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Netbook Market Leader Acer Not Planning to Compete With iPad

HobeSoundDarryl said:
OK dude, why does all music have fixed price points in the iTunes store? When you go to the music shelves in stores, do you see all songs priced the same?

OK dude, why does all movies have fixed price points in the iTunes store?

OK dude, why does all TV shows have fixed prices points in the iTunes store?

I find very wide ranges in CD, DVD, etc media- just like books. I also find many books in printed form priced well below $9.99. But it makes sense that books will be a special case this time?

From the publishers point of view, this is a definite win: getting to price their content as they see fit should be their right. But if we're going to back the seller's side, the same should apple to all the other iTunes content for sale in the iTunes store.

I can't believe that we have such a need for Apple to be right, that we would now flip classic, very long-standing arguments around in support of us- the consumers- paying more for iTunes content.
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Errrrrrrrrrrrrr no. When I go to buy music, for the most part most Cd`s cost the same. The new releases tend to cost more though. The same thing with movies.

With books, not all books cost the same. There are some books that are close to 400 dollars while some are 10 dollar. Going by your logic that 400 dollar book should cost the same price as the 10 dollar book.
 
nelmat said:
I'm sorry - do Apple run Macmillan, or do they somehow manage Amazon's pricing policy? What does this have to do with Apple. They don't control pricing of all media world wide, in case you hadn't noticed.

Macmillan want to charge a variable rate for their content, why shouldn't they? Too much price control/fixing going on at the moment.
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Isn't Apple the dominant force of price controls/fixing at the moment for this kind of media? Do you believe the record companies are happy that Apple has arbitrarily decided that the very best song ever created and the very worst song ever created are both worth 99 cents to $1.29... the best movie vs the worst movie... the best TV show vs. the worst TV show... etc?

No Apple doesn't run MacMillan. But if Apple facilitates MacMillan's desire to sell their books at a higher price, MacMillan CAN raise prices. And the rest of the industry can quickly follow suit. However, if Apple would side with Amazon on this matter- that is, adopt the $9.99 rate (just like Apple does for music, DVDs, tv shows, etc in iTunes) then MacMillan's Kindle-alternate channel won't be available at $14.99. Thus if they want to sell ANY e-books, they would have to play ball- just like music, movies, & TV show companies.

When NBC Universal pulled their shows trying to get the right to sell at a higher price, thread after thread sided with Apple fighting for lower prices. Now here's a situation where Apple may be facilitating higher prices for media, and we are siding with Apple? For higher prices for ourselves?

Couldn't we at least find fault with Apple for not fighting for keeping e-book pricing the same (at the established $9.99) level?

Else, should the day arrive that Apple arbitrarily decides to increase the prices of all media in the iTunes store by 50% also be met with similar positive response?

Are we saying that NBC Universal was right when they wanted higher prices for their content... and Apple was wrong for not giving into them? And if so, how is this different?
 
How About...?

adamw said:
Here we begin with something similar to how the phrase "more blood on the wheel" was commonly used to refer to iPod and iTunes taking out music players and services whose companies boasted again Apple and failed.

We need a new phrase for all the products and services that fail against the iPad, iTunes, and the iBookstore.
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Yeah, cause "more blood on the iPad" just sounds gross...:D
 
"Apple is able to support the iPad through its iTunes ecosystem, while few other makers, including Acer, have comparable experience in operating an online store, Lin noted."

Bingo. No one, I venture to say even Google, can't tackle Apple properly without this.

Somehow, I can forsee Amazon teaming up with Android...hmm.

SirROM said:
Yeah, cause "more blood on the iPad" just sounds gross...:D
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ha..yeah.
 
kdarling said:
A future with lots of non-interchangeable digital media is going to suck badly.

Question:

Has Apple stated which eBook format they'll be using on the iPad?

Will their DRM allow us to buy an eBook from iTunes and also use the same eBook file on another reader?

