the tablet war is heating up

[Banshee16]

It first came up in a serious way about 6 weeks ago and seems to have a resurgence now. It is incredibly likely, and I for one look forward to what they'll come out with. That their Android app store is curated -- aka a "walled garden" -- is a serious boon to Android's potential future. Add to that their tremendous media offerings and they'll be a serious challenger.

What is the quality level of Amazon's devices like? Here in Canada, the dominant player is the Kobo Reader as it is the one pushed by Indigo/Chapters, our dominant bookstore chain. I'm not familiar with the Kindle.

Do any of these E-ink displays have colour? I'd thought of getting one for reading PDFs, but the Kobo is black and white...which led to consideration of a tablet in the first place.

Banshee

 

[Felon]

What is the quality level of Amazon's devices like? Here in Canada, the dominant player is the Kobo Reader as it is the one pushed by Indigo/Chapters, our dominant bookstore chain. I'm not familiar with the Kindle.

Do any of these E-ink displays have colour? I'd thought of getting one for reading PDFs, but the Kobo is black and white...which led to consideration of a tablet in the first place.

Banshee

Basically, e-ink is just a little ball that's black on one side, pale on the other, and the reader rolls them over. This supposedly achieves a more pleasing look to text than square pixels. Makes sense, though it's mox nix to me.

There was talk of color e-ink being in development about a year ago, but I don't think anything's come of it.

 

[Fast Learner]

I assume the Amazon app store will be open to all Android devices?

It is as of today, definitely. If they had a really successful tablet of their own it's possible they'd eventually limit it, but it's unlikely.

Of course, that's assuming Apple doesn't succeed in blocking them.

Apple isn't trying to block Amazon from selling apps, just from calling it an "app store", which you have to do in order to protect your trademark.

"App Store" is nowhere near as generic as "shopping cart". Amazon can call it the Amazon App Shop, App Marketplace, App Center, App Hub, App Boutique, App Central, App House, App Emporium, App Market, App Emporium, App Showcase, App Vault, App Supply, App Bank, App Outlet, App Supercenter, App Bazaar, and a whole host of other things I didn't think of as I typed. Apple's protecting the specific trademark they registered years ago.

Those off-the-top-of-my-head suggestions don't even touch on the hundreds or thousands of options that don't begin with the word "app". All of the permutations of Android _________, or House of Apps, or, really, anything. It's not like "Amazon" meant "book store" prior to Jeff Bezos deciding to call it that. The sky's the limit.

 

[Fast Learner]

Basically, e-ink is just a little ball that's black on one side, pale on the other, and the reader rolls them over. This supposedly achieves a more pleasing look to text than square pixels. Makes sense, though it's mox nix to me.

I don't think spheres are used because they're more pleasing; they're just the only shape that will completely flip around when pulled at from any angle.

 

[Felon]

"App Store" is nowhere near as generic as "shopping cart". Amazon can call it the Amazon App Shop, App Marketplace, App Center, App Hub, App Boutique, App Central, App House, App Emporium, App Market, App Emporium, App Showcase, App Vault, App Supply, App Bank, App Outlet, App Supercenter, App Bazaar, and a whole host of other things I didn't think of as I typed. Apple's protecting the specific trademark they registered years ago. Those off-the-top-of-my-head suggestions don't even touch on the hundreds or thousands of options that don't begin with the word "app". All of the permutations of Android _________, or House of Apps, or, really, anything. It's not like "Amazon" meant "book store" prior to Jeff Bezos deciding to call it that. The sky's the limit.

This pretty handily misses the point. I won't argue how well "App Store" measures up to "shopping cart", but I will say for the record that it is exactly as generic as "Book Store" or "Shoe Store" or "Candy Store" or "Grocery Store", and I'd be pretty audacious for someone to try trademark those names, regardless of how early they called dibs or how many imagintive alternatives were left over for johnny-come-latelys to sift through. If Bob opens a store that sells shoes, he shouldn't have to flip through a thesaurus to try to find a synonym for "shoe" or "store" that he's allowed to use in labeling his business. Bob's Shoe Store should do just fine.

