The Christmas period is always one where technology sees a huge increase in sales, and the 2011 holidays were no exception. According to one report, in fact, the Christmas period has seen tablet ownership in the United Stated jump dramatically.
The report, compiled by Pew, shows that tablet ownership amongst US adults rose from 10% to 19% over the holidays, with e-readers also seeing a growth in ownership figures.
Pew's figures also suggest that there is little overlap between the two...
Amazon has launched a new web interface for its Kindle store, completely bypassing Apple's in-app purchasing system for items that are bought through App Store apps.
The original Kindle app for iOS included links to its own Kindle web store. Apple took offence to this move by Amazon, leading to Amazon removing the links for fear of having the entire app pulled from the App Store for violating Apple's guidelines. From that point on, anyone wanting to buy Kindle books on an iOS device had to reach the store manually, with no mention of it inside the Kindle app.
Amazon has pushed out a major update to its universal iOS Kindle app, with the most interesting changes coming to the iPad version.
A new design has been rolled out for magazines on the iPad, with access to the same 400+ magazines and newspapers that the Kindle Fire has now available on Apple's tablet.
Users can now also "read print replica textbooks," which will have rich formatting and the same layout as the print editions...
Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson is considering adding more content to his already-released book on Apple's late co-founder and former CEO.
The book originally went on sale not long after the iconic Jobs' death, but with so many questions left unanswered and some pundits suggesting that the book misses important events from the man's life, Isaacson has admitted that he may well need to add more content to his already-lengthy book.
In fact, during an interview with Fortune, Isaacson went so far as to call the best-seller a "first draft," which we are sure will no doubt not please everyone who spent their hard-earned money on it.
Last week we reported that Walter Isaacson's recently-released Steve Jobs biography had reached a major milestone on Amazon. In less than two months on the market, the book has become the online retailer's best-selling title of 2011.
After making a few adjustments, Amazon re-released its list of top 10 books today. The company figured that, since Kindle e-books outsell hard covers, they should be included in the counting. Where does the Steve Jobs biography rank now?
The iPad may have had it all its own way since its initial inception last year, but if a new survey is to be believed, then it may finally have some real competition in the form of Amazon's Kindle Fire.
New data from ChangeWave Research points to Amazon's first entry into the tablet market being the second most popular tablet on the market, behind, you guessed it, Apple's iPad.
A November survey of 3,043 people yielded the insight which shows that 22% of those questioned planned on picking up the 7" Kindle Fire, with 65% aiming to pick up an iPad. Third choice, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, could only garner 4% of the interest...
Amazon recently unveiled the Kindle Fire. The new tablet has seen a fair amount of success, although it's definitely not an iPad killer. What's next for Amazon? A phone, of course!
While details on such a device are scarce, it's believed that Amazon will launch a KindlePhone in 2012. Android is expected to be the operating system of choice...
It's no secret that I'm pretty pumped about Amazon's Kindle Fire. While I know that may seem disgraceful to say on iDownloadBlog, I have to admit that the Fire looks sort of compelling.
The Kindle Fire is obviously no match for the iPad, but it isn't trying to compete with the iPad — that's why I think it'll succeed. Now that the formalities are out of the way, let's talk about Kindle Fire for iPhone — a DreamBoard theme that make your iPhone look similar to Amazon's upcoming foray into the world of tablets...
Apple has dominated the tablet market the last two years with its iPad line. Since it reinvented the category in 2010, competitors have struggled to keep up with Apple's high-powered, low-cost slate.
But with Amazon's Kindle Fire coming November 15th, that could all change very quickly. The tablet undercuts the iPad's cost by $200, and has already seen a lot of popularity during pre-order. Should Apple be worried?
A little over a month ago, Amazon jumped head-first into the tablet market with its 7-inch Kindle Fire. The $199 slate runs a low-level version of Android, but you'd never know that from its well thought-out user interface.
In fact, Amazon's tablet has already received a fair amount of praise. It's sharp, eye-popping, and gives users quick access to media content. And even better, it's coming to the iPhone with this jailbreak theme...
The entire web was set 'on fire' this morning by Amazon's tablet announcement (no pun intended). After months and months of rumors, the online retailer finally unveiled its Android slate: the Kindle Fire.
Sure, the tablet may be one of the best Android-based offerings we've ever seen, but it's still no iPad. However, there is one thing that I believe the Cupertino company could learn from Amazon and its new device...
Here's one giant kick in the teeth for Apple and its App Store policies.
Amazon has today launched its new Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader web app, which offers the full Kindle library as an HTML web page, offering the ability to read, and, more importantly, buy books from your browser. That's more important because it means Amazon no longer has to abide by Apple's laws for the selling of content inside an iOS app.
It also means Apple loses out on 30% of the revenue...