Hasta La Gadget!

This week, Apple announced that iPods are in a nosedive. Meanwhile, we are seeing evidence that the Nano is about to get a camera. My response is “Why?” The old clickwheel iPod isn’t dead yet, but it’s definitely dying.

I have a 160GB Classic, as I thought I needed it. But with a 32GB iPhone, I end up leaving my iPod at home, even when traveling. I once had a fantasy that I’d sync a ton of video to it, to serve up. That fantasy was never realized, though, because these days it easy to just plug your laptop into a TV. I like having an iPod Touch in the house, however, because when my kid wants to watch videos, I’d rather give her that than my own phone. Besides, some apps like Sonos’ controller and Apple’s Remote are better suited to a device that lives in the living room. An iPod Touch with a camera makes sense, getting a step closer to the iPhone; it’s an equally intuitive device for people who want to keep clear of AT&T.

Put a camera in the Nano, and the opposite occurs: It becomes a mystery object, something unlike all other products in the universe, and not in a good way. It would be something to learn, with even more buried mystery functions than it has right now.

Let’s be honest, the Nano is built to play music. Video playback on that tiny screen is a joke, accelerometer or not, and I have never met a soul who actually stores calendars and contacts, or uses any other mini-app or game. Putting still more tech into the Nano is a mistake that companies other than Apple would make—sure, it will be “neat,” but it’s impractical and a waste of development.

The Classic is a different story, one of diminishing demand. Hard drive players are almost nowhere to be found, and there’s discussion of late that the 1.8″ hard drive is headed for extinction, because flash memory is finally cheap. I think Apple will still sell a Classic, at least until they can pop out 64GB flash iPod Touches for under $400, but I don’t think they’ll do anything to modify the current Classic in any meaningful way, and they certainly aren’t going to go all the way to 240GB, even though it’s possible.

If the Classic is justifiable for music library owners like me, but mostly a non-starter, the Nano’s raison d’etre is being a “value” option. It’s cheaper than the iPod Touch, which hovers at the $230 only to distance itself from the 16GB Nano, at $200. If Apple dipped that iTouch to $199, they’d sell fewer Nanos than they are selling now.

Screw the camera—what Apple should do is lower the Nano price even more. Samsung and SanDisk sell 8GB players for less than $100 now, and you can even find a few 16GB players in the $130 range. That’s $50 to $70 lower than what Apple charges, and nowadays, most of those devices will play anything you buy from iTunes—little or no manipulation required. Meanwhile, almost all PMP development from other companies is geared to building a cheap iTouch replacement, not a Nano clone.

As Apple itself declared during their earnings call, “We expect traditional MP3 players to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves” with iPhone and iPod Touch. They readily admit that iPod Touches sell like hotcakes while demand for clickwheel iPods has slackened. It’s just a puzzle that when these devices should be on life-support, Apple seems to be want to push them further. [iPod/iTunes]

Need more evidence that camera-equipped iPod Touch and iPod Nano units are in production? Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney has posted images of dozens of iPod cases produced in China, which appear to be designed for the next-generation Touch and Nano devices. Yes, they contain camera holes, corroborating previous rumor reports that the iPod Touch and Nano would gain cameras. Check out Cult of Mac’s gallery and your skepticism will gradually fade into non-existence.

See Also:

• Rumor Repeat: iPod Nano to Gain a Camera
• Rumor: iPods Nano and Touch to Gain Cameras
• Apple Preparing iPod Touch With Camera, Microphone: Source …

Photo: Cult of Mac

Electronic books reader manufacturer Plastic Logic announced Wednesday that it will offer wireless access in its upcoming devices through AT&T’s 3G network. The e-book reader expected to launch early next year will also have Wi-Fi connectivity.

“Built in 3G access adds mobility to the product and allows users access to books at all times, wherever they are,” Daren Benzi, vice president of business development at Plastic Logic told Wired.com

The move also positions Plastic Logic  squarely against Amazon’s Kindle e-reader that uses Sprint’s wireless connectivity for over-the-air book downloads and basic internet surfing.

Since Amazon launched the Kindle in 2007, the e-books reader market has taken off with more than 15 models of e-readers available today.  E-readers with 6-inch displays, such as those seen in the Kindle 2 or Sony Reader, are the most popular among consumers. But earlier this year, Amazon launched the Kindle DX with a 9.7-inch screen for $490.

Plastic Logic is targeting its e-readers at business users. The device is about 8.5 x 11 inch, the size of a large notepad, less than 0.25-inches thick and has a touchscreen interface. The company has not disclosed pricing for the product.

On Monday, book retailing giant Barnes & Noble said it will power the Plastic Logic devices through its new e-books store. Barnes & Noble’s e-book store will have more than 700,000 titles, compared to the 300,000 odd books that its closest rival Amazon has. And because of  the wireless capability of the Plastic Logic devices, the combination will be a completely integrated experience for consumers, says William Lynch, president of Barnes&Noble.com.

Lynch did not comment on whether Barnes & Noble would eventually sell Plastic Logic devices at its stores but said the e-book store partnership with the latter is not exclusive. “We are open to working with other manufacturers,” says Lynch.

The Plastic Logic Reader will offer users more than just newspapers, books and magazine content. It will support the document formats such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, some of which current e-readers cannot.

Plastic Logic is also counting on AT&T’s wide network of Wi-Fi hotspots to please its customers, says Benzi.