Or are we headed down the path of yet more proprietary downloads?
Click to expand...

epub
 
Goona said:
Errrrrrrrrrrrrr no. When I go to buy music, for the most part most Cd`s cost the same. The new releases tend to cost more though. The same thing with movies.

With books, not all books cost the same. There are some books that are close to 400 dollars while some are 10 dollar. Going by your logic that 400 dollar book should cost the same price as the 10 dollar book.
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I see, so because you find that music costs about the same, this makes sense. But because you know of $400 books, it also makes sense. I'm aware of music that costs hundreds of dollars too. But that doesn't count for this argument, right?

If we want to take a publishers rights point of view (that is that all content creators should be able to charge what they want for their content)- $10 per or $400 per for some books in this case, shouldn't those same rights apply to all of the content creators in the iTunes store. So if the music industry wants to charge $1 or $100 for their music, shouldn't they have the same right?

Why is this media different?
 
Well as a professional developer, head of a large company and with many government and corporate clients who strictly forbid the use of flash (security, stability, standards, accessibility issues). I can assure you that video is easy to present (in a more stable fashion) without flash, and interactivity (smooth, processor light, accessible interactive) is easy when done properly.

Just because some people are still using ie6, does that mean we have to hold up progress? Maybe some people still have black and white televisions and we should stop colour broadcasts...

The internet is a moving technology, if people don't keep up, they will get left behind. That is their issue. A web browser is free, standards and open source software is free. It's really a very simply choice.
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But the point is that John Doe on the street doesn't care (and shouldn't have to care) about web standards and squabbles between Adobe and Apple, all he is going to see is that when he gets his iPad home and tries to look at video or play web based games, they are not going to work and he is not going to be happy.

If a device is going to be marketed as a devlice which 'excels' at web browsing, then it needs to support a plugin which is in use on most popular media and social sites in one form or another.

Web standards and the fact that HTML 5 is better are not of and never will be a concern to the end user.

I am a web developer myself and there's nothing I would like to see more than the end of Flash and adoption of proper HTML and CSS implementations, but after 12 years in the business, I know that this is not going to happen in the near future. We can't even get a consistent format for embedding a simple font, adding opacity to an element, or rounding the corners on boxes after all these years. You still have to fudge transparent PNG's for IE6. Even though there are still only around 10% of people using IE6, all it takes is one complaint to your client from someone who 'couldn't get the site to work' and you're screwed all the way back to IE6 compatibility.

Maybe some people still have black and white televisions and we should stop colour broadcasts...
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Erm, I think colour broadcasts are backward compatible.
 
Eidorian said:
I understand the value of the content stores but I can't remember the last time I paid for content. :confused:
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You obviously aren't the target consumer for anyone who is in the business of selling digital media.

AidenShaw said:
Many expect it to be shown in Barcelona later this month, or March.
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I can't wait. I'm sure it will be Insanely Great (if your prayers are answered anyway).

Goona said:
It`s too little to late. Why would any manufacturer go with windows mobile when Android is free and superior.
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That is the big question for Microsoft and their mobile OS strategy. Now there's another game in town; this one also available for every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to build a handset - but free. How will Microsoft compete with free? My guess - they'll pay handset makers to use WinMo 7. Sorta like how they're competing with Google with Bing.

Watch and see.
 
nelmat said:
There is an SD and USB adapter for the device. At least read the official product places.

Care to name a cell phone or device at this level which runs a full version of flash successfully?

I have the nexus - flash doesn't work on it. There is a flash lite plug in, but most of the time the browser hangs/crashes and most flash content doesn't display or function properly. (I can't run farmville for instance)

I had the HTC hero - said it ran flash, but nothing worked

My samsung netbook with windows - same story.

See the common link here? It's not Apple.
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Nelmat, The common link about Flash is - There is a lot more to it than you or I wrote. A lot more... We could start a thread in itself which has been on MacRumors time & time again.

I am not taking anyone's sides here because both parties are in the wrong!

There is no common link...
 
amazon isn't doing you a favor

I like to save a few bucks as much as or more than the next guy.

