Welcome to another edition of the Good E-Reader Week in Review. Over the last week in E-Reader and Slate PC news, things have not boded well for the slate industry. Both the HP Slate and Microsoft Courier have been announced as cancelled, while the former might see the light of day with a new operating system. International Dates of the Kobo E-Reader have been announced and many more items of note, including a rather large merger.
If you would like to read more on a particular news item, please click on the title of the article in question to read more.
Microsoft officially announced the disillusion of the eagerly anticipated Microsoft Courier! The Courier was a dual screen tablet device, functioning on the Windows 7 Operating System.
A few sparse number of videos and pictures made appearances over the last year of the Courier Development. Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer informed the Microsoft Courier Development team late Wednesday that the Courier project was scrapped.
We may see the Courier in another iteration as Microsoft did say during its press release that some aspects of the Courier may be seen in a future device.
Many people were looking forward to the Microsoft Slate as a viable alternative to the Apple iPad.
HP Acquires Palm for 1.2 Billion
After stock markets closed late Wednesday, HP has purchased Palm for 1.2 Billion Dollars. Many people are speculating that this was a grab for Palms highly touted WebOS. HP has long been saying it will use software to differentiate its products. Now it actually can. Owning and controlling its own OS has many benefits, starting with being able to dictate who can make applications, when the product is updated, and ensuring that the hardware and software work together as seamlessly as possible. Going with the proprietary OS will shield it from potential lawsuits or necessary licensing deals with Apple or Microsoft.. They also get exclusive access to around two thousand existing applications from the WebOS.
This acquisition gives HP a new operating system for its struggling mobile phone line, and a new operating system for the HP Slate.
HP has admitted to a dedicated amount of money pumped into palms research and development.
HP Slate Delayed and ditches Windows 7 Operating System.
The HP slate is officially off the July 16 release date, and is scrapping the Windows 7 operating system for the slate.
With the recent Palm acquisition, many insiders are speculating that HP may use the Palm WebOS for the Slate, as it is more indicative to mobile devices, rather than Windows 7.
This was a strong blow to Windows 7 as a core operating system for Mobile devices, as both the Courier and Slate were both using it for their devices.
Not only is the operating system a prime factor for the delay, but both the CPU processor they are using is to intensive , the device only had 1 GIG of Ram and the battery only lasted 6 hours of constant use.
Recently we conducted an interview with the CEO of Fusion Garage, Chandra Rathakrishnan about the JooJoo Slate, which is available in the May issue of the Good E-Reader Magazine.
We have also conducted an extensive review of the Slate device, so if you are in the neighbourhood for a Slate PC that is a strong alternative to the Apple I-Pad check the review out.
Amazon Reports strong Quarterly Results, but Barnes and Noble sells more E-Readers
Amazon has released its annual report and is up around 63% of where it was last year. This boost in the stock was not just reliant on the Kindle Sales like it has been previous years, but sees strong gains in its market place, book sales, and recently acquired Zappos Shoe store.
Barnes and Noble surprised everyone, out of the 1.4 million electronic readers sold in the first quarter of 2010, the Nook sold 53% of the entire market. Barnes and Noble has been very busy with the Nook this year, getting it in Bestbuy Stores, new television commercials and news of two new e-readers coming out later this year. They also, released new firmware for the Nook that allows people to browse the web, play games and more.
Amazon firmware 2.5 announced for May 17th
Amazon announced new firmware for mid may, that is applicable to the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. This new update will allow you to tweet, or update your Facebook status messages with passages from books. This update also allows you to organize categories better, faster page turns, enhancements for PDF viewing and more.
Kobo E-Reader International Dates Announced
The Kobo E-Reader has been getting a ton of press lately because of its low entry level price of 159.99, but its strong backing of Indigo and Boarders. The Kobo is a great alternative to higher priced e-readers with lots of features. While the Kobo may be bare bones, it should gain significantly by its strong retail presence. One of the more redeeming qualities, is that you can use downloaded Kobo books on alternative media, such as Iphones, PCS, Blackberries and others.
We should see the Kobo in Indigo stores in Canada this Weekend, later on in the month for Boarders Locations in the US, and the end of may for Australia and New Zealand. International customers will enjoy access to over a million books to be downloaded.
A few new slate devices were announced this week such as the Archos 5 Tablet PC and the Archos 9 tablet PC. The 5 runs Google android and the 9 runs windows 7, so there is still some hope for Windows 7 in a slate PC.
A new E-Reader of ungodly ugliness was released named the Sovos E-Reader. It utilizes a special Easyread color TFT screen to not only allow you to read books, but you can view photos (JPG & BMP) and watch videos (WMA). You can even listen to music on this device in MP3 format. It has a 5″ display with 1GB of internal memory, an USB 2.0 Slot, and integrated voice recorder function. Battery life on Ebook playback is 7 hours, video 5 hours, and 30 hours listening to music.
If you live in the Holyland, there is more to celebrate with the iPad’s allowed into Israel . There was a small embargo on the importing of the device. The main reason it was banned was because of Apple’s Israeli distributor, iDigital, is run by Chemi Peres, the entrepreneurial son of Israeli President Shimon Peres. Clearly, iDigital wants its lucrative cut of every iPad brought into the country — which it will undoubtedly receive when a modified European version of the iPad is approved for import over the next two or three months.
BenQ and True Digital formed a giant partnership to take over the Thailand market. BENQ is a leading technology developer and is releasing two new e-readers, and True Digital is a media company who is responsible for the E-Book store. Currently the store only has a thousand books, but they are running the Good E-Reader subscription model for users to download books. Memberships give you access to download up to 40 books a month, and just buying the device gives you credits for up to 100 books.
For more news that gives you a break down of the most news worthy topics of the month subscribe to our Good E-Reader Electronic Magazine! The first issue is only $1.99 and gives you an all access passport to the exciting world of good ebooks, e-readers and slate PCS. We also have exclusive interviews with CEOS of major Slate PC and E-Reade companies to give you the skinny on the latest news, right from the horses mouth.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
