Amazon's Predatory Book Practice? Some Wants The Government To Look Into It

Source:  NY Times.

It's ironic that a while back, Amazon requested the Department of Justic to look into possible collusion between Apple and major publishers over pricing and, now, a group representing authors and booksellers are hitting Amazon right back by requesting an inquiry regarding Amazon's possible anti-trust actions.

It really stems from Amazon's battle with publishers that at times become very public with Amazon trying to justify their actions, like removing books from publishers they have contracts disputes with from sale, to the public.  It has not worked out exactly as Amazon had hoped.  It do appear that Amazon usually end up accepting publisher terms.

Still, Amazon's actions do state to the leverage it has in the publishing world and terms it has offered to independent authors. 

One of Amazon's most controverial move is to price its books below market price to drive competitors like Borders out of business.  Even now, Barnes and Noble is barely surviving, having to reinvent itself time and time again.  Meanwhile, Amazon can make up for book losses with sales of other items and its growing businesses else where like cloud storage.

I cannot decide if it's a lawful thing to do:  driving your competiors out of business by lowering prices to destroy their core business and covering the losses with another part of your business.  I do kow that it feel wrong.

Beats 1 Could Be Start of Apple's Attempt To Disrupt More Than Just Music

It's interesting that Apple has supported podcasts and podcasting for years and, without much effort beyond updating the podcast app on iOS, the podcasting community has grown in sophistication and numbers of quality podcasts as well as tens if not millions of listeners.  And now with Beats 1, Apple may well be focusing and evolving at its usual pace when disrupting markets the whole streaming music and podcast market - creating a network not unlike SiriusXM with content that already exist.

In this Macworld post, it focused on how Beats 1 can be the start of something at Apple to take on SiriusXM There have been calls in the past that Apple should buy SiriusXM but I always found that to be a big unlike Apple.  After all, Apple had the podcast app that allowing users to curate podcasts to their own tastes and interests.  And yes, there are music podcasts already.  And more content than even Sirius can hope to have.

There was also a time when it looked like Apple was going to allow users to pay and subscribe to podcasts as well.  While that obviously did not happen, we can look for Apple to possibly create more "stations" or 'channels" along side Beats 1 and allow users to flip through them depending on what they want to listen to.

Also keep in mind that about a year ago, Apple integreated actual radio feeds from ESPN and NPR as well as some local public radio stations into the radio tab of the Music app and it remains there even now.

In response to Macworld's post, Apple does not need to take on SiriusXM directly.  Macworld suggests that while Beats 1 is free but additonal "stations" might not be.  It is debatable whethere they will be based on Apple's own produced shows or content or select podcasters invited to fill time slots that require subscriptions to access them.

Father of Modern Gaming: RIP, Dude!

Satoru Iwata passed away over the weekend.  If you don't know who he is, well, the dude is a giant in modern video games.  He lead the Nintendo to new highs and innovations.  He helped usher in the moble gaming industry that we know of today. Think Wii, Mario, and Pikachu.  That's him.

If it was not for him and Nintendo, gaming on your Androids and iPhones would be vastly different and quite possibly inferior.

Too young at 55.  

Apple Music Nothing New (Yet)

I read this Gizmodo post about Apple Music.  Granted that I have not used it yet (waiting for iOS 9 beta to have it next week), when you get rid of the Taylor Swift drama and the will-they-or-won't-they-sign of the indie labels, I'm not sure Apple is offering anything other streaming services do not already have.

There is the Beats One "radio station" that Apple has that no one else does for now.  It could be the first step to something even better.  If Apple Music evolution follows other Apple product improvement, we can see annual improvements up to a point and where it makes sense.

So far, the bar is pretty low given the state of the streaming segment of the music market.  There are plenty of players so it is good to see there are competitors that will continue to push Apple foward.

Once I've gotten a chance to play with it, I will looking into what features I love to see that might be missing or improved.

Microsoft Slowly Imploding? Layoffs, Sales, Executives Leaving

When a new chief executive officer comes on board, he usually does a bit of cleaning.  It happens with just about any companies.  It happened when Larry Page took over.  It happened when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and it sure as heck happened when Tim Cook took control of Apple with major changes.  Now, it's Microsoft's Satya Nadella's turn. However, while the previously mentioned changes instituted by those CEOs appear orderly and planned, it is difficul to put Nadella's latest changes in that category nor does it appear we'll see the end of it and see Microsoft on the verge of a new era.

