Citing an unnamed Apple store manager in Souther California, Daryl Deino of The Examiner reported Tuesday evening that the definitive release date has not yet been determined, but the March 26 date is « very likely. » As was announced at its unveiling, the 3G-enabled models will arrive about a month later.

And while employees will be trained starting March 10, commercials will allegedly begin to air on TV starting March 15. Those TV spots are expected to emphasize the e-book capabilities of the device.

Finally, the report claimed that those who camp out for the iPad will receive a « special gift. »

If accurate, the report would suggest that an alleged « manufacturing bottleneck » will not delay the launch of Apple’s new multi-touch device. However, initial supplies could still be constrained, as rumors of an « unspecified production problem » have surfaced from Apple’s manufacturing partner, Foxconn.

Initial demand for the iPad is predicted to be strong, with most analysts on Wall Street forecasting first-year sales of between 1 million and 5 million.

Via AppleInsider

There was a great deal of hubbub in the Open Source and Free Software community last week caused by the recently sealed agreement between Amazon and Microsoft to cross-license patents related to Amazon’s use of Linux in its Kindle device as well as the servers that run the Internet retailer’s server and software infrastructure. The deal was for an undisclosed amount and the exact details of what it covers remains completely secret.

Let us examine the pickle that Amazon is in today, and bring it to its logical conclusion.

Amazon is currently the US market leader in electronic books with its $259.00 dedicated and proprietary Kindle 2 and $389.00 Kindle DX ebook readers, which are the most recent iterations of the product that has been shipping for just over two years. To date, Amazon has not disclosed sales figures for the devices, but have claimed high volume shipments of the unit as well as ebook sales which were significant in contributing to Amazon’s bottom line in book sales during 2009.

All of this is about to be threatened by Apple’s iPad, which is expected to be available for sale in major retail outlets and direct from Apple’s web site during the 2nd quarter of 2010. Like $489.00 Kindle DX, which has a similar 9.7-inch screen form factor, the 10.1-inch $499.00 iPad in its basic configuration will also have its own instant gratification e-book store with titles from major publishing houses.

However, although the two devices are priced similarly, the iPad will have the distinction of having a color IPS LCD touchscreen (the Kindle uses Vizplex e-Ink, a grayscreen technology with slow refresh rates but very power efficient) a powerful general-purpose processor, multimedia capabilities, roughly 5x the amount of user storage, true PC-class web browsing, high speed Wireless-N networking and access to all of the 140,000+ iPhone applications residing on Apple’s App Store, along with all the software developers to go with it.

Amazon has only recently began fielding initial developers for the Kindle, which uses a proprietary application architecture running on a underpowered embedded Linux OS using Java. The Kindle’s design is more similar to that of a micro controller whereas the iPad is a full blown general-purpose computer with many times the horsepower, so the applications for it would only be very limited in capability by comparison.

What is Amazon to do in order to compete with the iPad? Well, there are several possible paths. One would be to create a much more powerful, next-generation Kindle device using available technologies such as transflective screens and more powerful embedded CPUs such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon or Texas Instruments OMAP 36xx series, the very same type of chips used in today’s most powerful smartphones. However, it would still require a sophisticated OS at the core of such a device.

To compete with the rich applications and content on the iPad, Amazon’s custom Linux and Java UI implementation won’t cut it. Amazon is a wealthy company but it doesn’t have the programming resources of a Google which can build something as sophisticated as Android, which runs on the Nexus One and Verizon Droid smartphones, as well as on Barnes & Noble’s Nook ebook reader unit.

Amazon could indeed have pursued an Android-based iPad competitor such as with the upcoming Dell Mini 5. However, if the company really wanted to go the Open Source route with its products and open its kimono and use a system like Android, it would have already done so. Linux on the Kindle was simply a means to an end to launch an initial product, and not a long-term strategy.

Without Android and without the ability to build a compelling OS for developers to build applications for, there’s very little else out there that can stave away the Cupertino giant. Oh sure, there’s stuff out there like MeeGo for Netbooks and other devices that is trying to get off the ground in terms of market share, but there’s no point in buying into something that when Android is already going to control the balance of the Linux device marketplace.

Amazon is not going to participate in the Open Source community and is the antithesis of Google. It wants something closed but with a rich application environment. It wants its cake and to be able to eat it. Just like Apple.

That application environment is the recently announced Windows 7 Phone Series, known previously as Windows CE and Windows Mobile. And it’s already got the mobile world buzzing for its compelling UI and fresh take on mobile applications.

Imagine a Windows 7 Phone Series device scaled up to a 10.1 inch screen, with Wireless-N networking, Microsoft’s Zune/Amazon MP3 music service, Kindle’s e-book store and the Microsoft’s developer base behind it. A synthesis of the world’s largest Internet retailer, ebook reseller and the world’s largest software company.

Back in May of 2009 I called this theoretical device the ZuneBook. I’m now going to call it the “Kindle TNG, powered by Windows 7 Mobile”.

In addition to moving Kindle to Windows in a strategic partnership with Microsoft, there is also the issue of Amazon’s cloud initiative. Right now, Amazon uses the Open Source Xen hypervisor on Linux to run its EC2 infrastructure.

Only recently has Amazon been able to provide support for Windows guests on that infrastructure. However, the ideal hypervisor and rapid provisioning required at the scale Amazon is going to deploy Windows on for their cloud hosting customers given any strategic relationship with Microsoft would have to be Hyper-V, using Microsoft’s System Center Virtual Machine Manager or Citrix’s Essentials for Hyper-V.

