New Nook ereader clears the FCC

[pwalker8]

And you can also jailbreak Apple devices. Early on, it was a very popular thing to do, though very few people bother doing so anymore. I jailbroke my first iPhone so I could get an app that would tell me the signal strength and location of the various cell towers.

Look I get that some people despise Apple's The Apple Way of doing things. It is somewhat amusing that some will excuse jumping through hoops to do things on Kindle devices or Android devices, but aren't willing to apply the same standard with Apple.

Apple uses content to sell devices, Amazon uses devices to sell content. Amazon makes an effort to put it's content on all sorts of devices. Apple makes an effort to allow all sorts on content on it's devices.

Apple Books appears to me to be a method to allow Apple customers to download and read books without having to get 3rd party apps or go to 3rd party web sites. It's basically an ease of use thing for non technical customers. They beefed up their eBook store to provide most of the books that such customers might want and to make it easy for those customers to find and buy the books. It's pretty obvious that Apple is moving in the direction that you don't need a desktop anymore.

It might shock some here, but a significant fraction of Apple's customer base never downloads Apps and goes to the Apple genius bar to learn how to use Apple Music and Apple email.

If you are someone who wants to do things exactly the way you want to do them, then odds are pretty good that Apple devices aren't going to be a great fit for you. If you are someone who just wants it to work, and only cares about email, messaging, facebook and surfing the web then Apple devices can be a good choice. I've watched my parents try to use Android devices and they find them very confusing. They find Apple devices much easier to use.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

So you had to modify your fire hdx in order to gain access to other bookstores.

Nope. No jail breaking to install Nook and Kobo apps on my Fire. Just had to do the following ...

Originally Posted by murraypaul

No, you just change a standard Android setting to allow installation of APK files.

Turn on "allow unknown sources," install the the app, turn off "allow unknown resources." No jail breaking, this feature is built into Amazon Fires.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

And you can also jailbreak Apple devices. ...

Again, no jail break required. The feature is built in.

Apple can do what they want with their eBook store. But if they want to compete with Amazon, it's seems pretty silly to immediately cut yourself off from over half of your potential customers. And the those who do own Apple devices are (quite often) already in the habit of buying books from Amazon. It's their choice, but the reason Android phones outsell iPhones by a lot (75% of the market compared to Apple's 22%) is because Apple originally made an exclusive deal with AT&T. I guess they figured everyone would drop Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon to get an iPhone. They didn't anticipate Verizon's Droid push and the rise of Android.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Nope. No jail breaking to install Nook and Kobo apps on my Fire. Just had to do the following ...



Turn on "allow unknown sources," install the the app, turn off "allow unknown resources." No jail breaking, this feature is built into Amazon Fires.



Again, no jail break required. The feature is built in.

Apple can do what they want with their eBook store. But if they want to compete with Amazon, it's seems pretty silly to immediately cut yourself off from over half of your potential customers. And the those who do own Apple devices are (quite often) already in the habit of buying books from Amazon. It's their choice, but the reason Android phones outsell iPhones by a lot (75% of the market compared to Apple's 22%) is because Apple originally made an exclusive deal with AT&T. I guess they figured everyone would drop Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon to get an iPhone. They didn't anticipate Verizon's Droid push and the rise of Android.

Whatever makes you think that Apple wants to compete extensively with Amazon on eBooks? I think it's pretty obvious that they are simply focused on the customer experience for their hardware customer base. You are sitting at the airport waiting for your flight, you pull up the Books app, buy and download a book for your flight. Or you pull up the TV app and buy and download a movie or TV show for your flight. I look at Books as more of an attempt to round out and refresh the entertainment options on the iPhone/iPad.

The Apple/Android thing is a apples and oranges comparison. According to the Feb. data, Apple controls 47% of the smartphone shipments (i.e. new sales) in the US, with Samsung following with 22%, LG with 12%, Motorola with 6% and a mix of other phones at 13%.

[hollowpoint]

I used to want to jailbreak and get maximum control over every device I owned. Now with the growth of cross-platform web services, and the improvements in devices, it doesn't feel as necessary as it once did with every device. Which is also convenient, because I have a ton of devices and it's easier when I don't have to remember/maintain the jailbroken state of ALL of them. :-)

I recently got an Ipad Mini, installed all my favorite cross-platform apps for reading books, secure messaging (Signal), news, email, music, note-taking, tv, cloud drive, others. And because I could so easily access all my existing data, the need to jailbreak is not high on the list. I can't use the Books store for now because I don't have access to a personal Mac to run the best (and currently only????) known Apple Books DeDRM tool, Tuneskit. But that's not a big loss, the other online ebook stores have everything I need. So yeah, they're a walled garden as are others, but it's more possible to live outside it now.

[ZodWallop]

Guys, please. Let it go. The Apple/Android debates were tiresome years ago.

What does the availability of Apple Books have to do with a new Nook anyway?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

What does the availability of Apple Books have to do with a new Nook anyway?

I think this started as (basically) Nook and Kobo have failed to compete against Amazon and "can Apple do any better?"

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Whatever makes you think that Apple wants to compete extensively with Amazon on eBooks? I think it's pretty obvious that they are simply focused on the customer experience for their hardware customer base. ...

Okay, I'll accept that. Kind of a private "book club" for Apple device users. I still want someone to compete with Amazon. 83% of the eBook market (in the U.S.) is just too much for one company.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Okay, I'll accept that. Kind of a private "book club" for Apple device users. I still want someone to compete with Amazon. 83% of the eBook market (in the U.S.) is just too much for one company.