First, there is the executive resignations including the former CEO of Nokia Stephen Elop.  In all, four senior executives were shown the door.  Now, comes news that Microsoft is planning to layoff more than 1,200 employees from its ad display division.  It spoke to the failure to compete with other ad companies, in particular, Google (Bloomberg).

Furthermore, Microsoft is selling to Uber its image collection group within Bing.  If Bing was healthy and competitive, it's unlikely this transaction would have taken place.  Taken a long with layoff in the display ad group, you have to be worry whether Bing is working out worse than Microsoft is letting on.

Having said that, a lot is riding on Windows 10 to reinvigorate the PC market, and to a lesser extent, the mobile phone market where Microsoft is struggling against Android and iOS.  So far, things are looking well in the Windows beta stages.  Microsoft desperate needs Windows to continue its dominance and bring in much needed revenue to cover the rest of the company to give Nadella time to grow other Microsoft's core businesses. 

Balmer has done a great deal of harm during his reign.  Sure, Microsoft made tons of money but on core products like Windows and Office while the rest of the company languished or simply failed to innovate.  For the moment, it appears that Nadella is a more astute CEO who knows the culture under Balmer has to go.  However, it'll take time as the latest changes has not instill confidence in the market or among its supporters. 

Whether you're an Apple or Google fan, you have to appreciate the competitive value that Microsoft represents in multiple markets.  And as always, more competition the better. 

Still, it would be nice if Microsoft had something more to share than what appears to be all bad news.

iPhone: 8 Years Old And Still Changing Mobile and Beyond

8 Years ago today, Steve Jobs unleashed Apple's most revolutionary device, the iPhone.  Since then, much has changed.  Did Apple expect the iPhone to become the best selling smartphone and serve as Apple's growth engine in the world?  Maybe but not to the extent it is today.

Did Apple expect the iPhone to spawn the iPad and move Apple further into mobile and into the wearable market with the Apple Watch?  Probably not.

Did Apple believe the iPhone to serve as the hub for the home and, by extension of CarPlay, the automobile?  And quite possibly, provide Apple with the financial resources to enter the auto industry with its own Apple Car?

And what about the disruptions into other markets?  Nintendo is in trouble in no small part its own fault with questionable choices in the console market but iOS gaming has disrupted Nintendo's Gameboy dominance in the mobile gaming market. 

And the consumer camera market?  Companies are still churning out cameras but if you look around, not many people still use them.  And Apple continues to innovate the iPhone camera with the goal of rivaling even the dSLR.  The iPhone camera is so good now that it even allows TV and film makers to make videos on the go and cheap.


It's also unlikely that Apple expected the iPhone with the App Store to create more than a million jobs while paying tens of billions to developers. 

While it is not worth our time to get into which mobile players are or are not still around (Palm is gone.  So is Nokia who sold its phone business to Microsoft.  Windows and Office profit continues to pay for Microsoft's Windows Phone adventures.  Blackberry, Motorola, and HTC are still around but barely), the iPhone has definitely been a huge deal on a scale beyond the mobile market.  And it feels like we're just finishing up the first quarter of the mobile game.  Apple ain't done with the iPhone just yet.

Clues in Swift Offers Mac and iOS Future

I've just started working on Swift, my first programming language since, well, I don't really remember.  But I have noticed how simple things are so far if you have the right tutorial.  And from what I can see after two weeks of studying and messing around with it, I have to believe that for those with a lot more programming skills, you should be able to discern just where iOS devices are head based on what you can do with Swift and offers some clues whether the lines between an iPad and a Mac might be.

One of the things you have to have noticed if you're wholly in Apple's ecosystem is that innovations and improvements Apple made on one platform can show up on another if it makes sense.  Take notification for instance.  It started on the iPhone and iPad and, now, it's one of the best features of OS X.

Furthermore, programmers are finding useful information in beta versions of Apple's OS.  Recently, it was discovered that Apple could be working on a 4K display or an iMac equipped with a 4K monitor.  Also, improvements to iOS keyboards on the iPad points to an iPad with a bigger screen that makes it more real than an unicorn.

I'm investing more and more time in Swift.  It's a bit intimidating at times especially after making a few twists and turns that tutorials did not authorize.  Personally, I have not found anything that I can share with the iOS community about Apple's future plans.

However, I'm sure there are more clues there than ever about what Apple has planned for the next iPhone, iPad, and unreleased Mac updates.