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Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-13-2012 03:57 PM
TnTexas wrote:Why the heck would B&N want to release a smartphone? Amazon I can see. They've got their fingers into ev.ery.thing. But B&N? Why? Makes no sense at all to me.
No sense to me either.
Personally, I would hate it, because B&N needs to apply resources to making their devices the best, not to simply making more of them. But after reading the article I don't think the blogger has any idea what he's talking about, so I don't think it's a big concern.
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Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-13-2012 06:02 PM - edited 07-13-2012 06:07 PM
Personally, I'm wondering if the Amazon Smartphone speculation is a misunderstanding of what Amazon's actually making, which is a Kindle Fire with a cell modem and a data plan.
I know a lot of folks were initially annoyed by the NC and NT not offering cellular modems for downloads anywhere. Those jets tended to cool a bit once folks realized that a tablet with a cell modem is not going to have free internet access anywhere, it's either going to have a data plan or the only app that can use the modem will be the shop.
Given the ingenuity of the modding community, that latter strikes me, at least, as close to impossible to implement successfully, so I think there'll be a data plan on the Amazon device - and if Amazon is working on a Fire with a modem, BN will need to do so as well.
A 7 inch tabl-o-phone, though? First, I hold it up to my head like a waffle, then later I want to use it for something but have to degrease and dehair the screen first?
I'm having a hard time seeing that as an appetizing use case. YMMV.
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-13-2012 06:09 PM
roustabout wrote:[...] Given the ingenuity of the modding community, that latter strikes me, at least, as close to impossible to implement successfully, so I think there'll be a data plan on the Amazon device - and if Amazon is working on a Fire with a modem, BN will need to do so as well.
Amazon is, I think, better positioned to offer such a feature as part of their Prime subscription. Perhaps some limited data plan for Prime subscribers. B&N does not, to the best of my knowledge, have an equivalent recurring subscription plan, so would incur the moans and groans of users if it's not free.
There have been many rumors of google providing ubiquitiou wifi and/or entering the mobile voice game. This may be an escallation in that direction.
Having said all that, I found the articles "we were wrong about this guy, but someone else did it!" tone amusing. I wonder if they invested in Friendster, MySpace or pets.com.
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-13-2012 06:45 PM
bobstro wrote:Amazon is, I think, better positioned to offer such a feature as part of their Prime subscription. Perhaps some limited data plan for Prime subscribers. B&N does not, to the best of my knowledge, have an equivalent recurring subscription plan, so would incur the moans and groans of users if it's not free.
If Amazon offered free 4G data (3G is good, but not enough for streaming video), even on a limited plan such as 2GB a month, to prime users, that would be a huge draw. I'd seriously consider getting a Fire and I have absolutely no need for a tablet.
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Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-13-2012 09:38 PM
roustabout wrote:A 7 inch tabl-o-phone, though? First, I hold it up to my head like a waffle, then later I want to use it for something but have to degrease and dehair the screen first?
I'm having a hard time seeing that as an appetizing use case. YMMV.
My tablet works fine with a wired or bluetooth headset. No need to get the screen all hairy.
As for this rumor, I wonder if it isn't simply about a new Microsoft phone. We already know that MSFT plans to feature a Nook app on their Win8 devices.
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-14-2012 12:28 AM
Sun_Cat wrote:My tablet works fine with a wired or bluetooth headset. No need to get the screen all hairy.
This may be more ominous for B&N (but good for us) with Google tabs hitting the market. Put 4G in there paired with Google Voice and you've got a data-only VoIP device that would obviate the need for cell service for a lot of users. The carrier will still make money on your data plan, but it is consistent with the convergence of services on IP we're already seeing.
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-14-2012 01:01 PM
From what I know, "4G data (3G is good, but not enough for streaming video), even on a limited plan such as 2GB a month" wouldn't be doable as free, even in the context of an 80/year Prime subscription.
"4G" service with even a miserly cap like 2G (and you'd blow through that very fast watching movies) retails for around 360/year, maybe there's a service with a 240/year plan that consumers can buy, but I don't know of one.
The big carriers are unlikely to give Amazon too much of a price break if Amazon itself wants to manage the contracts via Prime - the carriers want the individual subscribers, it's much better in their quarterly statements to say "we signed up another million retail customers" than it is to say "we signed up Amazon and gave them a volume discount."
So, if Prime costs 80, but Prime plus Fire4G costs 300 a year - is that still appealing?
(Since explaining to most consumers why their access to the faster network only works downtown but not at home, any of these plans are going to have to have both an EVDO and a secondary data connection available. Especially for Amazon, which has a very high bar to meet with customer expectations around ubiquitous network availability. I list the cell data feeds in that order because frankly, EVDO is more available in more areas from almost all the carriers right now than any of the 3.1 G technologies are.)
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-14-2012 03:18 PM
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-16-2012 01:54 PM
Take a look at this rumor!
Is the Free, No-Contract Smartphone Coming?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48198215
Re: Annual next device speculation!
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07-16-2012 02:20 PM
LOL, I think I'll stick with my expensive, ad-free phone. I have enough advertising in my life already.
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