Are there clues afoot that Amazon is cozying up to Microsoft beyond just “Patent licensing?”

Via ZdNet

Steve Jobs is quoted in a press release saying: “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” The lawsuit itself is not available yet online. We’ve asked Apple for a copy.

The lawsuit could be a way to go after Android, although Android is not mentioned in the press release. HTC manufactures some of the most successful Android handsets, from the first G1 up to the latest Nexus One. HTC’s touchscreen Android phones are the most similar to the iPhone. If that is the case, the lawsuit is a shot across Android’s bow and a warning to all Android manufacturers.

This is not the first time Apple has gone after a mobile phone competitor. It is involved in similar patent litigation with Nokia. That lawsuit is more about Apple trying to get Nokia to license its patents. And the HTC suit may have the same motivation.

But the fact that the lawsuit was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) as well as in a U.S. District Court in Delaware suggests that Apple is really going for the jugular. “The ITC does not award damages,” says Peter Toren, a patent lawyer with New York City law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. The only remedy the ITC can award is an order to stop the importation of the infringing product. HTC is based in Taiwan.

Apple thinks it owns the concept of the touchscreen Web phone and it wants other cell phone makers to pay for copying the iPhone or to stop altogether. Who will Apple sue next? Motorola? Palm? Research in Motion?

Via TechCrunch

This week, The New York Times provided a breakdown on the economics of producing a book from the publisher’s perspective. It noted that while printing costs go away when a book is reproduced in an electronic format, a number of expenses remain, including royalties and marketing.

The report said that while the average hardcover bestseller is $26, the cost to print, store and ship the book is just $3.25. That cost also includes unsold copies returned to the publisher by booksellers.

Publishers get roughly half — $13 — of the selling price of a book. But after factoring in payments to the author and the cost of cover design and copy editing, only about $4.05 is left. And, the report noted, that doesn’t even include overhead such as office space and electricity.

Under Apple’s agreement with publishers for the iBookstore, the hardware maker will keep 30 percent of each book sale, leaving $9.09 for the publisher on a typical $12.99 e-book.

« Out of that gross revenue, the publisher pays about 50 cents to convert the text to a digital file, typeset it in digital form and copy-edit it, » the report said. « Marketing is about 78 cents. »

Author’s royalty can range from $2.27 to $3.25 on an e-book, leaving the publisher with between $4.56 and $4.54, before paying overhead costs. For comparison, under Amazon’s $9.99 e-book model, publishers would take in between $3.51 and $4.26 before overhead.

« At a glance, it appears the e-book is more profitable, » the report said. « But publishers point out that e-books still represent a small sliver of total sales, from 3 to 5 percent. If e-book sales start to replace some hardcover sales, the publishers say, they will still have many of the fixed costs associated with print editions, like warehouse space, but they will be spread among fewer print copies. »

Publishers are also wary of making e-books too cheap for fear of killing off booksellers like Barnes & Noble.

Apple will serve books for the iPad through its iBookstore, due to be a part of the iBooks application for iPad. The software features a 3D virtual bookshelf displaying a user’s personal collection, and allows the purchase of new content from major publishers. Like the Kindle, it will offer content from the New York Times Bestsellers list.

The introduction of the iPad has driven publishers to force Amazon into higher prices for new hardcover bestsellers. While books are currently priced at $9.99 on the Kindle, that is expected to rise to between $12.99 and $14.99 by the time the iPad launches later this month.

The charge was led by Macmillan, which was followed soon after by Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins in renegotiating with Amazon.

Last week it was revealed that Amazon frantically phoned publishers as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs gave his keynote introducing the iPad in July.

While publishers had their way and Amazon reluctantly agreed to higher prices, not every bestseller will carry the new, higher premium price. It has been said that while higher prices are an option for publishers, and most new titles will be between $12.99 and $14.99, publishers can also choose to lower prices on select titles.

Via AppleInsider

Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley maintains that the biggest barrier to greater iPhone adoption is the cost of the hardware, followed by the service plan. The investment in the device has been its biggest issue in both developed markets like the U.S. and emerging ones like China.

But Huberty expects Apple to address that in June, by introducing a new model that will be economically friendly to even more consumers.

« We expect Apple to launch new iPhones in June that offer both a lower total cost of ownership and new functionality, potentially including gesture-based technology, » she wrote in a new note to investors Friday.

In 2009, when Apple introduced the new iPhone 3GS, the company also dropped the price of the previous year’s iPhone 3G to $99. However, despite the lower price point, the high end iPhone 3GS was still the most popular option for consumers.

In addition to lower cost of ownership for the iPhone, Huberty remains bullish on AAPL stock because of the forthcoming iPad launch in March. Here she is particularly optimistic, projecting shipments of 6 million devices in the 2010 calendar year, versus Wall Street’s average projections of 3 million to 4 million.

« We expect Apple to ship its first iPad and announce additional content deals in late March to better than expected demand, » Huberty wrote. « We see the iPad targeting the sub-$800 consumer notebook market which equates to 30M annual units just in the US (120M globally. »

Morgan Stanley has maintained its « overweight » rating for AAPL stock, with a price target of $250.

In the past, Huberty was notoriously negative on AAPL stock, suggesting the iPhone was too expensive even at a $199 price point. In late 2008, she predicted that iPhone sales would suffer because Apple had priced the product too high.

But last year, Huberty turned positive on Apple, stating that the company had become the « clear leader in the battle over the mobile Internet. »

From AppleInsider