That said, there's no free lunch. For one perspective from inside the industry on what Amazon is trying to do with their 9.99 ebook pricing, see:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/01/amazon-macmillan-an-outsiders.html

The gist is that Amazon is trying to Wal-Martify book publishing. They want the discounts to be so steep that, essentially, only Amazon itself can afford to be the real publisher and all the traditional publishers go broke. The consequences are unpredictable, but as with Wal-Mart they're unlikely to be anything good (impact on jobs, compression of range of choices, paying only two pennies less than you would at another store for an "equivalent" good even though on a value-for-quality scale it should be selling for half as much...).

In other words, people should think more carefully about these things. Not everything that drives a price down is a good thing. The most cliché example being slavery and sweatshops...
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
I see, so because you find that music costs about the same, this makes sense. But because you know of $400 books, it also makes sense. I'm aware of music that costs hundreds of dollars too. But that doesn't count for this argument, right?

If we want to take a publishers rights point of view (that is that all content creators should be able to charge what they want for their content)- $10 per or $400 per for some books in this case, shouldn't those same rights apply to all of the content creators in the iTunes store. So if the music industry wants to charge $1 or $100 for their music, shouldn't they have the same right?

Why is this media different?
Click to expand...

Dude please show me one album out there or single that cost hundred dollars. Most albums I see these days are 10 dollars. Of course they shouldn`t charge 400 dollars for the ebook, they should charge whatever price they feel consumers will pay for an ebook and will make them profitable.
 
kdarling said:
A future with lots of non-interchangeable digital media is going to suck badly.

Question:

Has Apple stated which eBook format they'll be using on the iPad?

Will their DRM allow us to buy an eBook from iTunes and also use the same eBook file on another reader?

Or are we headed down the path of yet more proprietary downloads?
Click to expand...

Apple stated they will use ePub format.

no info on the rest of your questions.

The $14.99 on newly released books are still cheaper than Hardcover books. The pricing will lower as time goes by.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Isn't Apple the dominant force of price controls/fixing at the moment for this kind of media? Do you believe the record companies are happy that Apple has arbitrarily decided that the very best song ever created and the very worst song ever created are both worth 99 cents to $1.29... the best movie vs the worst movie... the best TV show vs. the worst TV show... etc?

No Apple doesn't run MacMillan. But if Apple facilitates MacMillan's desire to sell their books at a higher price, MacMillan CAN raise prices. And the rest of the industry can quickly follow suit. However, if Apple would side with Amazon on this matter- that is, adopt the $9.99 rate (just like Apple does for music, DVDs, tv shows, etc in iTunes) then MacMillan's Kindle-alternate channel won't be available at $14.99. Thus if they want to sell ANY e-books, they would have to play ball- just like music, movies, & TV show companies.

When NBC Universal pulled their shows trying to get the right to sell at a higher price, thread after thread sided with Apple fighting for lower prices. Now here's a situation where Apple may be facilitating higher prices for media, and we are siding with Apple? For higher prices for ourselves?

Couldn't we at least find fault with Apple for not fighting for keeping e-book pricing the same (at the established $9.99) level?

Else, should the day arrive that Apple arbitrarily decides to increase the prices of all media in the iTunes store by 50% also be met with similar positive response?

Are we saying that NBC Universal was right when they wanted higher prices for their content... and Apple was wrong for not giving into them? And if so, how is this different?
Click to expand...

Book publishing has a very different economics to music publishing. Books sell in small numbers; even a best seller usually only sells a few hundred in a week (according to Terry Pratchett, trying to find a link to the quote). The margins are, therefore, much lower. In order to justify the risk (in terms of ROI) they therefore sell books on a reverse auction basis, hoping to cover as much of the upfront cost at the start.

Charles Stross explains it far better than I can: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/01/amazon-macmillan-an-outsiders.html

There is a link in that article to a breakdown of the costs involved in producing a book, and about how this is an important fight for both the publishers and Amazon since it determines who will bear business risk without flexibility. I highly recommend people read both before commenting on the issue, since I'm sure we all agree that having books continuing to be published is important.

