Insights For Success

Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Security

Amazon

Airports may be hazardous to your Kindle

Amazon, Apple, Europe, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Travelling, eReader, iPad, technologyEdward Kiledjian

Over the last couple of days, we have been hearing more and more complaints from Kindle owners about airport X-Ray machines killing their beloved eReaders.

The UK Telegraph reports some travellers claiming their device was bricked after going through the X-Ray. The devices were nonfunctional with blank screens.

Amazon is denying that there is a design issue but seems to be replacing affected devices. Some specialists believe it may not be the X-Rays themselves but more a static discharge from the machine’s thick rubber conveyor belt.  So far, we are only hearing complaints from Kindle owners. I wonder if owners of other devices like the Kobo, B&N Nook or Sony eReader are having the same experience.

Links:

UK Telegraph

Gizmodo

Good shows iPad's dominating the enterprise environment

Amazon, Android, Apple, Good Technologies, IOS, Tablet, WP7, iPad, iPhoneEdward Kiledjian

A recent activation report by Good Techbologies showed that the iPad and iPad 2 continue to dominate the tablet in the enterprise market (96% of all activations on Q3 2011 compared to just 4% for Andoird). On the handset front, the iphone commanded 28%. The most popular Android phone was the Evo 4G at 1.6%.

“This quarter, we saw Android smartphones gain in percentage of total activations,” Good Technology senior vice president of corporate strategy John Herrema said. “This is likely due to the consumers holding back purchases of new iPhones in anticipation of Apple’s latest release (the iPhone 4S) — as our reports indiciate, consumers are setting the agenda for enterprise mobility.” IPhone 4 activations fell from 32.4% during the second quarter to 28.3% during the third quarter as a result of that anticipation.

Important Note: Good's numbers do not include Blackberry or Win Phone 7 devices (since RIM uses BES).

You can download the full report here.

 

 

Amazon's Android Tablet may be here in September

Amazon, IOS, Microsoft, Tablet, WebOS, iPadEdward Kiledjian

When I say tablet, most people will automatically think of Apple’s iPad. But if the fire-sale liquidation of HP’s WebOS tablets taught us anything, it is that consumers will buy anything for the right price.

The New York Post is now claiming that Amazon’s much talked about Android tablet will be released soon and cost hundreds less than Apple’s iPad.  Their unnamed source claims that the mythical Amazon tablet will launch sometime on September or October and be priced aggressively to ensure it sells.

Amazon has deep pockets and can afford to sell the hardware as a lost leader and then upsell its other services (think of ebooks, the Amazon appstore, Cloud Drive,  Streaming movie service, etc). If anyone can compete with Apple’s unified offering, it is Amazon. Competition is great for customers as it drives innovation and price competitiveness.