Google Set to Roll Out eBook Sales as Early as Next Month

[aiqw9182]

the more choice you have the better. apple isn't exactly the most innovative company in the world either ... note that they also buy other innovative companies (and then close them down lol)

So you are comparing this list to this? LMAO! Google has a 3% profit margin from their "services". Apple has over 60% from their post-pc devices.

the only really good core product apple has is osx the rest is just fancy packaging for the same old bs except that they tie you into their app store/itunes....

The only good core product Apple has is OSX? Well that's really great that you think that but when 60% of Apple's profit margins are from their post-pc devices there's a problem with that statement. I love how people criticize Apple for this supposed "tie-in" when Microsoft does it even worse on their Zune. Forcing you to use Windows just to operate the thing.

google has a lot of quality products provided to us for free (ok we indirectly pay for them but at least they don't double dip apple style) on the back of their ridiculous ad revenues. real value which benefits many of us everyday

Quality products? LOL! They just want you to use their services to make sure it's THEIR ads getting shoved down your throat. A monopoly is not a good thing.

 

[Gakboi]

So you are comparing this list to this? LMAO! Google has a 3% profit margin from their "services". Apple has over 60% from their post-pc devices.

The only good core product Apple has is OSX? Well that's really great that you think that but when 60% of Apple's profit margins are from their post-pc devices there's a problem with that statement. I love how people criticize Apple for this supposed "tie-in" when Microsoft does it even worse on their Zune. Forcing you to use Windows just to operate the thing.


Quality products? LOL! They just want you to use their services to make sure it's THEIR ads getting shoved down your throat. A monopoly is not a good thing.

I'm not saying one is better than the other. They are all corporations and they don't care about you only about $$$ ... it's normal that they will compete with each other in every possible channel. Look up Hypercompetition ... it would take a very stupid strategic planner (be it from google, apple or ms) to decide to not compete with their main competitor. Even if you just disrupt the market for your competition for a while it is still a good investment because it buys you time while making life difficult for everyone else.

The corporate world is like a sport. You do what you can to win.

 

[aiqw9182]

I'm not saying one is better than the other. They are all corporations and they don't care about you only about $$$ ... it's normal that they will compete with each other in every possible channel. Look up Hypercompetition ... it would take a very stupid strategic planner (be it from google, apple or ms) to decide to not compete with their main competitor. Even if you just disrupt the market for your competition for a while it is still a good investment because it buys you time while making life difficult for everyone else.

The corporate world is like a sport. You do what you can to win.

They will compete in every possible channel? That's utterly ridiculous. Google has 97% of their profit margins from ads. They are just making these "services" to make sure that their ads are on everything possible which in turn would make it a monopoly. If Google was making AT LEAST 30% from these services and things outside of search/advertising I wouldn't be talking about this. But they aren't. There is no need for them to do this, they just want to replace everything on the internet.

The corporate world does not like monopolies. Cheap under the carpet tactics are not appreciated.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

"Oh and I find this rather amusing coming from a guy posting from a Nexus One with an Android in his icon"

I'd post it from my iPod touch if I had wifi access. Or my wife's iPod touch if it was to hand. I cant post from my wife's iPod shuffle but I could use the new apple aluminium keyboard I recently bought and my magic mouse and post on my iMac.

What does me owing a nexus one have to do with all of this?

There are plenty of alternatives to all of Google's services out there so it is pretty easy to avoid Google in my eyes. I even use a few of them! The only overwhelming thing you can be exposed to is Google's ads but that is only due to Google's popularity with advertising.

If I am wrong please show me where I am forced to use Google services online. I'm more than willing to be educated and have a very open mind.

 

[Gakboi]

They will compete in every possible channel? That's utterly ridiculous. Google has 97% of their profit margins from ads. They are just making these "services" to make sure that their ads are on everything possible which in turn would make it a monopoly. If Google was making AT LEAST 30% from these services and things outside of search/advertising I wouldn't be talking about this. But they aren't. There is no need for them to do this, they just want to replace everything on the internet.

The corporate world does not like monopolies. Cheap under the carpet tactics are not appreciated.

I have absolutely no problem with the EC fining google for a few billion.... might help pull Greece out of debt lol.