You and me both. Strong competition might force Amazon to improve various aspects of their eBook store. It really hasn't changed all that much in some 8 years. It's going to be tough though. Whoever it is, I don't think it will be someone who comes out with their own eReader device. It will have to be someone who does something that gives readers a reason to switch from Amazon. What that will be, I don't know. I know what would get me to switch, but I suspect I'm not your average eBook customer.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

According to the Feb. data, Apple controls 47% of the smartphone shipments (i.e. new sales) in the US, with Samsung following with 22%, LG with 12%, Motorola with 6% and a mix of other phones at 13%.

I just googled smartphone sales by brand and year and Samsung has been outselling apple for quite a few years. Their current sales are about 1.6 times Apple's current sales. Apple sales have declined this year while Samsung's sales are up slightly. The chart I'm looking at goes back to 2013 and shows Samsung beating them the whole time. Here's a link:

https://businesstech.co.za/news/mobi...-market-share/

Barry

[hollowpoint]

^I think that's real but your chart shows global figures, while Pwalker referred to US.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by hollowpoint

^I think that's real but your chart shows global figures, while Pwalker referred to US.

Yep. Outside the US, Canada, Europe, China and Japan, Apple sales are fairly negligible. They are really trying to push in China and India, but not all that successful in either market. That's one big reason they are focusing on services as the new growth area.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by barryem

I just googled smartphone sales by brand and year and Samsung has been outselling apple for quite a few years. Their current sales are about 1.6 times Apple's current sales. Apple sales have declined this year while Samsung's sales are up slightly. The chart I'm looking at goes back to 2013 and shows Samsung beating them the whole time. Here's a link:
Barry

Barry, looking at that article you linked, how do you manage to get Samsung's sales are up slightly from an article that states:

It noted that Samsung produced 293 million smartphones in 2018, a YoY decline of 8%, while its market share has also shrunk.

Apple’s total production volume for 1H18 was roughly the same as for 1H17. However, the sales of new iPhones turned out to fall short of expectation, resulting in lower shipments of iPhones in 2H18, about 7% less than in 2H17. As the result, the production volume of Apple in 2018 declined by 3% YoY.

One other item to remember is that Samsung competes in the low, middle and high end smartphone markets while Apple competes solely in the high end market.

The low end market is great for driving sales however it is price sensitive keeping profit margins on the slim side. A situation which can lead to winning the sales race while losing the profit race.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Barry, looking at that article you linked, how do you manage to get Samsung's sales are up slightly from an article that states:

Scroll down to the sales chart.

One other item to remember is that Samsung competes in the low, middle and high end smartphone markets while Apple competes solely in the high end market.

The low end market is great for driving sales however it is price sensitive keeping profit margins on the slim side. A situation which can lead to winning the sales race while losing the profit race.

I don't think how much profit these companies make has much to do with this discussion.

I just bought one of the Samsung cheap phones, a Galaxy J3 Orbit, which I got on sale for $50. They're usually a few dollars more. My daily phone is a Galaxy S5, so slightly out of date but still working very well. I got the J3 for reading only. I've been reading on my phone a lot and drawing the battery down and I wanted something that would leave my regular phone's battery alone. But what surprised me is that it's really a nice phone. So far it seems as fast as the S5 although I'm not doing anything on either of them that will push it so it's not much of a test. It's also LCD and lower resolution although still plenty high. But all in all I think it's the nicer of the two phones. I've been wondering if I want to use it with my carrier and use the S5 for reading.

Barry

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by barryem

Scroll down to the sales chart.

Umm.. Barry, I read through the entire article before I posted. There is no sales chart. The only chart I saw was market share which showed Samsung's market share declining in 2018 though they did have a 2019F (forecast) which showed Samsung's market share increasing.

Oddly, that is one of the few places where I saw Samsung's market share projected to increase in 2019. Even that article in which that chart appears states:

It (Samsung) is expected to remain the leading smartphone maker worldwide with a global market share of 20%.

and then adds a chart showing Samsung's market share just over 20% in 2019. See attached image with added gridlines.

Most other forecasts showed Huawei, Xiaomo, OPPO and vivo as increasing their share while Apple and Samsung would both continue to slowly lose market share. You did notice that back in 2013, Samsung had 33% market share which was close to double Apple's in that year. The rest of the chart shows Samsung as having lost market share every year since and yet BusinessTech wants us to believe that this trend is going to change in 2019.

OTOH, profit wise, Apple is projected to continue to lead in 2019 with Samsung and Huawei in 2nd and 3rd place respecitively. Perhaps their concentration on the more profitable high end phones has something to do with that.

As for the rest of your comment, your purchase of a low end Samsung phone helps Samsung's market share but does very little for Samsung's phone division's profit margin. Strangely, most corporations seem to be more interested in profits per sale rather than sales alone.

For another article, check Global market share held by leading smartphone vendors from 4th quarter 2009 to 4th quarter 2018.

Now if I could figure out what this has to do with the new Nook ereader...

"Figures often beguile me," he wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'" -- Mark Twain

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DNSB

...
Now if I could figure out what this has to do with the new Nook ereader...

"Figures often beguile me," he wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'" -- Mark Twain

The tie in is that you have to understand what understand a company's goal for a device. Apple focuses on high profit devices and doesn't play in the low price, low profit markets. Samsung does play in the low price, low profit markets, in addition to competing directly with Apple in high price, high profit models, one reason they are much more popular than Apple in some parts of the world.

In general, Amazon views the eInk kindle as a way to sell content, so they aren't particularly worried about selling them for a big profit. Indeed, if you are willing to put up with ads, you can get a kindle for pretty close to cost. The problem that a new Nook reader has that B&N doesn't have the market share to use content to support a low to no profit device.