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A boost for e-publishing brands

The global publishing brand, Macmillan has reportedly withdrawn its e-book titles from being sold for Amazon brand’s Kindle reader.

Apple announced at the end of January that Macmillan was part of a group of major publishers that would sell their titles on Apple’s ibookstore designed for the iPad.

Apple is letting publishers charge more than the $9.99 which Amazon set for titles sold for its Kindle.

Under the Apple understanding, publishers set their own e-book prices, with Apple profiting from 30 per cent of the revenue. This is expected to raise many e-book titles to $12.99 and $14.99.

Whilst not being as ambient-light ‘friendly’ as products like the Kindle or Sony e-reader, the iPad does allows embedded multimedia as well as colour (making it ideal for publishers of textbooks).

Trouble ahead for iPad?

In designing the iPad, Apple reportedly overlooked incorporating the ability for viewers to see Flash-enabled content.

Equally, and from a branding point of view, potentially more problematical, rival technology brand Fujitsu claims that the name iPad is theirs.

It’s our understanding that the name is ours,” Fujitsu’s PR director Masahiro Yamane reported inThe New York Times last week.

The Fujitsu iPad – a touchscreen mobile device used in point-of-sale –  was launched in 2002.

One of the many other ipads out there

iPad, iPad …everywhere

Another tech-brand, Magtek manufactures its own iPad – an encrypted encrypted credit-card swiper.

And  it doesn’t stop there…

… Seimens uses the name: ‘iPad’, in combination with its engines and motors.

A Canadian company called Coconut Grove Pads Inc. offers polyurethane bra inserts and shoulder pads registered as the iPad.

Coconut Grove’s president, Hylton Karon, described the products as:

“…You know, little quickies you ladies use to enhance.”

The company, which manufactures bras under the brand name The Natural, owns the iPad trademark in the United States.

With so many iPads being marketed on the web, even YouTube is enjoying an unexpected lift on its site.

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Back to serious business…

The New York Times reported that in July, Apple “used a proxy to apply for an international trademark for the iPad,” it has since submitted multiple requests for additional time to contest Fujitsu’s application.  Apple reportedly has until the end of February to decide whether it will formally contest Fujitsu’s right to the name “iPad.”

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

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Apple brand goes to Hollywood?

The Apple Computer brand is reportedly seeking to complete a deal with broadcasters such as Walt Disney and CBS for a web-based TV subscription service; possibly charging viewers a monthly fee.

If supplied, such content would deliver genuine added value for the ‘tablet’ computer (which some pundits have suggested may be called the ‘iSlate’).  The device is thought to be a cross between an iPod and a laptop, with WiFi connectivity.

(Turner Broadcasting System, News Corp., Viacom, and Discovery Communications are as yet uncommitted to supplying content).

It is strongly believed that the new Apple device will be released very early in 2010.  (Apple itself has so far refused to corroborate even the existence of such an appliance.  However this follows the brand’s typical ‘radio-silence’ adopted before any imminent new product release).

Throughout the web, rumours are rife that notable book and magazine publishers including Time Inc and Condé Nast, have produced digital versions of their magazines for a raft of new handheld tablet devices from various computer manufacturers including Samsung, Hewlett as well as Apple itself.

The new commandments of TV broadcasting as published on the tablet?

With other providers, including public services such as BBC iPlayer, going from strength to strength, this could be a key market for the brand to get involved with during 2010. Equally, if the monthly subscription service does goes ahead, incumbent traditional network suppliers could face especially tough competition from the iconic brand which was only recently acclaimed by Adweek as the brand of the decade .

Following the relatively slow uptake of Apple TV, an interface which streams iTunes individually rented or purchased movies, tv shows as well as other media to a television or computer, the Hollywood Reporter proposes that whilst the suggested new tablet may woo over many viewers, it won’t cut the cord on cable TV as currently enjoyed on traditional sets in the home).

Watch this space – or should that read ‘slate’ for further updates…

… Who knows this time next year, watching the Queen’s traditional Christmas message may become a completely different kind of viewing experience. (Already available as audio podcasts on iTunes since 2007).

Jonathan Gabay

www.brandforensics.co.uk

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