot more to interactive education than reading books (we read as a family, several times a week).
AirPlay alone opens up many possibilities for education, presentation and collaboration in the classroom.
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I don't see it that way. As tech improves Amazon can add new features without adversely affecting the device. In the end consumers will gravitate to more flexible and feature complete devices. However both the Kindle and the Nook need a user interface overhaul before they can compete with iPad.
I agree. The eReaders cannot handle the image rich even video requirements of "technical reading" demanded by science and technology, and biomedical sciences.
In fact, I was looking at the iBooks, and even that seems limiting to me. Apple should spearhead the development of new iBooks template that would make it easy to integrate not only to include words and images, and in color, but also in three dimensions, make them move like videos, integrate audios, etc. The iBook must seamlessly connect with the resources available through the internet also, or at least have the means to "transiently store" to access relevant internet resources.
In other words, the new iBook form must have the rich features of Apps more associated with gaming and entertainment. That should be and will be the iBook of the future -- both rich in text but further augmented by audio-visuals and the powers and features offered by the internet and mobile computing.
The ePub which is the only one available offered by Apple, to non-techies creating books is just too limiting. What was more surprising is that even the ePub is not given as much emphasis. I could not find any expert in the One-to-One who is an expert on the ePub.
This is a disappointment because I could not even integrate what I consider simple stuff in some of the iBooks I wanted to create. And, I am not even asking for GPS or those other features already integrated in iOS devices.
Any experts here who can help?
CGC
I agree. The eReaders cannot handle the image rich even video requirements of "technical reading" demanded by science and technology, and biomedical sciences.
In fact, I was looking at the iBooks, and even that seems limiting to me. Apple should spearhead the development of new iBooks template that would make it easy to integrate not only to include words and images, and in color, but also in three dimensions, make them move like videos, integrate audios, etc. The iBook must seamlessly connect with the resources available through the internet also, or at least have the means to "transiently store" to access relevant internet resources.
In other words, the new iBook form must have the rich features of Apps more associated with gaming and entertainment.
The ePub which is the only one available offered by Apple, to non-techies creating books is just too limiting. What was more surprising is that even the ePub is not given as much emphasis. I could not find any expert in the One-to-One who is an expert on the ePub.
This is a disappointment because I could not even integrate what I consider simple stuff in some of the iBooks I wanted to create. And, I am not even asking for GPS or those other features already integrated in iOS devices.
Any experts here who can help?
CGC
Check out Inkling (the iPad app, not the Ai poster). They have plenty of text book sample chapters to DL and thy sell as whole books or by the chapter. I have purchased many chapters and enjoy the interactive design. While Inkling may not be the future of textbooks, their general concept will be.
iBooks can?t do what they do, but it?s grown since first released last year. It?s likely that Apple will increase that even further, but I hope that the end result will be a robust open source version that will work well with all textbooks.