Linked List: July 28, 2010

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Smartest piece written yet on Antennagate? This one, by Watts Martin.

New Amazon Kindles: $139 Wi-Fi-Only Version and $189 3G Model ★

Now with a dark shell, like the new DX, which helps make the screen background look more like white. The pricing is aggressive, and Amazon seems committed to focusing on the e-reading market, not the tablet computing (or at this point, should we say pad computing?) market.

Walt Mossberg Reviews New Samsung Galaxy S Android Phones ★

Walt Mossberg:

I’ve been testing the first two Galaxy S phones, the T-Mobile Vibrant and the AT&T Captivate, both of which cost $200 with a two-year contract. Neither has all the features of Apple’s latest model, like a front-facing camera for video calls or an ultra–high resolution screen, but they are worthy competitors. They have some attributes the iPhone lacks, like bigger screens and better integration of social networking.

They sound like good — maybe the best? — Android phones. What I find interesting is that “Galaxy S” is Samsung’s branding, but the phones aren’t called that. Each carrier gives them their own names. How many real people will know that the T-Mobile Vibrant and AT&T Captivate are pretty much the same phone from different carriers? And “Android” doesn’t get mentioned at all. The word “Android” doesn’t get much play from the carriers, either. There’s just one mention of “Android” on AT&T’s web page for the Captivate, and it’s near the bottom in the small print section.

Sprint Evo Ad in Sports Illustrated’s iPad App ★

Specifically targets iPad owners: “Hello, iPad. Meet Evo, the first 4G phone.” Update: As Jason Snell pointed out on Twitter, they make a point of promoting the Evo’s on-the-fly Wi-Fi hotspot feature — something that pairs well with a non-3G iPad, and that the iPhone doesn’t offer.

Time Inc. Frustrated by Apple Over iPad Subscription Issue ★

Peter Kafka on Time Inc.’s frustrations with the Sports Illustrated iPad app:

Last month, the publisher was set to launch a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple’s iTunes but would pay Time Inc. directly. But Apple rejected the app at the last minute, forcing the Time Warner unit to sell single copies, using iTunes as a middleman, multiple sources tell me.

The problem is not as simple as Apple not allowing third-party publishers to bill users directly, without going through iTunes so that Apple gets a cut of the pie, because:

Confusing the issue even more is that Apple already allows a handful of app makers — like Amazon and the Wall Street Journal, which like this Web site is owned by News Corp. — to bill customers directly. Amazon itself, meanwhile, has been sparring with publishers over subscriptions for its Kindle platform. Jeff Bezos keeps most of the data and money that those transactions generate, too.

Here’s the difference, I think. With Amazon and the Wall Street Journal, users set up and create their accounts on the web, not within the iOS apps. The WSJ app requires a subscription that doesn’t go through iTunes, but you create, pay for, and manage that subscription on the web. Judging from Kafka’s description of the Sports Illustrated situation, it sounds like Time tried to add its own direct billing subscription system within the Sports Illustrated app itself.

(The Sports Illustrated iPad app is free, and from within the app, you can buy individual issues. Samples are free, most regular issues are $5.)

Anyway, the whole problem would just go away if Apple would spell out what the rules are for subscription publications.

Motorola Droid X Ad: ‘No Jacket Required’ ★

Smart ad from Motorola — the message is that the Droid X is better than the iPhone 4, but they didn’t have to mention the iPhone by name. Maybe the biggest downside for Apple with the free cases offer is that it creates the impression that the iPhone 4 needs a case.

LG Posts Record Handset Loss ★

Shinhye Kang and Seonjin Cha, reporting for Businessweek:

Losses from mobile phones totaled 120 billion won ($101 million) in the second quarter, compared with profit of 620 billion won a year earlier, Seoul-based LG said in a statement today. The loss, the division’s first in four years, was triple the size projected by the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

This shows the folly of thinking “market share” is a primary concern. LG sold over 30 million handsets in the quarter — up 2 percent over last year — but lost money because most of them were cheap low-profit models.

iMac or Mac Pro? ★

Marco Arment compares:

Today’s overdue Mac Pro update is a welcome change, but for a computer that’s so expensive, why not just get an iMac?

It’s a really good question.

Derek Powazek on Designing for iPad ★

Derek Powazek:

I never realized how much web terminology had crept into my vocabulary. An iPad app doesn’t have pages, it has screens or views. You don’t click, you tap. You don’t scroll, you swipe. I spent much of our early meetings stumbling over my own words just to communicate the basics.

Safari Extensions Gallery ★

Coincides with the release of Safari 5.0.1, which is now available through Software Update.