Could the iPad be the best thing to happen to Amazon? Although a debate has raged over what impact Apple’s tablet device could have on the Seattle-based e-book leader, Amazon could actually benefit from the iPad, a Friday report suggests. Despite a wide-held opinion that the iPad is a more flexible platform, Amazon could sell more e-books to iPad owners than Apple.
“If you’re an iPad buyer, chances are about 90 percent that you’re also a book buyer on Amazon,” Forrester analyst James McQuivey told the Wall Street Journal. Unlike Apple’s launch of the iPod or iPhone, where the Cupertino, Calif. company started with iTunes and the App Store pre-installed, iPad buyers can choose whether to install Apple’s iBooks or another e-book app, such as Amazon’s Kindle app.
[polldaddy poll=”2995715″] When the much-awaited Apple tablet device was christened the iPad in January, many people hated the name.
CoM readers were underwhelmed by the choice of iPad, 51% of the 1,380 readers who answered our poll on Jan. 27 gave the moniker a “meh” while just 17% said the name “rocks.”
For English speakers, the sanitary product association was immediate and launched a thousand jokes — including some printed for posterity on underwear, for many non-English speakers, it was just one awkward vowel away from iPod.
Has time — and the fact that the device is almost in stores — made any difference?
It’s possible to hack UPS tracking numbers to monitor other people’s iPad orders, consultant Stephen Foskett has discovered.
If you have a genuine iPad tracking number, you change the last two digits to get valid tracking numbers for other people’s iPad orders. I just checked, and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with an iPad on a slow plane from China.
Here’s how the UPS tracking number breaks down, according to Foskett:
… the standard UPS format is “1ZAAAAAATTIIIIIPPC”, where AAAAAA is the account, TT is the service type, IIIII is the invoice, PP is the package, and C is the check digit. These numbers are not encrypted or at all random, and CodeProject has a complete decoding method.
To hack the tracking number, you increase the last number by one (the checksum), while decreasing the penultimate number by one (this is the last digit of the package number).
So if your package number ends in “63,” you can substitute “54,” “45,” “36,” “27,” and “18” to get valid tracking numbers for five more packages.
The hack works — I just tried it. I can now follow iPad packages going to Manchester Center, VT; Inverness, IL; Waverly, MN; Bridgewater, NJ; and Saint Louis, MO.
To make sure the packages are iPads, check the origin location (Shenzhen, CN) and weight (1.4Kgs).
Foskett suggests the hack could be exploited by analysts trying to figure out how many iPads Apple shipped this week. He thinks it could also reveal how many people are ordering two iPads, and the distribution of customers around the country.
UPS's tracking system shows many iPads just left China at 4.30AM last night (April 2 local time).
UPS is gearing up for a massive, “all hands” iPad delivery day on Saturday. UPS says ALL iPads will be delivered en masse on Saturday except to customers in very remote locations.
“We’ve got all hands on deck for a huge wave of Sat. deliveries,” says MikeAtUPS, who is providing UPS customer service via Twitter. “Unless you’re in a very remote area, your iPad’ll arrive on Sat.”
Thanks to UPS’s flip-flopping tracking system, the shipping company is being inundated with iPad customers asking where their packages are.
On Tuesday, UPS’s tracking system appeared to show that many iPads had left China and were in Louisville, KY, where UPS has a giant international shipping center. However, a few hours later references to Louisville were removed and iPad packages were listed as still being in China. (Some CoM readers with knowledge of UPS’s system suggested that references to Louville were some kind of internal UPS admin message).
It now appears that many iPads left China at 4.30 AM last night (April 2 local time) — just two days before iPad launch day.
MikeAtUPS has been busy answering queries from customers asking where their iPads are.
One customer said he was “freaking” because he didn’t know where his iPad was. “There’s no need to freak,” MikeAtUPS told him. “Everything is going according to plan.”
