Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

What’s the most common phrase heard around the Gadgetell newsroom?  Is it “I love Apple?”, “that’s cool!” or “sweet!” ?  Answer: none of them, it’s “they are on crack”.  This week we take a look back at the things that made us chuckle in the tech world.  Let’s get to the suspects:

• RIM’s iPad killer
• E-readers price drop, does it matter?
• AT&T goes all-in for Windows 7 phones

RIM’s iPad killer

“Just a few days ago, RIM acquired the domain name blackpad.com, but hasn’t filled the site with anything.” Our Natesh Sood reported on the domain name and possible product that could come from it.  Sood laid out his reason why the Blackpad could be an “iPad killer”: “the iPad is extremely popular today mainly because there aren’t many strong competitors.”

For a company that still hasn’t mustered an iPhone killer, should Apple be shaking in their boots at the idea of a BlackPad?  Don’t get me wrong, OS 6 looks like a huge step forward for RIM, but they were two steps back to start with.  Do we really believe the company can whip out something that will attract developers to begin an app building frenzy?

And I’ll disagree with Mr. Sood on why the iPad is “extremely popular.”  The industry has been throwing tablets around for a while, (HP anyone?) and they’ve gone no where.  Rather than just be a sideshow stunt, the iPad isn’t succeeding because we’ve not been inundated with $100 Android tablets.  I think there is something more than a lack of competitors or even a surplus of fanbois.  Without an app army pointing to the flock of developers hoping to make some iMoney.

So, a clunky OS combined with a small app store -  is this something you’d pour resources into to build?  Count on BlackBerry to keep mum about a tablet for fear of looking like Palm and the Foleo.

E-readers price drops again, but does it matter?

Here at Gadgetell, Sue Walsh is our e-reader expert.  She’s a Kindle aficionado and keeps us grounded in our iPad lust. Sue posted this week on the effect of lowering e-reader prices and for possibly the first time in history, we completely agree.  Sue says,

That leads me to wonder, what good are falling e-reader prices when the publishers are determined to jack up the price of ebooks? I will never understand why they hate ebooks so much. Everyone I know who has an e-reader says they actually read MORE books since getting it. Sales of Kindle books outdid sales of hardcovers on Amazon. Overall sales of ebooks have skyrocketed while sales of traditional books have shown much less growth.

So, with prices of books on the increase, it seems logical that e-readers pricing will reduce.  Only, the reduction has been limited.  Amazon dropped a $139 WiFi Kindle this week and it raised some eyebrows.  However, we’re still way above a $99 excitement pricepoint and still miles away from a free e-reader. 

If Sue’s data is correct, we’ll consume more books if given an ebook reader (we’ll avoid the discussion on the effect buying more books to justify the expense of the e-reader for now, OK?).  Would a price increase on books, say $2, help cover the costs of the give-a-way and keep Amazon and others in the red?

What I see, is the need for a lending library, Netflix like app for books.  When I can download books from my local library, share books with friends and family, then ebooks will become a must have for me.  If Amazon or B&N won’t offer this, chances are we’re just a cool app away from it.  Whoops, the iPad lust is showing through again.

AT&T <3's Windows 7 phones

This week we learned that AT&T will be the premiere carrier for Windows 7 phones (am I the only one that thinks there was some high-fiving going on in Redmond after getting AT&T on the hook?).  Our Natesh Sood reports, “a spokeswoman from AT&T said, “We’ll be the premier carrier for Windows Phone 7” in an email to PC World.  No word on how many devices AT&T plans on selling when WP7 launches in the fall, but Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg said AT&T signed up to sell 8 million smartphones.” 8 million Windows 7 phones huh?  Put another way, AT&T signed up for selling as many Windows 7 phones in a year as they sell iPhones in one quarter.  Despite that, 8 million is a tall order.  How can AT&T be so confident they’ll move that many? Maybe it was a snub to Verizon who many blame for the botched KIN from Microsoft?  I am not sure what the title “premiere” entitles a carrier too, but if it is anything like we’ve seen in the past from Windows licenses, we’ll see a bunch of inane names for phones being launched on multiple carriers with slight cosmetic changes. The question quickly becomes, why would anyone choose a Windows Mobile, whoops, I mean Windows 7 phone?  Loyalty, most likely, has gone out the window as most customers ditched Windows Mobile 6 devices at least a year ago.  iPhone and Android hype has infected us all and Microsoft needs more than a Zune-like competitor here.  Folks waiting on Windows 7 device must number in the tens of, well, just tens. Have more examples of companies acting like they may need some rehab?  Let us know in the comments.