The latest from TechCrunch
- Postcards Go Virtual With SwingVine Gallery For The iPhone
- Bezos On iPad: "You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets."
- So Is The iPhone An "iPhone Killer" Killer?
| Postcards Go Virtual With SwingVine Gallery For The iPhone | Top |
| People don’t send postcards anymore. Why bother when you can photo MMS a friend? Attempting to restore some of the social experience behind photography, SwingVine has created SwingVine Gallery an app that attempts to bring back some of the mystique and enjoyment of social photo sharing. Using your iPhone’s camera and GPS, the SwingVine Gallery app allows you to send a photo to a friend “secretly,” which they are unable to see unless they also participate by sending a photo back, sort of like a mobile game of photo tag. While both the idea and the app interface are simple, SwingVine gallery does have its appeal, as it’s pretty hard to resist wanting to see whatever photo postcard is under wraps. I genuinely felt a level of excitement as I waited for my “secret” postcard to be revealed (It was, of course, a photo of the Eiffel Tower). The app, expected to arrive in the app store within the next 24 hours, also functions as a photo album, with all the secret photos you receive being saved alongside your own personal photos. “Our goal is capturing people’s lives visually” says co-founder Ling Bao. For those that can’t wait until it drops, you can try out the feature on the web here. CrunchBase Information SwingVine Inc. Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Bezos On iPad: "You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets." | Top |
| Amazon’s Kindle has always been an interesting device to me. When I first heard about it in late 2007, I was sure I wouldn’t want one. It was awkward looking and at $399, way too expensive. But when the second iteration came in 2009 with a sleeker look, I decided to buy one to see what all the fuss was about. I quickly learned to love it. That said, I still didn’t see any real future for such a product. At $359, it was still absurdly expensive. And with all the rumors swirling about Apple’s impending tablet device, it seemed like it was a temporary niche product, at best. But on the eve of the unveiling of the third iteration of the device , Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is making things more interesting. Specifically, Bezos seems to understand that he cannot compete with the iPad. And he doesn’t want to. “ Mr. Bezos said he intentionally left off some potential whiz-bang features from the new Kindle, like color and touch-screen controls, that would have introduced compromises to the reading experience such as glare ,” the Wall Street Journal reports . “ There are going to be 100 companies making LCD [screen] tablets. Why would we want to be 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution ,” he continues. Whether you believe that or not, it goes against reports from last year that Amazon was trying to figure out how best to compete against more advanced tablets by offering features such as color screens. Bezos even said that they had them in the laboratory to test out. But he also said that they weren’t ready for prime time, so color Kindles were at least a few years away. But his new statements seems to indicate that Amazon may never go in that direction with the Kindle. If their goal is just to focus on making the best reading device, why go with color and video, is his reasoning. Here’s his killer quote from the WSJ piece: For the vast majority of books, adding video and animation is not going to be helpful. It is distracting rather than enhancing. You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets. That’s a smart position to take — for now. From a consumer hardware perspective, Amazon was never going to be able to compete with Apple — they simple lack the experience. So instead, Amazon is going to forge ahead with this dedicated device in hopes that it will catch on with mainstream consumers before the more expensive tablets do. Naturally, the key to all of this is the price. The new Kindle will come in two flavors: a 3G one for $189 and a WiFi one for $139. The latter price is almost a full third less than the original Kindle was. It’s also a much, much cheaper than the entry-level iPad at $499. $99 still seems like the ultimate sweet-spot for the Kindle, but it’s hard to argue with $139. The problem here is that I’m not convinced Amazon really wanted to go that low. Remember that it was only hours after Barnes & Noble announced their Nook would be $199 (and $149 for the WiFi version) that Amazon dropped their price from $259 all the way down to $189 — exactly $10 cheaper. Undoubtedly, Amazon has lowered the costs associated with the making the Kindle over the past three years, but $399 to $189 is pretty dramatic. Everyone felt the Kindle was far too expensive at $399 or $359 but Amazon still resisted the pressure to lower the price quickly. The reason? They had complete control of the market — they didn’t have to. It was only when the Nook, Border’s Kobo, and the iPad came out that the prices truly started to fall