The e-reader wars have begun in earnest (well, in the US anyway) as some of the biggest selling devices in the market went beneath the $200 mark. Amazon’s Kindle and the Nook from US book giant, Barnes & Noble have both dropped prices significantly, with the former falling by a huge $70 to $189 (€154). Barnes & Noble meanwhile lowered the price on its 3G compatible Nook to $199 (€162) from $259 (€211).

A Reuters report notes that shares in both companies fell about 3% as investors feared intense competition (hello iPad) could lure away buyers of e-books. Profit margins on Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle are estimated by analysts to be relatively modest, but the devices are important to attracting book buyers.

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It seems that long-time Microsoft designer J Allard has left the company after having differences of opinion with the company’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, over the dual-screened Courier tablet project.

These leaked shots may be all we ever see of the Courier

For those unfamiliar with Allard’s work, he was head of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, and often seen as the father of the first Xbox, a device that Microsoft has capitalised on very well, moving from an outsider to a significant portion of the market within two console generations. Now though, word comes from ZDNet that Allard has left the company, ostensibly on a sabbatical, but noting that the rumblings from within Microsoft indicate that he may not return to the company.

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Amazon is to release an application to allow Android-based smartphone and tablet device owners to get in on its Kindle services at some stage during this summer.

If nothing else, we'll be curious to see how well it does...

At the moment, there are Kindle applications available for both Windows and Mac OS X, as well as Apple’s iPhone OS and BlackBerry. As with all of the above, the version of Amazon’s Kindle set to be made available for Android is to include Amazon’s much touted Whispersync, which allows for bookmarks to remain synchronised across multiple devices – should you read on your notebook and then pick up your phone, you should be able to pick up at exactly the same point.

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It’s been announced that Amazon is to add to its Kindle ebook reader a Facebook feature, which will give users the ability to maintain a connection to social networks via the device’s wireless.

Interesting to see how the E Ink display handles Facebook...

Indeed, this latest update to Amazon’s Kindle makes use of the one big feature of the Kindle that few, if any, other ebook readers boast, the persistent 3G connection. Indeed, it’s one of the features that’s made the Kindle so very attractive, offering instant access to Amazon’s Kindle Store on the go, and now the same service will be used to offer Kindle owners the ability to check their Facebook profiles for updates.

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It seems that Amazon has taken to heart negative comments about the web browser bundled with its Kindle ebook reader line, and is now looking for people to develop a new version of the browser.

A new browser would only make the Kindle a more attractive prospect...

The word of the new development on Amazon’s Kindle browser comes via Amazon’s own job listing for developers, who it’s hoping will be able to develop “an innovative embedded web browser” for a piece of consumer electronics. Certainly, that description makes it sound very much like the Kindle is looking for a new web developer.

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It seems that, regardless of who’s responsible for the devices themselves, 2010 could well be shaping up to be the year of the tablet, with companies showing off lots of new tablet devices at the Mobile World Congress.

I'll be the first to admit I have a soft spot for Archos

With all eyes on Apple and its upcoming iPad to see just how well the market will tolerate an expensive tablet device that doesn’t have the same functionality as netbooks, its curious to see other tablets start cropping up. Word comes via Venturebeat (who managed to get their hands on one) of the other big tablets we can expect to see in the coming months as shown off at MWC.

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It seems that Apple’s upcoming iPad tablet won’t be shipping with the company’s iBooks software, one of the main talking points of the device.

Not bundling iBooks seems a strange move

It seems that Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has applied some fairly close reading to Apple’s description of its upcoming tablet device. Apparently, when it comes to time to list the various bits and pieces that the iPad has to offer its users, Apple describes the iBooks app by saying that,

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With the trend started by the Amazon MacMillan spat, towards ebooks costing as much (if not a little more) than their physical counterparts, is being more firmly cemented over time, it’s interesting to see statistics from iTunes pricing model.

Looks like these bad boys will be sticking around for a while yet

According to MediaMemo, it seems that Apple gave music publishers the ability to raise the price of their music on its iTunes service early last year, which resulted in some record labels bumping the prices of some songs upwards, while others took the opportunity to drop the prices of certain tracks. The overall result has been an interesting one.

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It seems that those of us who have already mode the move to electronic books are very well served indeed by them, apparently regardless of the hardware options.

Indeed, word comes via RegHardware of a survey from industry analysts NPD that those who’ve sprung for ebook reading hardware are very pleased indeed with their purchases. Apparently, 93% of those who’ve picked up an ebook reader fall into either the “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” camps in NPD’s research. Perhaps more interesting still is the fact that only 2% of those surveyed actually said that they weren’t satisfied with their devices.

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It seems that the running spat between Amazon and publisher Macmillan has come to something of a close, with Amazon announcing that it will allow the books to be sold for the price Macmillan had requested.

When I was your age, Pluto was a planet and we used to argue about the prices of REAL books...

The issue arose when Macmillan attempted to price digital versions of its books at $15, which is fully 150% of the usual amount for ebooks available through Amazon’s Kindle Store. Macmillan weighed in with the fairly heavy threat that, unless Amazon allowed the heftier pricing, it would not be distributing new books to Amazon on release.

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It seems that Amazon has been living it up, thanks in no small part to massive sales of its Kindle ebook reader over the Christmas block.

Amazon seems to have KINDLED a virtual book market... please, shoot me.

According to Cnet, Amazon has had a very fine year indeed, with revenue up to $9.52 billion, a fairly staggering increase on last year, to the tune of 42%. Indeed, reports also indicate that Amazon has seen profits rise by around the 70% mark, which is nothing to be sneezed at. Apparently, the fourth quarter of last year (which happily enough includes both Christmas and the US’s Black Friday sales) was the most profitable quarter the company has ever seen.

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Acer is set to expand into both the apps and e-book markets in the first half of this year it has been announced. The world’s second- largest computer vendor told the world’s press today that their applications store will offer “hundreds” of apps, “otherwise you can’t call it an apps store”, while their e-book reader will feature a 6-inch monochrome screen.

Acer are looking to expand their business after a bump in popularity over the past few years.

Businessweek.com reports that Acer will enter markets dominated by Apple and Amazon in offering downloadable software and e-book readers by June and Jim Wong, president of IT products division of Acer believes these moves will help the company boost its net income margin to 3% within two years, Wong said.

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