Archive for 2011

Sony Reader app barred from App Store, Kindle lives on

Despite Amazon’s Kindle app being available on the App Store for quite some time, you’d think that Sony’s Reader app would also be given the green light. But you’d be wrong. Clearly, Sony didn’t read the Apple bible to app heaven closely enough as their app has been rejected on the terms that it features in-app purchases of books without passing through Apple’s own API for in-app purchases (which would crucially bypass Apple’s 30% cut in sales).

The condition that purchases must go through Apple has in fact been in the guidelines all along, but the Kindle app was allowed through -  it directs you to a mobile site in Safari instead. However, Apple also highlighted another term in the guidelines; you can’t sell goods and services outside of your app. Surely that means Amazon is infringing too, but no word from either Apple nor Amazon has been said about what to do about it.

Sony have already stated they promise to pursue “other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices.” This will probably mean they’ll end up (reluctantly) giving Apple their 30% share of sales. But what will it mean for Amazon? Their app sells books outside of the Kindle application which technically is an infringement of the guidelines that should result in the boot from the App Store. Considering the size of Amazon and the number of iOS devices out there, that 30% is a big deal. Eventually, they’ll have to update their app to either cut Apple in or disable in-app purchasing altogether (though what will become of their “Buy Once, Read Anywhere” slogan?). Either way Apple wins – they either get their fair share or people will have to turn to their home-grown iBook store, but what would happen to your vast Kindle library that you used to read on your iDevice? Maybe paper books weren’t such a bad idea after all.

Posted by: Vince

The HP Veer

The Veer is probably best described as a replacement for the Pixi, slotting below the Pre3 in specs and in size. In fact, it’s about the same size as your standard credit card making it a very cute little phone. With a planned availability this spring, I reckon this will be a pretty big hit with the kids and women looking for a phone to slip into their jeans pocket or handbag. My only concern is the keyboard considering how tiny this phone is, but like almost every phone, I still want one. I won’t ramble on about the specification, and just let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Find more information after the break.

The HP Pre3

We now have the official details on the HP Pre3 so fill your boots below. All I can say is it looks real sweet.

A few highlights of the Pre3:

The HP TouchPad

With the HP TouchPad now being official HP have released images and the full spec of the device which you will see below.

On a personal note I can say that I am truly impressed with this new creation and I firmly believe that WebOS on a tablet will be nothing more than beautiful. We will of course see more tablets next week at MWC and we still have the BlackBerry PlayBook to be released, but in the meantime lets enjoy the HP TouchPad.

More after the break:

HP’s ‘Think Beyond’ event

HP’s Think Beyond event in San Francisco has just taken place and what a fine array of WebOS products we have had announced.

No waffling from me. Straight to the action:

HTC drops $40 million investment in OnLive

In a one-two punch, the Wall Street Journal reports HTC has initiated two major investments in mobile service companies.

Garnering most attention is the reported $40 million injection of funds in cloud gaming firm OnLive, which is designed to enable games to be streamed over the web to any number of devices – from PC to TV, tablet and mobile.
HTC will buy 5.33 million shares in the privately held OnLive at $7.50 a share.

The move is billed by the paper as an attempt by HTC to strengthen its hand in the mobile gaming business, with company spokesperson Maggie Cheng claiming the move will "strengthen its gaming capabilities and help HTC tap into increasing demand for games on smartphones".

Embedding the OnLive player in its Android hardware would be a major boost to the company. OnLive has previously demoed its services running on iPad, but as yet, there’s no commercial deployment other than a spectator mode app. 
Said investment has been closely following by the acquisition of UK-based Saffron Digital.
The firm specialises in delivering video on demand content to clients, with the likes of Vodafone, T-Mobile, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia partners.
Combined, said investments seem to point to HTC gaining a foothold in delivering media content via the cloud, though the firm itself is remaining tight-lipped about any notion of a co-ordinated strategy being behind the moves.

[Source Pocketgamer]

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BBC iPlayer coming to iPad and Android this week!

How exciting! iPlayer in the palm of your hands. You might never have to enter the living room again or book a time to watch the last episode of Eastenders or Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

Looking more tablet friendly than the last iPad version which was essentially a squished version of the big screen version the Beeb have promised these key features on Android and iPad:

• Watch live TV and listen to radio (not previously widely available on mobile devices)
• Access the BBC’s full catalogue of catch-up programmes; seven-days’ TV and radio on demand as well as series stacking (as you get on the web)
• A simple and intuitive design with high picture quality and personalised favourites (making the most of the touch-screen UI, and a popular feature on the website)

For those with Android don’t get too excited right away as it will only run on the Flash friendly 2.2 version, Froyo. Another reason for those without to rally the manufacturers, set up picket lines and burn brassieres to get your phone up to 2.2.