I also have no problem with google pursuing a different strategy than apple or ms. It's their call and if they can make many billions of of search advertising why not? Can you please explain to me how making money in the core competency of your business is bad?

You're mistaking quantity (profit) and quality (what is on offer). I don't care if google advertise to me all day everyday (apple have jumped in there too now) I have never clicked on a google ad ever but I do use analytics, webmastertools, adwords tools, maps etc everyday ... in fact they even make me money..... 'free' tools of this quality should be appreciated as they are excellent.

I hardly even see the ads on google anymore

Referring to your earlier point on Apple making 60% profit from post pc devices.... that doesn't make them good devices... it only shows how successful apples extremely clever marketing strategy is. Post-pc devices can only be classified as consumer junk. Maybe you like your consumer junk (which is fine) but it's still junk. OSX on the other hand is an extremely powerful platform which can be used to create immense (real) value across the value chain in almost all industries.

The iPad has potential but as with all 1st gen apple products it is pretty useless as many core features have been withheld. I imagine in a few years it will be a very good tool. The iPhone is a lot more hype than quality (though it is still a reasonably good phone). I've used a range of phones including the iphone, symbian devices and android and they are all pretty much the same... iphone wins in the fancy packaging department and it has a wide range of apps available but once you scratch beneath the surface it's just like the rest of the smart phones out there.

ipods/itunes ... don't even go there... same as zune and any other similar media player... just get a good phone and use streaming services that don't completely rip you off. for example the paid subscription on spotify is great value for music.

 

[aiqw9182]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

What does me owing a nexus one have to do with all of this?

If I had an Apple logo as my icon and was posting from iPhone I would be burned at the stake and called an Apple fanboy. Speaking of double standards...

There are plenty of alternatives to all of Google's services out there so it is pretty easy to avoid Google in my eyes. I even use a few of them! The only overwhelming thing you can be exposed to is Google's ads but that is only due to Google's popularity with advertising.

If I am wrong please show me where I am forced to use Google services online. I'm more than willing to be educated and have a very open mind.

How is Google forcing you to use their services? By gobbling up companies that do anything better than them. Remember when YouTube wasn't owned by Google? Remember when Google bought out AdMob? Remember when Google bought Genius Labs? Remember when Google bought Picasa? Remember when Google bought Where2? Remember when Google bought Android? The list goes on and on. Google buys out company alternatives just so they can shove their ads on them. I never said it was impossible, I said it's getting harder and harder to avoid them.

I also have no problem with google pursuing a different strategy than apple or ms. It's their call and if they can make many billions of of search advertising why not? Can you please explain to me how making money in the core competency of your business is bad?

That's the thing, they have no competition in search but they still feel the need to make these "services" just so they can shove their ads and search on everyone. Google just wants to own everything on the web so they can use their targeted ads on you while effectively killing all competition.

You're mistaking quantity (profit) and quality (what is on offer). I don't care if google advertise to me all day everyday (apple have jumped in there too now) I have never clicked on a google ad ever but I do use analytics, webmastertools, adwords tools, maps etc everyday ... in fact they even make me money..... 'free' tools of this quality should be appreciated as they are excellent.

Google and quality in the same sentence? Don't make me laugh.

Referring to your earlier point on Apple making 60% profit from post pc devices.... that doesn't make them good devices... it only shows how successful apples extremely clever marketing strategy is. Post-pc devices can only be classified as consumer junk. Maybe you like your consumer junk (which is fine) but it's still junk. OSX on the other hand is an extremely powerful platform which can be used to create immense (real) value across the value chain in almost all industries.

Consumer junk? LOL!

If it's just consumer junk then there wouldn't be full blown CEO's using iPhones to make their jobs easier. OSX is an extremely powerful platform yet you don't like Apple's post-pc devices that bring more people to OSX? You sure are strange.

The iPad has potential but as with all 1st gen apple products it is pretty useless as many core features have been withheld. I imagine in a few years it will be a very good tool. The iPhone is a lot more hype than quality (though it is still a reasonably good phone). I've used a range of phones including the iphone, symbian devices and android and they are all pretty much the same... iphone wins in the fancy packaging department and it has a wide range of apps available but once you scratch beneath the surface it's just like the rest of the smart phones out there.