fast. So the question now: is Amazon making any money on selling these devices? Some may think that doesn’t matter because they’re Amazon’s way to move their content (pretty much the anti-Apple approach ). But as Bezos points out, the Kindle store and the Kindle hardware are completely separate entities within Amazon. “ Internally, we view them as two stand-alone businesses that have to succeed on their own merits ,” he tells WSJ. Can selling the Kindle hardware at such a low price fulfill that? The larger problem remains for Amazon as well. While the Kindle is undoubtedly easier on the eyes than reading with the backlit iPad, the wide range of things that the iPad and other tablets can do will eventually win the day . Amazon’s price cuts have extended that day quite a bit, but it’s still inevitable. So is Amazon content to rule the space for a couple of years while not making a lot of money on devices? Or is Bezos simply bluffing on Amazon’s future Kindle aspirations? Also, does anyone really think Hemingway would have been pleased with his work on a Kindle? [ image via ] CrunchBase Information Amazon Kindle 2 iPad Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| So Is The iPhone An "iPhone Killer" Killer? | Top |
| This morning, Reuters published this article . On their site, it seems fairly innocuous, with the title “ RIM stock jumps as market eyes revamped BlackBerry ” but that wasn’t the original title. And it’s not the one Reuters syndication partners are picking up. That title is “RIM seen unveiling ‘iPhone killer’ next week “. Yep. Here we go again. If Reuters is to be believed, the BlackBerry 9800 set to be unveiled next Tuesday will destroy the iPhone. I’m not sure how yet. But it just will. Nevermind the fact that it’s at least the tenth or so phone to earn such a moniker — and the iPhone is not only still alive, but thriving — it just will. Now look, generally I don’t have a major problem with declaring something a “XXXXX-killer” in headlines. Sure, it’s lazy, but it’s also an easy way to get readers to understand what a product is attempting to be. And it’s a hell of a lot sexier than saying something is a “XXXXX competitor.” That’s boring (and longer, to boot). The problem with the term “iPhone killer” is that it has lost all meaning. Crying it has become the modern day equivalent of crying “wolf”. The G1 was an iPhone killer. The BlackBerry Storm was an iPhone killer. The Palm Pre was an iPhone killer. The Nexus One was an iPhone killer. The list goes on. All of those devices are now dead or dying. Sure, you could argue that the various iterations of the iPhone are all different so the original iPhone is now dead too. But the key is that it wasn’t any of the aforementioned devices that killed it — it was Apple. It was simply the natural product cycle that killed the older iPhones, not a competitor. And the iPhone hasn’t yet killed any competitor either — or at least not directly. You could argue that the device has had a hand in the death (by sale) of the Palm Pre, as well as the struggles that Nokia, and now LG are having in the smartphone space. But the larger point is that the entire space is growing so quickly that it would be nearly impossible for one device to actual kill off another one. Instead, it’s poor decisions and execution by the company in charge that kill the devices (see: Microsoft Kin). And specifically with “iPhone killers,” there’s a problem because while they may be created with the intention of competing with the iPhone, most actually don’t from the outset. Apple has a unique way of doing things where they control the hardware and the software for their devices. Most companies don’t (though BlackBerry parent RIM does), so instead they end up competing with one another. People buy the iPhone because they want the full hardware plus software experience and access to the contained Apple ecosystem. People buy the “iPhone killers” for other reasons. Some because they are cheaper. Some because they have have physical keyboards. Some because they are more open. Those products aren’t competing with (or “killing”) the iPhone because Apple doesn’t offer any of those things. So perhaps it would be better to label “iPhone killers” as “killers of iPhone killers” — or, even sexier, “iPhone killer killer.” The fundamental question here: is the BlackBerry 9800 going to kill the iPhone? No. Is it going to hurt the sales of the iPhone? Probably not. Is it going to be a popular device? Probably, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone. Yesterday, I noted that the mouse was going to die . But if you read those posts carefully, I didn’t say the Magic Trackpad (or any single device, for that matter) was going to kill it. Instead, it’s a combination of new devices and time that will kill it. The same is true for the iPhone. One day it will die. But the killer holding the knife will be Apple — either because they’ve mismanaged the product, or because they’ve moved on to something else. [image: Lions Gate Films] CrunchBase Information iPhone Apple Research In Motion Information provided by CrunchBase | |
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