Amazon to launch touchscreen tablet, report says

(CNN) -- Amazon, the online retailer that ignited demand for electronic readers with its Kindle, might be entering the increasingly crowded tablet computer market.

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Amazon will introduce a color touchscreen tablet before October that will compete with Apple's popular iPad and other similar devices.

People familiar with the product told the Journal that it will have a 9-inch screen and run on Google's Android operating system. It won't have a camera, they said.

The device will go beyond the Kindle in allowing customers to play movies, music and other content -- books, too -- downloaded from Amazon.com, the Journal reported. Amazon reportedly isn't developing the product itself, unlike the Kindle, but instead will outsource production to an Asian manufacturer.

Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment.

Rumors about Amazon making a tablet have been swirling for almost a year. Some reports have said the Seattle-based company is partnering with South Korean manufacturer Samsung, which will build the device.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hasn't exactly doused the speculation. Asked by Consumer Reports in May about the possibility of Amazon launching a multipurpose tablet device, Bezos said to stay tuned.

Reaction was swift Wednesday afternoon in the blogosphere, which seemed to accept the Journal report as fact.

"The lack of a camera is disappointing, but it may be a sign that Amazon is positioning its tablet as more of a competitor to Barnes and Noble's wildly successful Nook Color, a hybrid tablet/e-reader that retails for just $250," wrote Devindra Hardawar in VentureBeat.

"The fall is going to be very interesting. There's a reason Apple wants to get another iPad out there before the end of the year," TechCrunch's MG Siegler wrote on his personal blog.

Wednesday's Journal report also said Amazon will also release two updated versions of its Kindle e-reader in the third quarter of this year: a touch-screen device and an improved but cheaper adaptation of the current Kindle.

Apple's iOS operating system beats main rival Google Android in online security rankings

(Daily Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2009583/Apples-iOS-operating-beats-main-rival-Google-Android-online-security-rankings.html?ITO=1490) Apple's iOS mobile operating system is more secure against hackers and other online threats than its main rival, Google's Android, a new study has found. And both are more secure than PCs.

Chief among the findings from computer security specialist Symantec is that while the most popular mobile platforms in use today were designed with security in mind, these provisions are not always sufficient.
The iPhone developed by Apple is limited to running software that is Apple approved, which may be frustrating but has security benefits

Safety first: The iPhone developed by Apple is limited to running software that is Apple approved, which may be frustrating but has security benefits

Siân John, Symantec's UK security strategist, said that both Apple i devices and Android phones are open to many established attacks even though 'mobile devices have more security baked in'

But the security features of Apple’s software, which powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, are better implemented than those of Android.

Complicating matters, today's mobile devices are increasingly being connected to and synchronized with third party and desktop-based services


* Smartphone and laptop users who connect to Wi-Fi in public 'risk having their credit card details stolen'
* A gadget James Bond would be proud of: Motorola mobile is the first smartphone to operate using fingerprint recognition

While offering improved security over traditional desktop-based operating systems, both iOS and Android are still vulnerable to many existing categories of attacks.

iOS's security model offers strong protection against traditional malware, primarily due to Apple's rigorous app certification process and their developer certification process, which vets the identity of each software author and weeds out attackers.

Google, which owns and helped develop the Andoid operating system, has opted for a less rigorous certification model, permitting any software developer to create and release apps anonymously, without inspection.

This lack of certification has arguably led to today's increasing volume of Android-specific malware.
Android-based mobile phone

Rival: The Android-based mobile phone strengthened Google's hand in the growing smartphone market, but the open approach to software development can cause security problems

Users of both Android and iOS devices regularly synchronize their devices with third-party cloud services such as web-based calendars and with their home desktop computers.

This can expose sensitive business data stored on these devices to outsiders.

So-called 'jailbroken' devices, which have Apple's systems bypassed so as to run non-vetted software or devices whose security has been disabled, offer attractive targets for attackers since these devices are every bit as vulnerable as traditional PCs.

John added: 'The main danger still comes from people leaving devices on a train or on the back seat of a taxi rather than malware, but that's not to say malware isn't a problem.'

Carey Nachenberg Chief Architect at Symantec Security Technology and Response said: 'While more secure than traditional PCs, these platforms are still vulnerable to many traditional attacks.

'Moreover, enterprise employees are increasingly using unmanaged, personal devices to access sensitive enterprise resources, and then connecting these devices to thirrd-party services outside of the governance of the enterprise, potentially exposing key assets to attackers.'

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More Americans buying e-readers than tablets, study says

(CNN) -- Ads touting Apple's iPad seem to be everywhere, but e-readers such as Amazon.com's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook are actually more popular with consumers, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Last winter, tablets had a slight market lead. According to Pew, as of that time, 7% of U.S. adults owned a tablet computer (such as the iPad or Motorola Mobility's Xoom), while only 6% owned an e-reader device.

But that picture soon changed drastically. By May, 12% of U.S. adults owned an e-reader, while tablet ownership expanded only to 8%. (Note: the margin of error on this survey is 2%, but that would not challenge the market lead of e-readers.)

This is not an either-or technology choice. Pew noted that 3% of adults own both devices. Specifically, 9% own an e-reader but not a tablet, and 5% own a tablet but not an e-reader.