Regardless of what you personally think 60% revenue from their post-pc devices compared to Google's 3% from god knows how many "services" is a laughable comparison.

ipods/itunes ... don't even go there... same as zune and any other similar media player... just get a good phone and use streaming services that don't completely rip you off. for example the paid subscription on spotify is great value for music.

Apple does not force you to buy music, movies or shows from iTunes. You can import any files that you want from the internet. There's a reason why iTunes has succeeded as the first non-subscription based music holder.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

"If I had an Apple logo as my icon and was posting from iPhone I would be burned at the stake and called an Apple fanboy. Speaking of double standards.."

When ever have I ever done this? People are more than entitled to have an Apple avatar and post from an iPhone.

For me to be engaged in double standards I'd have to have done that in the past wouldn't I? Sweeping generalizations ftl.

 

[aiqw9182]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

"If I had an Apple logo as my icon and was posting from iPhone I would be burned at the stake and called an Apple fanboy. Speaking of double standards.."

When ever have I ever done this? People are more than entitled to have an Apple avatar and post from an iPhone.

For me to be engaged in double standards I'd have to have done that in the past wouldn't I? Sweeping generalizations ftl.

When someone is defending a companies monopolistic actions who has an Android in his icon and is posting from a Nexus One it doesn't bode well for said person's argument.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

If i reply with a shiny new Apple avatar and post from my iPod touch will I gain any credibility or has the damage already been done?

Here is one way I recently benefitted from 2 companies competing in the same market. I wanted to but Pendulum's new single (watercolour) and looked on my iPod touch. Apple had It for 79p. I fire up the Amazon mp3 music store on my N1 and they had it for 69p. That's me left with 10 uk pennies up thanks to competition in the same market.

Alas, at the fear of putting this thread off topic, I will concede for now. A winnar is you!

 

[aiqw9182]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

If i reply with a shiny new Apple avatar and post from my iPod touch will I gain any credibility or has the damage already been done?

Let's put it this way: Had you not been advertising how much you like Google I wouldn't have said anything.

Here is one way I recently benefitted from 2 companies competing in the same market. I wanted to but Pendulum's new single (watercolour) and looked on my iPod touch. Apple had It for 79p. I fire up the Amazon mp3 music store on my N1 and they had it for 69p. That's me left with 10 uk pennies up thanks to competition in the same market.

That's great, I have no problem with competition. I have a problem with companies who shove their foot everywhere possible when they have no need or reason to other than to lock out competition at all costs. Google wants no competition. They want to be the one stop shop on the internet.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

If i reply with a shiny new Apple avatar and post from my iPod touch will I gain any credibility or has the damage already been done?

Let's put it this way: Had you not been advertising how much you like Google I wouldn't have said anything.

Here is one way I recently benefitted from 2 companies competing in the same market. I wanted to but Pendulum's new single (watercolour) and looked on my iPod touch. Apple had It for 79p. I fire up the Amazon mp3 music store on my N1 and they had it for 69p. That's me left with 10 uk pennies up thanks to competition in the same market.

That's great, I have no problem with competition. I have a problem with companies who shove their foot everywhere possible when they have no need or reason to other than to lock out competition at all costs. Google wants no competition. They want to be the one stop shop on the internet.

All I can say is thanks for the discussion, all intersting points. You've also lit up a very boring afternoon at work for me!

 

[deputy_doofy]

Don't be silly. It's all a bunch of misdirection. Everybody is watching Apple buy stuff and Google buy stuff. While everyone watches with interest, including other companies, Microsoft is sitting still acquiring nothing useful (and doing nothing useful). Oh, right... Office 2010 is coming out. There, that's useful.

 

[Val-kyrie]

If you're an author, and you self-publish, then this can be good news.

I know someone interested in self-publishing a book he is writing. Can anyone tell me / point me in the direction of how to begin to prepare a manuscript for publishing as an e-book?

Also, what are the formats being used by the various readers? Kindle, Apple, Google?

Lastly (for now), who does one contact for e-publishing?

Thanks in advance for your answers.