E-readers go high definition, Apple loses in court, new iPhone ads appear, and not even Android users want to buy Android tablets. The remainders for Monday, July 11, 2011 almost feel bad for Android tablet makers. Almost.
The first Google eBooks-integrated e-reader (Official Google Blog)
The poorly-capitalized iriver Story HD e-reader will go on sale on July 17 at Target stores. The device will be the first e-reader to integrate with Google’s open ebooks platform. I’m most excited about the “high definition” claim regarding the reader’s e-ink screen: If it’s anything like high-def television, I expect to see every single pore and pimple camping out on each (text) character’s face.
Apple ordered to pay $8M in damages over iPod playlist patent suit (AppleInsider)
A federal jury concluded that Apple violated two patents held by Personal Audio, and that Apple must pony up $8 million because of it. Now, Apple has $60 billion in the bank; that means Apple’s fine accounts for about 0.013 percent of its savings account. To put an $8 million fine in perspective, Apple only needs to sell 472 custom 12-core 2.93GHz Mac Pros with 64GB of RAM, a Mac Pro RAID card, 4 512GB solid state drives, two 18x SuperDrives, and a quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card to score that much cash. Apple could well pay Personal Audio with a $10 million bill and then tell the patent-holding company to keep the change.
Apple Airs New AirPlay and FaceTime iPhone Ads (Mac Rumors)
In its television commercials, Apple’s sticking with the “If you don’t have an iPhone 4…” series in two new ads. My guess is that the current campaign narrowly beat out the marketing team’s other main idea: “iPhone. It’s not Android.” Speaking of which…
Android Users Buy iPad Over Google-Powered Tablets (Fox Business)
It’s official: Not even Android users like Android—at least, not in tablet form. A new report says that Android smartphone users are purchasing the iPad over Android-based tablets like the Xoom and the Galaxy Tab. (We’ve got more on the report, which is based on a research note from market-research firm Canaccord Genuity, elsewhere on Macworld.com.) Of course, statistics are easy to manipulate: With the sole exception of “Xoom and Galaxy Tab” buyers, pretty much every human demographic is more likely to buy an iPad than one of its so-called Android-based competitors, since the iPad’s the only tablet really selling. So I’m looking forward to next week’s report: People who want to buy actually available tablets more inclined to buy iPads.