Barnes & Noble and Nook Media announced the first Readers’ Choice Newsstand Awards and sweepstakes Oct. 20-Nov. 19. Readers can vote for their favorite content from a list of categories at www.nook.com/readerschoice. All nominated content will be available to read for free online and optimized for PCs, tablets and smartphones, Barnes & Noble said. Nominated content can be shared with friends and family on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, it said. Barnes & Noble will announce the winners Nov. 21, with winning publications to be showcased in Barnes & Noble stores through the holiday season. During the voting period, readers can enter a sweepstakes for the chance to win a grand prize trip for two to New York City and a $500 Barnes & Noble gift card, $100 Barnes & Noble gift cards and Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook tablets, it said.
RadioShack will roll out its initial launch of Apple Pay starting Monday at more than 900 stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, the retailer said (http://bit.ly/1CvMCnP). RadioShack will introduce the digital wallet service in more markets to be announced in 2015, it said in a Thursday news release. To use Apple Pay, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, owners need only hold their device close to an in-store near field communication contactless reader, it said. Best Buy and Walmart are among the big retailers that have spurned taking part in Apple Pay. Best Buy suggested it was because it has no NFC capability installed in its stores, while Walmart gave no reason (see 1409150051).
Amazon will create 80,000 seasonal jobs for its 65 U.S. fulfillment and sorting centers this holiday season and expects, like last year, to convert thousands of them into "regular, full-time roles" after the holidays, the company said Thursday (http://bit.ly/1vAKFrt). The sorting centers, which are new, are "fueling a range of innovations like Sunday delivery, later cut-off ordering times for customers and the ability to control packages deeper into the delivery process," Amazon said in a news release.
CBS launched CBS All Access, a digital subscription VOD product that will offer thousands of episodes from the current and previous seasons, and the ability to stream local CBS stations live in 14 of the largest U.S. markets, CBS said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/ZGmfif). The platform is available at CBS.com and on Apple and Android devices for $5.99 per month, it said. It will be available on other connected devices in the coming months, CBS said. CBS has said that it might move to a pay-TV platform if Aereo wins in litigation at the Supreme Court concerning its online streaming service (see 1305030041).
ViaSat is offering a Ka-band terminal with a tail-mounted antenna designed to deliver Ka-band mobile services for general aviation. The Aero Mobile Terminal 5230 will service large-cabin business aircraft, ViaSat said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1xWnLIX). The terminal will help provide an "office in the sky" experience with high-speed Internet and virtual private networks, it said. Ka-band coverage for general aviation can meet the demand for high-volume, on-board data consumption and transmission, "including numerous wireless devices running high-bandwidth applications simultaneously," it said.
Netflix has competed head to head against the HBO Nordic streaming service for nearly two years in the same four European markets, but the lessons learned there won’t necessarily be applicable to the U.S. when HBO launches its streaming service in 2015 (see 1410150095), Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said on a YouTube Q&A Wednesday with two analysts. HBO Nordic, available in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, launched in December 2012 as a joint venture with Parsifal International, the Swedish-based pay-TV provider. That’s about the same time Netflix debuted its streaming service in those same four markets. Asked to speculate how the HBO streaming service in the U.S. might be priced and distributed when it ultimately comes out, Hastings recalled that when HBO Nordic launched two years ago, it "chose to price on top of our pricing." Hastings cautioned that pricing overall in the Nordic countries is higher overall than in the U.S. because of the European valued-added tax and a higher cost of living. "So it's not definitely indicative" of the competitive price structure that could come into play in the U.S. when HBO launches its streaming service next year, he said. "But they've been quite aggressive in the Nordics and we stayed well ahead," Hastings said. Later in the Q&A, Hastings again cautioned against reading too much into the Nordic experience in predicting how HBO and Netflix might go head to head in the U.S. "Each market is unique," Hastings said. When HBO Nordic launched, it encountered "some teething problems initially two years ago that they probably would not have in the U.S.," he said. "I think they've been licensing broadly," including having recently licensing "a number" of Starz titles, he said. "So they're willing to license beyond their core platform. They've done pretty well, and we've done very well." Hastings is looking forward to a "fun" period the next few years when "the two of us compete for the best content, the most Emmys, the subscriber growth," he said. "And many, many people will subscribe to both services. So we're looking forward to that. We're just excited that HBO is really in the game with the Internet. They're the leader in their field. They're well ahead of their peer-group. They're ahead of the broadcast networks in this dimension, so it's exciting to see." HBO representatives didn’t immediately comment. Asked to elaborate on the Hastings comment that HBO Nordic incurred "teething problems" when it launched two years ago, Netflix spokesman Don Halcombe emailed us Thursday to say the company would have "nothing to add."
PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein urged improved access to federal lands for companies that build wireless infrastructure, in a speech to a federal lands workshop at the HetNet Expo Thursday. Adelstein said progress has been slow and the workshop is intended to “jumpstart” the process, in prepared remarks. More than 30 percent of America’s landmass is owned, or controlled, by the federal government, he said. “These are some of the hardest lands to site wireless infrastructure,” he said. “Yet they are also some of the most remote, where broadband is especially critical for public safety and economic development. If our industry confronts heavy obstacles to deployment in areas where the business case is already most difficult, the result is that investment goes elsewhere.” The federal government wins if rules for facility deployment are relaxed, he said. More broadband means military families on remote bases have the same Internet access “they would expect off-base so that they can remain connected to their loved ones,” he said. War fighters gain access “to training opportunities on the most advanced technologies,” he said. Public safety agencies also need better access to broadband, he said: “Our executive agencies throughout the federal government, like the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service, need broadband to more efficiently meet their missions and protect their personnel.”
Casio is maintaining a “watch first” stance on smart watches as it eyes technology companies entering a category that it has been helping to pioneer since its first smartphone launch at CES 2011, Sue VanderSchans, senior director-marketing communications, told us during a holiday season product tour Wednesday. VanderSchans cited reviews of smart watches from tech companies so laden down with technology that simple functions – including telling time -- were difficult to perform. Casio is focusing on the watch first, and then technology, in its lineup, which starts at $99, she said. "We’re not trying to sell smartphones, and they are," VanderSchans said of companies including Apple, LG and Samsung. A smart watch’s success in the market will be determined by "maintaining the functionality of a watch," she said. Casio positions battery life of up to two years as a key differentiator of its smart watches, compared with an expected 24 hours for the upcoming Apple Watch. The Casio OmniSync STB1000 is compatible with apps including Abvio’s Runmeter, Walkmeter and Cyclemeter and Wahoo Fitness over Bluetooth 4.0, the company said. The OmniSync STB1000 displays running pace and distance, elapsed time, pulse cycling speed and pedal rotations, and can record up to 120 lap times without an iPhone, Casio said. With an iPhone connection via Bluetooth, users can control their music library using buttons on the watch to adjust volume and playback, Casio said.
More than 100 million smart watches will be in global use by 2019, and a "host" of premium brand launches over the next 12-18 months will bring the category "into mainstream consumer consciousness," Juniper Research said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/ZZ6i7D). Product differentiation in the category is now shifting from hardware toward features "that allow new capabilities," such as GPS and near field communication connectivity, it said. "These functionalities are likely to become standard in the next few years, particularly as Apple has offered payment and NFC capability via the Apple Watch." Those who await a "killer app" that will make smart watch demand explode are apt to be disappointed, the firm said. "Given the greater scope for development in smart watches, the industry should not expect a single capability to make or break the category." It forecasts that as big-name suppliers like Apple, LG and Sony roll out high-end products, "demand for notification-based watches like the Martian Notifier will diminish, even in markets where budget pricing is the biggest purchase driver." This means "smaller players will need to respond to increasing consumer expectations or lose further market share," it said Tuesday. The firm forecasts that "high functionality and premium branding means that the average smart watch price will remain above $200 until 2020 at the earliest."
An eight-inch tablet that doubles as a rear-seat car entertainment system is the differentiator behind the Android Tablet Vehicle Entertainment System that Audiovox started shipping at $299, the company said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1oaHwfM). The tablet converts to a rear-seat entertainment system using a mounting mechanism that secures the tablet to the headrest posts and doubles as a charger when the tablet is docked, the company said. "One of the foremost concerns of consumers who utilize a portable device in the vehicle is the potential of a hand held tablet flying out of the hands of a passenger in an emergency," it said. "This system eliminates that concern as the tablet mounts securely in the vehicle, giving the passenger complete control and the driver complete peace of mind." When attached, FM playback on the tablet of audio content through any FM station on the vehicle sound system is possible, it said. The tablet also has built-in Bluetooth, which allows playback of audio through a vehicle sound system if the vehicle is Bluetooth-capable, it said.