Amazon’s cloud is vast, so vast that it now accounts for around one per cent of all internet traffic, according to estimates released this week. This data underpins the importance of cloud services for service delivery and underscores the opportunities for those with the necessary infrastructure.
When it comes to the relationship between the devices and content they offer Amazon and Apple are two very different companies. Apple’s App Store was created to act as a differentiating feature that is available only to their end users, in order to compel consumers to purchase Apple devices rather than those of their rivals. While for Amazon it is the reverse, their devices exist to encourage the growth of the market for the sale of the digital content that is available on their online store.
Amazon this week formally announced the addition of four new products to its device portfolio: the Kindle (basic), the Kindle Touch, the Kindle Touch 3G and the Kindle Fire. They are all e-readers, with the exception of the Fire which is a tablet. The original Kindle e-readers have since been renamed the Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Keyboard 3G to avoid confusion. The lesser-spotted Kindle DX is still available too.
Business applications provider SAP has warned that Amazon’s recent EC2 cloud service crash will make it more difficult for the industry to convince business to move to the cloud.
US carrier AT&T is to launch an online coupon service to rival Groupon and Facebook’s offerings. The discount site, which will run on the telco’s yellowpages.com subsidiary, launches in June with initial services in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth. To entice users to sign up, AT&T is offering a $10 credit. More cities are expected to follow after the initial launch, as well as national deals, all of which will be available to mobile device users, according to AT&T.
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Web giant Amazon upped the ante in the cloud services space on Tuesday with the launch of a cloud-based music platform for Android mobile devices as well as desktops and laptops.
Web giant Amazon entered the app store fray on Tuesday, with the launch of its own, appropriately named Appstore, which is geared up for Android devices.
Microsoft and Adobe have yet to make any real or significant impact in the mobile apps market, and are thought to be considering joining forces. If the two companies were to merge then it would have to be the mobile apps market driving the deal, as this is where both companies need to score big time, say analysts at Ovum.
It’s the first sign of spring. As the Informer parked his trusty penny farthing in the unusually busy cycle shed this morning, squeezing the sturdy relic of a bygone era in among the shiny carbon frames and razor thin wheels newly purchased by the fair weather cyclists, he was struck by how things change.
Was it coincidence that Apple decided to launch its iPad just three days before the full moon? Certainly the name of the device has given rise to what might be described as a flow of unsavoury jokes, but the Informer was struck by something else altogether. Watching footage of Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiling the new device on YouTube this week, the Informer found himself thinking: “The man’s a billionaire. Can he not afford a belt?” Shirt tucked into jeans with no belt is a fashion no-no even the Informer can understand.
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