Apple has sold more than 25 million iPads and has a dominant share of the tablet market. Amazon and Barnes & Noble don't disclose sales of their e-reader devices. Citi analyst Mark Mahaney forecasts that Amazon could sell 17.5 million Kindles in this year alone.

Who's buying e-readers? According to Pew, Hispanics (who appear to be leading other U.S. ethnic demographics generally in embracing mobile technology), adults under age 65, college graduates, parents, and people in households earning less than $75,000 per year are especially likely to own e-readers.

Also: "There was considerable growth in e-reader ownership between November 2010 and May 2011 among college graduates, one-fifth of whom now own these devices," Pew reports. This is interesting, since Insider Higher Ed, an industry trade publication, recently reported that after a slow start, the market for electronic college textbooks experienced a surge this spring.

Who's buying tablets? Pew reports that from November 2010 to May, the largest increases in tablet ownership have been among men, Hispanics, people with at least some college education and household incomes of $30,000 or more. But the very highest increases in tablet ownership were seen among Hispanic adults and households earning at least $75,000 annually.

Why are e-readers more popular than tablets?

Based on device specifications alone, tablets would seem to offer greater consumer appeal, since you can do far more with a tablet than an e-reader. A tablet is an e-reader plus a video screen plus a game player plus a web browser plus ... .

E-readers typically limit users to buying, downloading, reading and annotating books. Furthermore, most e-readers still feature a black-and-white e-ink display and lack touchscreens. (Though, the new Nook has the latter.)

But price may play a key role. Right now you can buy a brand new Amazon Kindle for as little as $114, with free Wi-Fi access -- and Amazon has reportedly hinted that some day the Kindle might be given away for free. You can get the simplest Barnes & Noble Nook for $139. (Can't decide? Consumer Reports gave the Nook slightly better marks than the Kindle.)

In contrast, the least expensive iPad 2 costs $499. If you want 3G data access, the entry-level model costs $629. (New or used first-generation iPads are sold for less.) Adding to the total price, two wireless carriers offer prepaid or month-to-month data services: Verizon's iPad data plans start at $20 a month; and AT&T's plans start at $15 a month.

The BlackBerry Playbook costs $499. Many Android tablets also sell for that price, although the Asus Eee Pad starts at $400.

There's a fuzzy line between e-readers and tablets. Most notably, the $249 Nook Color, which features a touchscreen, advanced Web browser and Wi-Fi chip, is actually a modified Android tablet. The blog Tech Republic explains how to hack the Nook Color to operate as a full-feature Android tablet.

Of course, second-hand, refurbished or older-model e-readers and tablets of all types are widely sold via eBay, Craigslist, and discount vendors for considerably lower prices.

E-readers and tablets are still very much emerging markets.

"Both e-book reader and tablet computer adoption levels among U.S. adults are still well below that of other tech devices that have been on the market longer," according to the Pew report. "Cell phones are far and away the most popular digital device among U.S. adults today, followed by desktop and laptop computers, DVRs, and MP3 players."

For some additional perspective on mobile technology, Pew writes: "This survey marks the first time that laptop computers are as popular as desktop computers."

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Amy Gahran.

iPhone accounts for two thirds of UK connected app users

(Guardian Tech) Should mobile app developers be putting more effort into porting their apps to Symbian smartphones? There's a large existing install base, and while Nokia is planning to phase out the OS over the next couple of years, the company claims it will sell another 150 million Symbian devices during that time.

New figures released by industry body the GSMA tell another story, however. According to its Mobile Media Metrics report, compiled together with comScore, Symbian accounted for just 1% of connected application users in the UK in April.

Apple's iOS took a 65% share, with Android accounting for 31%, and other platforms (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile/Phone, webOS and feature phones) taking a 3% share.

The analysis is based on the same principles as the research we reported on last week: comScore's data is based on apps that connect to the Internet over an operator network, so they don't include non-connected downloadable games. In other words, Symbian users who are downloading and playing games on their phones won't be counted for the purposes of this survey.

comScore provided Apps Blog with some separate figures from its MobiLens research, showing device market share for smartphones in the UK in April. According to those figures, 27.6% of smartphone users were on iPhone that month, 24.7% on Android, 23.6% on Symbian, 18.1% on BlackBerry and 3.8% on Windows Mobile or Windows Phone 7 devices.

Compare the two pieces of research, and you see iPhone is hugely over-indexing in terms of connected app usage, Android is doing pretty well, but Symbian – 23.6% of active smartphones but a mere 1% of connected app users – hardly presents an appealing prospect to developers making those connected apps.

Caveats? Just a few. The figures don't tell us much about the addressable market in the UK for people using non-connected apps. They don't tell us anything about countries elsewhere in the world where Symbian may be a more viable platform for these applications.

Meanwhile, we're puzzled at the poor share for BlackBerry given the popularity of mail and BBM messaging on RIM's devices – we suspect that these apps may not be registering with comScore due to the technical details of the BlackBerry platform.

Even so, when next wondering why so many developers appear to have iOS tunnel vision, the Mobile Media Metrics figures for the UK provide valuable context. To put it bluntly, according to these stats, there are more than 5.7 million iPhone owners using connected apps in the UK, versus 2.7 million Android users and 119,000 Symbian users.

It's not just about how many devices have been sold, but about how many of those people are actively downloading and using apps. And how many are willing to pay for them, of course, but that's another piece of research in the making.

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