Hasta La Gadget!

Believe it or not, but that whole e-book price fixing fiasco is still an ongoing issue for the Justice Department. New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer wishes it wasn’t however, he simply wants the DOJ to drop the case and walk away. In a lengthy (factually questionable) op-ed in the Wall Street Journal the distinguished gentleman from the great state of New York said that a successful suit against Apple (he didn’t bother to call out the others involved) would set the e-book industry back several years and allow Amazon to dominate the market unchallenged. He also makes a broader call for the administration to develop more clear guidelines for deciding what non-merger cases to pursue. Unfortunately, we have to point out, that his argument is undercut by some questionable data referenced in the editorial. According to Schumer Amazon once owned 90 percent of the e-book market — a number that, if true, most certainly predates the release of the Nook. This is followed by an insinuation that Apple all but single-handedly toppled the retail giant with the launch of iBooks, cutting Amazons market share to just 60 percent. While the latter number sounds about right we’d hesitate to lay responsibility for that 30 point drop entirely at Apple’s feet. To dig into Schumers op-ed yourself hit up the source link.

Senator Schumer calls on DOJ to drop e-book price-fixing suit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whether the possibility of an Amazon smartphone is growing any stronger or the Wall Street Journal just wants to prove it has sources too, the paper is saying parts suppliers are gearing up to build just such a device. According to the always informative unnamed sources, testing of a phone is underway, and mass production could start late this year or early next year. There’s still no revelations on what the software might be like or how the device could be sold, but the report does expand on Bloomberg’s initial revelations from last week by narrowing the possible size down to between 4- and 5-inches. Of course, if the rumors are correct then we’ll probably see a new Kindle Fire hit the streets first anyway, if it has any updated software to bring along then maybe we’ll have a better idea of what an Amazon phone could look like.

Filed under: Cellphones

WSJ chimes in on Amazon smartphone rumors, says 4- to 5-inch device is in testing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 02:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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