I don't think spheres are used because they're more pleasing; they're just the only shape that will completely flip around when pulled at from any angle.

I certainly can't deny that when it comes to rolling, spheres are where it's at. However, the point of e-ink is that it creates a less jagged test than digital fonts. Oh, and supposedly reads better in sunlight (something else I haven't really noticed).

 

[Relique du Madde]

Problem is that everyone uses the word "app" and last I checked the word app is not a registered trademark, and even if it were it fallen into common usage. So let's look at the usage in question: "App Store." That describes a store that sells apps, not a store that sells iOs apps.

Allowing apple to have and keep the trademark on "App Store" instead of just the trademark for "Apple App Store" or "iTunes AppStore" would be like giving Ford the trademark the phrases "Automotive Deallership" or "Auto Deallership" since the phrase is too generic on its own.

 

[Fast Learner]

This pretty handily misses the point. I won't argue how well "App Store" measures up to "shopping cart", but I will say for the record that it is exactly as generic as "Book Store" or "Shoe Store" or "Candy Store" or "Grocery Store", and I'd be pretty audacious for someone to try trademark those names, regardless of how early they called dibs or how many imagintive alternatives were left over for johnny-come-latelys to sift through.

Except for how "app" isn't the one word used by everyone to describe the thing sold at the App Store. Software for computing devices is generic, and "software store" is certainly as generic as "shoe store". Apple wasn't the first to use the term "app", but they certainly were the ones to popularize it, and most certainly for mobile devices.

Prior to Apple's "App Store" you could download software for your mobile device -- your Palm PDA or phone, your Symbian PDA or phone, your Microsoft Pocket PC PDA or phone, your Nokia phone -- from a wide range of "stores" and, strangely, none of them were called "app store". They weren't even called things like "Palm App Store" or "Pocket PC App Store". If it's so obvious and generic, why wasn't it used? Why weren't those software downloads even called "apps"?

If Apple had decided to call downloadable software for the iPhone "applets" and opened the "Applet Store" and everyone who followed started calling them "applets" too and opening up "applet stores", I take it you would similarly argue that Apple's trademark on "Applet Store" would be invalid because suddenly everyone's using the term "applet", is that right?

What's the reason that downloadable software for a mobile device has to be called "apps" by Google or by anyone but Apple?

I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, in that I suspect the trademark won't end up being defensible, but I strongly feel that the "it's a completely obvious use" argument simply doesn't hold water: if it was so obvious then it would have been in use, and if "app" was such an obvious generic term for downloadable mobile software then they would have been called "apps".

 

[Fast Learner]

However, the point of e-ink is that it creates a less jagged test than digital fonts.

It's just that (a) I'm completely unfamiliar with this argument and have been closely following e-paper since Jacobson's invention of electrophoretic displays in the late 90s, and (b) the argument seems nonsensical since modern Latin letterforms are composed of lots of straight horizontal and vertical lines, all of which would become infinitely more jaggy if drawn with circles instead of squares.

 

[falcarrion]

What is the quality level of Amazon's devices like? Here in Canada, the dominant player is the Kobo Reader as it is the one pushed by Indigo/Chapters, our dominant bookstore chain. I'm not familiar with the Kindle.

Do any of these E-ink displays have colour? I'd thought of getting one for reading PDFs, but the Kobo is black and white...which led to consideration of a tablet in the first place.

Banshee

He is a report on a color e-ink e-reader
Hanvon brings world's first color E Ink reader to CES, we go hands-on (video) -- Engadget

 

[MarauderX]

Having used an iPad for a bit, I find myself wanting to just go to reliable websites instead of popping open an app. I don't want a restriction on what I can do because the app doesn't have it, or that I need to pay $30+ for it. Just like so many other trades, there are not enough apps to support what I do while the industry websites and sources have matured to use the Internet well. Perhaps there needs to be more time for the apps to get there, but in the meantime I'm not paying for apps that I can use a website for free with better accuracy.