Anybody think this is a game-changer?? “Android based, got to be “jail-breakable” as they say in the iOS world. They are moving, for sure- this from Business Week:

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest online retailer, said customers have bought about 1 million of its Kindle e-book readers and tablets in each of the past three weeks, the most detailed sales numbers the company has released.

The Kindle Fire tablet, which sells for $199, has been the best-selling product on Amazon.com since its introduction 11 weeks ago, the Seattle-based company said in a statement today. Kindle Fire sales have risen week-over-week for the past three weeks, Amazon said.

The Kindle Fire, which has a 7-inch (18-centimeter) display and runs on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, costs less than half the price of Apple Inc.’s least-expensive iPad tablet. Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in October that the company may post a loss in the fourth quarter as it ramps up spending. Operating margin may narrow to 0.79 percent this quarter from 3.66 percent in the year-earlier period, according to the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Amazon shares jumped 0.6 percent to $181.26 today (12/16)at the close in New York. The stock is little changed this year.

Here’s a video to help you root your Kindle – happy hacking!

Apple will do whatever it can to thwart Android adoption on all hardware.  Samsung, being the biggest seller of  ’Droidware, is getting battered the most. Nineteen lawsuits in nine countries, all variations on a theme; Apple declines to comment beyond previous statements that “it believes Samsung has copied the U.S. company’s products and that Apple is committed to protecting its intellectual property.”

It’s working for them, a little. At Apple’s request, courts in Germany and the Netherlands last month issued preliminary injunctions prohibiting Samsung from selling several Android-based tablets and smartphones pending later hearings. But the judges allowed Samsung to distribute products through units not covered by the orders. Samsung just pulled it’s new 7″ tablet from the IFA show in Berlin.

The problem is, for Apple, Samsung is just one of a whole slew of manufacturers, and represents just a sliver (OK, 17%, a big sliver) of the tablet market, but the numbers aren’t going their way.  Every dollar they spend trying to slow down the inevitable dominance of open source software will cost them in the long run.  We’ve seen it as markets matured with desktops and laptops,  with Apple taking around 15% of the total. Being first movers with the iPhone and iPad has given them an advantage, but resistance is futile- Android smartphone caught and surpassed Apple, now at 52% Android to 29%; Apple, and Android tablets went from 0% to over 30% in the last year. Gartner predicts 2016 as the tipping point for Apple to drop below 50% in tablet market share.

It’s just a matter of time. The iPhone was released in June, 2007, the first ‘Droid phone about a year later; it took about 3 years before Android “caught up”; predictions that it will take 4 years for the same to happen in the tablet market are usbject to change, you know which way they will go.

Nothing against Apple- they are just a business, and a darned successful one. But they won’t be around forever — closed systems like theirs have great advantages, but in the end, open beats closed.  - cf