Also, the battle was over having a reverse auction of prices. Whilst books will initially be sold for higher, they'd follow the same dynamic as paper books and have the price reduce over time. Thus, prices would (after a period) go less than Amazon's fixed price.

[EDIT] Oops, coleridge78 beat me to it :)
 
benpatient said:
If Flash "causes most browser crashes" then why does Safari crash all the time on the iPhone?

It's sooooo confusing...I'm sure someone can explain it to me so that Apple sounds like a hero...
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Let me simplify it for you:
  • Flash is a dog right now, because Apple has something against Flash right now
  • If Apple later decides Flash is great, then Flash will be great again in many threads to come

At one point, video on iPod-like devices was useless- nobody wants to watch a video on a tiny screen. Then, when Apple rolled out video iPods, it was fantastic.

For a long time, intel chips were garbage, commodities, junk, not close to the better quality of PowerPC as Apple presented them. Then, Apple switched to Intel and suddenly Intel chips were great and PowerPC was junk.

See how this works?

If Apple says the moon is made of cheese tomorrow, a number of Apple fans will quickly agree, why aren't we mining the moon as a food source, how could astronomers and Astronauts be so stupid (must work for Microsoft you know), etc.

I'm a big fan of Apple myself. But I'm not so inside the reality distortion field that I lack an ability to be critical of them when deserved. They do many things very, very right, but not EVERY thing.
 
Apple's server farm in NC.

It would be really cool if Apple intercepted a select few broswer calls for Flash or Silverlight, processed them on the server farm, and forwarded it to the iPad as HTML 5 video.

I could see this as a way for hulu's and Netflix's content to make it to the iPad, until hulu started blocking it like boxee.
 
iOrlando said:
1) a ceo would never say the iPad poses a grave threat to them. so take what he has to say with a grain of salt.
2) a ceo would never indicate their company plans to the public, so take what he has to say with a grain of salt.

in reality, they're most likely very scared that MSFT is no where near capable of supplying a tablet OS with a touch interface comparable to apple.
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Zune's touch interface is superior to that of iPod
 
Goona said:
Dude please show me one album out there or single that cost hundred dollars. Most albums I see these days are 10 dollars. Of course they shouldn`t charge 400 dollars for the ebook, they should charge whatever price they feel consumers will pay for an ebook and will make them profitable.
Click to expand...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/28/atlanta.dust.to.digital/index.html?hpt=T2

Seems like the Beatles just came out with something recently.

I would even go so far as to say for every $400 book you could find, I could find movies, TV shows, and music priced substantially higher than iTunes pricing.
 
Hybrid netbooks with a swivel muti-touch screen (like the Lenovo S10-3t) are the future in this space. The iPad is nothing more than an oversized iPod touch tied into the App Stores. It doesn't even do Flash or video chats, enough said.
 
Mobility

Steve mentioned in the Keynote that Apple is the largest mobile device company. So I can see them focusing on that area in the future. And with that will be the introduction of the iPad Pro, full fledged portable tablet.:)
 
billystlyes said:
Hybrid netbooks with a swivel muti-touch screen (like the Lenovo S10-3t) are the future in this space. The iPad is nothing more than an oversized iPod touch tied into the App Stores. It doesn't even do Flash or video chats, enough said.
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These have been around for years and have failed, so no I don`t see them being the future of anything.
 
iPad netbook threat

How can a CEO come out and announce that a product that isn't in the wild is not a threat to their business? Let's see what happens in a year when Apple eats up netbook and ebook revenues from other companies. I was going to buy a kindle and a netbook but now I won't because apple has both in one device. AND it is cheaper than buying both separately. Every company in these spaces should be taking the iPad seriously and should be prepared to take revenue hits because of the iPad. Remember most consumers purchasing in the next year are most likely new ebook/netbook computer purchasers and not existing ebook/netbook purchasers.

I am very excited for this device and it's uses. Especially as app developers take advantage of the touch interface. The music industry is VERY excited for the iPad from everything I have seen.
 
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