I love my iPad! I love Amazon’s Kindle app!

Now that the Motorola Xoom has been released, reviews are popping up all over the web. From what I’ve read so far, the new tablet is receiving a warm reception.

I was watching the news this morning while checking my email and they did a quick story on the Xoom. One commentator said the device could be the first big competitor of Apple’s iPad. But I think it’s too premature to make those kind of predictions.

One review from Endgadget gives the Xoom a particularly good review:

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A lot of content providers have already weighed in on Apple’s new subscription rules, requiring that they allow for in-app content purchases

Tablet computers are flooding the market this year. If you haven’t already done so, you should check out my Exclusive 2011 Tablet Computer Guide.

One of the tablets I covered was the Motorola Xoom. The website TheStreet.com posted an exclusive video of a demo of the Xoom. I’ll admit, it’s pretty impressive. The tablet is snappy and the screen renders video and other content beautifully.

The Xoom is available now from Verizon and will retail for a whopping $800 (without a 2-year contract), $600 with the contract.

Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookseller, announced today in a press release that their ebook self-publishing platform Pubit has 11,000 indie publishers and authors.

In more interesting news, the bookseller also announced a new program that will bring Pubit! authors into their retail stores to talk about how they are using the platform to drive their digital sales:

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I’m currently reading Nantucket Nights (aff link) by Elin Hilderbrand (Yes, I’m a guy who likes Elin Hilderbrand. Don’t laugh.). Anyway, I’m reading the ebook version. While the story is great, the book itself is riddled with typos.

There are misspellings, punctuation in the wrong places and the like. This is not an isolated case either. Most ebooks I’ve read have an unusually high number of errors. My wife is currently reading Freedom (aff link) by Jonathan Franzen on her iPad’s Kindle app and she has observed the same thing.

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Barnes & Noble released their Fiscal 2011 third quarter results today, which were mostly positive. This comes on the heels of Borders bankruptcy filing last week.

Another crash and burn. An App submitted by Readability that makes it easier to read web content by cutting out ads was rejected by Apple for not complying with the new subscription policy.

Readability requires a $5/month subscription fee to use their service. However, there’s a catch. Readability respects the hard work authors and publishers put into their writing – so Readability gives writers/publishers 70% (or $3.50) of the monthly fee. So if Apple were to take their 30%, there would be nothing left for the company.

Readability took a shot back at Apple with an open letter on their blog. Here’s an excerpt:

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Emerging authors have more choices than ever. They can go the traditional route of finding an agent, getting a publisher to buy their work, and rely on that publisher and large book chains to sell their book.

Or they can self-publish their book as an ebook and sell it on their own websites and/or sites like Smashwords (aff link). This direct approach cuts out the middlemen (publishers/agents) and allows authors to deal directly with their readers. It also puts more money in their pocket.

What about print books? Should an author even bother self-publishing their books in print? With ebooks skyrocketing in popularity there appears to be almost no incentive to go the print route. What’s an author to do?

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Apple’s new subscription rules for content providers have drawn the ire of many. The rules require that apps, such as the Kindle, delete any button that links to their website. Furthermore, such apps must give users the option to buy content/subscriptions within the app, which will give Apple a 30% cut.

Now Apple’s controversial move has caught the attention of the US federal government. While no formal investigation has been launched, regulators are looking into whether any anti-trust laws have been violated. The European Union is also joining the inquiry.

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