See Also:

• Plastic Logic E-Reader is Slimmer than Kindle DX
• Buying Guide: How to Choose an E-Book Reader
• World’s First Color E-Book Reader Goes on Sale
• Google Boosts E-Reader Status of Smartphones with Mobile Book

Photo: Plastic Logic Reader/Plastic Logic

more than 200 countries and regions. AT&T is also the nation’s largest Wi-Fi provider,

Whether you agree that Apple was justified in kicking Palm’s Pre out of its iTunes party doesn’t matter. Whether the Pre was in the kitchen chugging back tequila shots, or whether it was engaging in polite conversation with the host’s wife in the drawing room, the result is the same. It was a huge pain for Pre users.

Now, though, there is a third party workaround. Actually, there are a few, including DVD Jon’s DoubleTwist. But Salling’s Media Sync is a simple application which eschews the social aspects of DoubleTwist and just sends music, podcasts and photos to almost any USB connected device, including the Pre.

Media Sync sends photos from iPhone or Aperture and music and podcasts from iTunes. It also replicates the whole structure of playlists and the playcounts of individual songs. The only thing it won’t do is copy over DRM’d music, but if you ever bought copy protected music from iTunes that’s your own fault.

Media Sync, like DoubleTwist, is free and available for both OS X and Windows. There is also an upgrade fee so you can enjoy “faster syncing”.

Product page [Salling]

In a few months when best-selling author Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol hits Borders, chances are some customers will be stepping into the chain’s British stores to buy the e-book and a reader instead of the hardcover book.

Last week, Borders U.K. introduced a £189 ($276) e-book reader called Elonex. The Elonex will come pre-loaded with about 1,000 books and will support both the open-source ePub and proprietary Adobe formats. It will be “completely compatible” with the 45,000 odd e-books sold through the Borders website, says the company.

“Digital bookselling is still in its infancy but we believe it is here to stay,” says Peter Newbould, commercial director at Borders. “By launching the e-book reader, we hope to bring new customers into the market.”

Borders is not the only big chain store to embrace the e-book reader trend. Its biggest competitor Barnes & Noble is reportedly working on introducing an e-book reader of its own. And online, Amazon.com — which once called itself “Earth’s biggest bookstore” — has scored a hit with the most popular e-book reader to date, the Kindle, enabling it to generate an estimated $310 million in revenue.

“The big book stores are seeing Amazon take more and more market share of digital book sales,” says Sarah Rotman-Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research. “E-books are a small part of the market but it is one of the growth areas and retailers don’t want to stand back and let Amazon get ahead.”

Since Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, e-reader and e-books sales have exploded. In May, E Ink, which almost exclusively supplies the black-and-white displays that power most e-readers said more than a million readers use its technology. Though still a small percentage of overall book sales, e-books have been one of the fastest growing segments in the market. Book sales fell to $24.3 billion in 2008 from $25 billion the year before, e-book sales nearly doubled to $117 million in 2008 from $67 million, a year ago.

Borders U.K. hasn’t created its Elonex e-reader. Instead it is selling a device manufactured by Taiwanese company Netronix and re-branded by Elonex, a U.K.-based computer and IT services firm. Borders will also offer a discount coupon booklet on e-books for the Elonex e-reader customers. Earliers, Borders U.K. offered an e-book reader called iLiad for £399 ($555).

It’s a clever strategy to get a foothold in a growing market, says Forrester’s Epps. “Borders is smart to take advantage of an existing product that they can piggyback on to get a device into the market,” she says. “Developing your own device is very time consuming and expensive.”

The moves by Borders and in the future by Barnes & Nobles is also attempt to stave off a fate that music retail stores have faced as records went digital, says Epps. Still the transition is unlikely to be easy.

“It’s not a pretty picture right now for brick-and-mortar retailers,” says Epps. “E-books sales are growing but they can’t nearly bring in the same kind of revenue as physical books do,” she says.

Meanwhile, e-book readers promoted by big stores could also widen the gap between chain stores and independent book sellers who may not be able to offer an integrated e-book reading experience.

Survival is an issue for indie stores, agrees Stephanie Anderson, manager of a Brooklyn-based book store called Word. But she says stores like hers hold a few trump cards.

“A lot of what independent book stores are about is a place for people to go, meet authors and talk about what they are reading,” she says. ” For indies, the books are the most important thing but the community comes a close second.”

And then there are some books such as children’s books and cook books, says Anderson, where the paper counterparts are likely to outsell their digital namesakes. “You can drop those into the bathtub or spill some sauce on it without it going bust,” she says.

An e-reader may not be for everyone but Borders is hoping inexpensive e-book readers widely available in retail stores could tempt some skeptics such as Russ Marshalek, a freelance publicist. Marshalek doesn’t own a e-reader and says he is a strong supporter of indie stores. “I very consciously shop independent book stores,” he says, “and will drive out of my way to get to one.”

Yet Marshalek would be open to buying an e-reader that’s priced right, even if it comes from a Borders or a Barnes & Noble. Throw in a members discount for e-books bought from their store and Marshalek concedes he could be hooked.

“It could impact my impulse buy,” he says, “especially if they have in-store promotions and offers.”

See Also:

• Why E-Books Look So Ugly
• Why E-Books Are Stuck in a Black-and-White World
• Kindle Readers Ignite Protest Over E-Book Prices
• Buying Guide: How to Choose an E-Book Reader
• Next Up for E-book Readers: Social Networking, Online Sharing …

Photo: Borders Elonex E-Book Reader/Elonex