Barnes & Noble to launch iPad app
In a recent development Barnes & Noble, the largest book retailer in the United States confirmed that the firm will soon be adding an eReader application for Apple’s iPad to its book sales strategy.
The move will be a part of the company’s ongoing strategy to provide customers with a book at any time of the day and anywhere.
The application will be released around the time of iPad’s expected availability and will soon join the company’s growing list of free eReader software for most computing and mobile devices including PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and Blackberry.
According to the Director of corporate communications at Barnes & Noble, New York, Carolyn J Brown, the company strives to deliver consumers any book, anytime, anywhere, so they will continue to expand their eReader offering to help consumers enjoy their content across a multitude of devices.
The application is specifically designed for iPad and is bound to provide its customers access to more than one million eBooks, magazines and newspapers. This application will enable its users to snap a picture of a book and receive information right on their phones
Though Apple stated taking orders for iPad on March 12, the device won’t be available in the stores before April.
Hearst’s announces entry into iPhone apps with LMK
Heart’s LMK launched various categories of iPhone applications covering a variety of topics including Lady Ganga, cupcakes and baseball players. These category specific applications known as LMK (Let Me Knowâ€) are priced starting at $0.99.
These applications can be easily downloaded from Apple’s App Store as well as through LMK.com and can be used on the iPhone and iPod Touch. LMK expects to expand its offering on a monthly basis.
The company has set up huge goals for itself which include expanding the aggregate service to other mobile platforms such as Google’s Android phones, or hand-held devices including the various e-Readers or Apple’s iPad. All these service are expected to reach the customers in April.
According to President of LMK, New York, Michael Gutowski, the company saw an interesting market opportunity to break through the clutter of Internet search results and build mobile products that curate, package and deliver the most authoritative content on subjects that matter to consumers.
This resulted into the introduction of LMK, a dynamic delivery platform now powering topic-specific iPhones applications, aggregating and presenting the most current and relevant facts, stories , photos related to each topic.
This platform is currently supporting over 70 iPhones apps and the company is all set to leverage it to support thousand of digital products.
Motorola CEOs continue to accept their pay cuts
Motorola is fighting for getting back its image of a giant mobile phone maker it once was. With the introduction of Android phones, the company has shown a clear sign of its way back to prominence. Also, in order to support the company one step further, co-CEO Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha have agreed to continue taking their voluntary salary cut of 25% for 2010.
Motorola is all set to make their long-awaited comeback in the mobile space with solid plans to divide the company into two separate publicly trade entities. While Sanjay Jha is expected to take his seat as the head of the Mobile devices and Home Businesses division, Greg Brown will rein the Motorola Enterprise unit.
Though the company has showed that they have the capability to be one of the formidable players in the smartphone space, the long-term success of the company will largely depend on its ability to continue to capture mindshare in the US and around the world. At present, Motorola Droid is considered to be a good step; but it won’t be enough to carry Moto through the next year.
Bluesquare launches iPhone App
As a part of its mobile phones sportsbook offering, the online bookmaker Bluesquare has launched an iPhone web application which has been enabled by its mobile partner mkodo. The application offers live prices that refresh automatically within the page.
According to the sources from the company, live prices have been offered to allow customers to place bets faster than ever before. A user can easily get accustomed to its pop-up log-in system. The application also features the ability to add the blue square icon to the iPhone homescreen. The application is easy to handle and can be accessed anytime and anywhere at the touch of a button even while a customer is on move.
According to the Mobile Product Manager for Bluesquare parent company Interactive, Simon Woolf, the iPhone has revolutionized the mobile industry and in turn, the mobile gaming industry- it’s already five times more popular than other handsets on their existing mobile betting site.
This product complements the iPhone’s ability to get a customer’s bet on quickly with the ease of use on the increasingly popular ‘Betting-In-Running’ markets.
According to Woolf, the aim of the company is to offer its customers a brand new platform or quick and easy betting on-the-go.
IBM collaborate with varsities in India and Japan to make mobile devices more accessible
IBM is embarking on a research project to design mobile gadgets which will be easy to use for people with disabilities or those who are not fully literate.
The institute has collaborated with India’s National Institute of Design and the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advance Science and Technology.
The aim of the collaboration is to develop a common interface for mobile devices that will make the gadgets easier to use.
According to Chieko Asakawa, an IBM Fellow and chief technology officer of IBM’s accessibility research, through this collaborative research initiative, the institute will uncover real information accessibility requirements and issues that the elderly and people in developing economies are facing everyday.
He is also of the opinion that by focusing on mobile devices, which have a tremendous potential to empower them, the findings will help them offer affordable services to large population who are still deprived of access to key information sources.
ROK launches KOX TV in Russia
The UK-based mobile technologies applications and services company, ROK Entertainment Group and KOX TV, the Russian-based mobile TV service company announced the launch of a carrier-agonistic streamed mobile TV service in Russia.
The target group of the service includes those customers of Russian operators Beeline, MTS, Megafone and Tele 2, who have a data package included in their mobile tariff. Priced at 247 Rubles per month, KOT TV comprises of 12 looped and on-demand TV channels. It also offers free of cost viewing for two weeks.
According to the ROK Chairman, Jonathan Kendrick, the company is delighted launch the first ever such service in Russia, which has been done in response to their expectation of significant demand for live and on-demand mass-market Mobile TV in that country, from the ever-growing number of people with compatible handsets and a data package included in their mobile tariff.
GuidePoint unveils Android application
GuidePoint systems, a company that integrates global positioning satellites to vehicle owners and fleet managers launched a free Android app. This application which is already available on iPhone will allow users to gain access to a variety of location-based services including stolen vehicle, driving directions, and other assistance.
The application depends on the built-in GPS receiver to deliver phone’s exact location to GuidePoint. A user can set up an online account with GuidePoint and access services with just a few touches, immediately after the activation.
According to Tom Gafford, chief technology officer of Guidepoint, the company has designed their Android app so that the users can quickly and easily access their 24/7/365 response centres.
Vodafone and Mobcast join hands for eBook Giveaway
As a part of Vodafone UK’s ‘Free Fridays’ campaign, the company has joined hands with digital book service provider Mobcast. Under this campaign, the company will offer its customers an opportunity to download free five best-selling e-books on their mobile phones on March 12.
The company earlier enjoyed a huge success for its ebooks facility on its Vodafone 360 platform, where Mobcast’s ebooks are available in English and local European languages.
Names of some of the bestsellers offered by the company includes the first title of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’, the current chart-topper of Sophie Kinsella’s Twenties Girlâ€, another best-seller written by James Patterson, The Murder of King Tut’, fiction from Alex Preston, This Bleeding City’, and in conjunction with the Tim Burton film release and the classic Alice in Wonderland†by Lewis Carroll.
The book by Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattooâ€, has now been transformed into a movie and the customers will also be offered a chance to win the private screening of this film. A dedicated microsite has been developed by Vodafone to promote the giveaway.