He’s also been asked several times if UPS can deliver iPads early. “Afraid not,” he says. “By Apple’s decree, they’ll all be delivered on Saturday, Launch Day!”
UPDATE: Another UPS customer service rep on Twitter, ThomasAtUPS, says iPad launch day is a “major operation for UPS.”
“The iPad deliveries are a major operation for UPS,” says ThomasAtUPS. “While we can’t say much now, we might later. I’d be interested. :)”
As the U.S. enjoys some above-normal temps after a deluge of rain, we take a look at a variety of Mac-related deals. First up is some Mac Pro Xeon workstations, including a 2.66GHz quad-core model model starting at $2,149. Next is a new batch of App Store price drops, including the venerable “Boggle.” We wrap up our top spot with Mac Bluray Ripper Pro.
Along the way we’ll also check out a deal on the WolframAlpha “computational knowledge engine” for the iPhone and iPod touch. As always, details on these and many other bargains can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page, which starts right after the jump.
Like the Silent Bodyguard app we mentioned two weeks ago, KamAlert will, in an emergency, text authorities — or whomever the user wants — and include details like GPS data in the messege. But KamAlert claims to add two powerful security features: a sensor that uses the camera to detect motion that can automatically trigger a customizable function that sends photos or video to pre-selected recipients, and an audible alarm (in addition to the silent one that both apps possess).
All the features can be adjusted or turned off to avoid, say, the possible embarrassment and/or legal issues resulting from accidentally emailing the cops evidence of your latest frat/sorority party.
For those interested in an inexpensive, portable gadget to augment home security, and if the $5 app works as advertised, it sounds like a valuable, highly customizable security tool; if it doesn’t, well, the iPhone probably makes a decent shuriken.
Mostly because every oom in my house right down to the bathroom contains a pair of speakers hooked up to an Airport Express, the true killer app on the iPhone and iPod Touch is Apple’s official Remote app, which allows you to control and stream your iTunes library with painless ease.
I always assumed that the Remote App would work perfectly well on the iPad, but just in case it was in doubt, iTunes 9.1’s preference panel spills Remote on the iPad as a fact. Whether Remote will be a universal app, or get an HD overhaul is still unknown, but since I expect my iPad to pretty much live on my coffee table as an e-reader, casual browsing machine and photo album, I’m still pretty excited.
For about six months now, Starbucks has been testing a system in about a dozen Seattle and Silicon Valley stores that turns the iPhone into a virtual wallet, letting customers pay for lattes and the like with an app that displays a barcode read by a specialized reader at the counter.
But yesterday, Starbucks said the trick will expand to 1,000 Starbucks shops inside Target locations. Which is a little odd, considering Target’s demographic (yes, I’m suggesting a large chuck of Target shoppers may not even know what an iPhone is — despite the fact Target hawks Apple stuff — let alone be aware that, yes, there’s an app for that. In fact, the shift manager at my local Starbucks hadn’t even heard of the program).
To mark it two-year anniversary, the Apple-centered iFund doubled in size to $200 million. Highlighting the iFund’s addition of iPad investments, John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers waxed poetically: The tablet device “feels like you’re touching the future.”
Seven iFunded game developers: ng:moco (makers of Flick Fishing, Castlecraft, NBA Hotshot, Charadium, We Rule, GoldFinger and WarpGate), Pinger (Star Smash and Doodle Buddy), GOGII and Shazam will be avaailable when the iPad launches April 3.
Update: Picture me boring a hole through my throbbing temples with my fingertips. PC World has just confirmed Netflix for the iPad. The pictures of the app are even hosted on Apple’s servers and the app is listed on AppShopper, so short of a linkable announcement, this is as official as it gets. The Netflix app will be free to download, but you’ll need a Netflix subscription to stream video, which starts at $8.99 a month.
In other words, due to the web of lies and trickery bloggers weave on April Fool’s Day, I’ve been punk’d by real news. I hate this day so much. See the original (discredited) post positing this was in all probability a prank below.
