Comments on: AT&T to get into ereader market competing with the Kindle

By: Felix Torres

Felix Torres — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:03:46 +0000

Oh, I was just trying to simplify.
I know there is a need for client software on both ends.
But a lot of older phones already have the firmware in place for tethering; My three-year old AT&T smartphone already supports it.
What AT&T and the eReader crowd need to do is settle on how to put in the feature on the other side. On PCs its easy; my phone came with a disk and the drivers and Windows sees it as a network card. No problem.
I don’t mean to imply its trivial but it doesn’t need new tech to implement.
And it is very very cheap to put in place.
Cheaper than a wireless card or even WiFi.
Definite a better approach than what Kindle does. Cheaper and open; a two-way win.

By: Logan Kennelly

Logan Kennelly — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:06:45 +0000

Support for Bluetooth does not mean support tethering (at least, not without some unlikely firmware changes). AT&T’s angle, if companies are indeed going to use your phone eReader Internet access, is likely to sell new phones and possibly even data plans.

ficbot, you should be fine. In fact, if they do this right you can travel to most countries in the world, buy a new SIM card, and still purchase new books.

By: Felix Torres

Felix Torres — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:29:30 +0000

ficbot: tethering is generic technology. You can do it right now with your PC and any bluetooth cellphone. What AT&T and the hardware developers are discussing is setting up a standard way for ereaders to use bluetooth to use cellphones as a gateway to the internet. Once this standard is in place, any compliant device can use it anywhere.
Simple test: can your car talk bluetooth to your cellephone? If it has the feature, it works with pretty much every cellphone that cupports bluetooth.
Same here.
It is simple, effective, and has no lock-in at any level.
AT&T is just looking to sell bandwidth and they’d rather sell it retail to the user than wholesale to the device makers.

By: ficbot

ficbot — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:16:57 +0000

So, how about the non-Americans? Locked out again? What a brave new world.

By: Aaron Pressman

Aaron Pressman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:23:04 +0000

Interesting solution. Even before this AT&T solution arrives, any wifi-equipped reader can now get online via the Novatel Mifi (a cellular broadband modem and wifi hotspot in one) that’s currently available from Verizon and coming soon from Sprint. I have used it with my iPod Touch and Kindle app and it works great.

By: Knipfty

Knipfty — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:01:39 +0000

ATT is looking at this from the cell phone POV. They want to come out with a cell phone that is also an eReader.

Amazon approached this from an eReader POV. They simply came out with an awesome reading device that makes downloading ebooks incredibly easy. I’m pretty sure Amazon/Sprint could leverage this into a real cell phone, but that market is going to be really small. I have 5 cell phones with ATT and I’m not about to switch unless Sprint is going to offer me a cut rate deal. Not likely to happen.

In the mean time, Amazon will keep making the Kindle better (and hopefully less expensive), and keep increasing their selection of ebooks.

By: trav

trav — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:21:39 +0000

This would be perfect for the Barnes&Noble/Fictionwise setup.
I have to agree with all of the reasons that the above commenter states, this would be efficient. Even as cool as the free Whispernet is, I like the tether idea.

By: Felix Torres

Felix Torres — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:24:51 +0000

“He envisions customers tethering AT&T handsets wirelessly to a thin device like the Kindle with a 10-inch screen.”

Via bluetooth, no doubt.
This model is probably the most efficient way for everybody involved; no need to stick a SIM card into the reader, no need for separate accounts, no backroom deals between carrier and device manufacturer…

I like it.
Get going, AT&T.