I love Readability
Just discovered Readability and it has quickly become my favorite and most-used Chrome extension.
Readability has replaced 3 extensions I was previously using - Read It Later, Evernote Clearly and Klip.me’s Send to Kindle. They are all good too, but Readability puts those 3 functions in a single extension.
If you’re using Chrome, have a Kindle, and love to read - it’s a must-have.
Ecosystem > Device
Although I have an Android tablet that supports content from both Amazon & Barnes & Noble, I took a hard look at both Kindle and Nook devices during the holidays. Partly because I wanted a companion device to bring to the beach/pool/etc… and partly because the idea of a cheap tablet had some appeal.
What struck me was that, excepting price, on almost every aspect the Nook devices (both B&W readers & tablets) were clearly superior to the Amazon devices.
Yet I eventually wound up buying a Kindle because, quite simply, Amazon has an ecosystem build around their content that B&N doesn’t have.
So I have to question whether separating the Nook unit from the rest of Barnes & Noble is going to help. Seems much more likely this is prelude to a breakup and selloff of the assets.
I also wonder how Apple will respond. I am fully aware that the iPad is a superior device (although I’d argue that Android tablets are closing that gap rapidly) but, as beautiful as they are, whether Apple can continue to sell a premium-priced tablet with a mostly-closed content ecosystem is highly questionable. Yes the Kindle Fire is even more closed, but at a much lower price point. The dynamics that play out throughout 2012 should be interesting indeed.
Personally, the ‘I can use anybody’s content’ (except Apple’s) nature of my Xoom makes Android superior - and an experience I’m willing to pay a premium for. And now I have a Kindle too to bring to the beach.
Amazon has swiftly become the most disruptive company in the media and technology industries. Its potential in this space is simply off the charts: bigger than Apple’s, bigger than Google’s or Microsoft’s. It’s becoming a purer version of all three.
A letter from Borders CEO Mike Edwards (truth serum edition)
Great post - must-read.
ht @howardlindzon
History repeats itself?
Don’t want to overreact to this ‘news’ until we know more, but if true this would be a colossally bad move by Apple. Android will become THE mobile & tablet platform - just as Windows became THE PC platform so many years ago.
The web is abuzz with word that Apple is going to require ebook apps on iOS, specifically Kindle and Nook, to offer an “in-app” purchase model in addition to the existing “shunt you to our website” purchase model that bypasses Apple’s 30% cut of revenue requirements. This could potentially devastate Amazon and Barnes & Nobles’ ebook revenue when selling books to iOS users, and might well lead to the removal of these applications from the platform.
The iPad with a Nook app, a Kindle app and the iBooks app is the *best* possible ereader. Remove the Kindle and Nook apps, as this policy by Apple may well do, and the iPad becomes an terrible ereader because iBooks has a terrible selection. That makes the iPad a less compelling product.
I want the iPad to be a device where I can read books from any ebook store, a device where I can watch my iTunes movies, my Hulu episodes and content on Netflix, not a device where the only available content is that which gives Apple a 30% revenue cut. Right now, the iPad is the device I want. This new policy from Apple will make it far less attractive. Which sucks, because I love the tablet form factor, and Android tablets are awful, and likely will continue to be.
This policy change won’t help consumers. It will hurt them. This isn’t using the rules to make iOS a better platform. This is using the rules to try to make more money for a company that last year posted over $16 billion in profits.
I love Apple, but that’s not cool.
I think, therefore...
