With Apple Inc. (AAPL) “iPad Mini” media event scheduled for October 23rd, reports about pricing for the new device are beginning to appear online. Over the weekend, 9to5Mac reported that the iPad Mini would be priced at around $329 for an entry level WiFi only model. That is a $170 difference from the full sized WiFi only model. According to the report, there will also likely be two higher capacity models, which will be priced at $429 and $529 respectively.

As with the full sized iPad, a $130 premium will also be applied for Cellular models of the iPad Mini, boosting the prices to $459/$559/$659. Apple is widely expected to unveil the smaller 7.85 inch version of the iPad at the event, which is also expected to arrive with the new Lightning connector, alongside a tweaked full sized iPad, a 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro, and perhaps even updated models of the iMac and Mac Mini.

With the new iPad Mini set at a lower price, Apple will be able to compete with leading ebook readers such as the Kindle from Amazon. Apple already carries a wide variety of books and publishers through its iBooks service and pairing it with a smaller and slimmer iPad would be optimal for customers looking to read books on their iOS device.

{Via MacRumors}

Earlier today, Amazon launched an entirely new service that they had been working on, a web based iPad Kindle Reader called “Kindle Cloud Reader”. This new service allows users to utilize their Chrome or Safari browsers to access their Kindle eBooks. The Cloud Reader also supports the iPad version of Safari and successfully bypasses Apple’s subscription rules for apps.

Amazon can now implement any promotional feature for any book that they wish, without any regards to Apple’s rules, all the while earning 100% of revenue and still drawing on Apple customers. TechCrunch noted that the new feature is already up an running at http://read.amazon.com and that the feature is better than expected.

The iPad version is especially good because the store is fully optimized for the device. And you can easily switch back and forth between the store and your own library. It feels like a native app, but it’s not.

Apple has been receiving a lot of criticism about their new subscription rules, and companies are moving to entirely web based operations in order to sidestep Apple and retain all of their revenue.

Amazon recently complied with Apple’s rules by removing the Kindle Store button from their native application but with the new web-based solution the company work on its own terms without requiring any approval.

Have you used the new cloud-based reader? Do you still prefer the native app? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

{via MacRumors}

In a blunt tone, BeamItDown’s Phillip Huber summarized what he concluded as the end of his life’s hard work and the result of millions. Huber’s company as well as their iFlow Reader application will cease to exist, come May 31st which is the official date when BeamItDown is expected to shut down.

Five of us spent nearly a year and a half of our lives and over a million dollars in cash and sweat equity developing the iFlowReader app with its unique AutoScrolling approach to reading that many of you really like. … We put our faith in Apple and they screwed us.

BeamItDown is the first company to shut down after Apple Inc. (AAPL) made a change to it’s in-app subscription rules and just before it released it’s new subscription model. This shut down is drawing attentiom across the web, with developers fearing that their apps might be on danger as well. While many cases may not be as serious as BeamItDown’s, it is still a matter of great concern within the developer community. This is something that could possibly cost developer’s lots of money, time and hard work as the subscription model eats into developers already thin profit margin. Apple has yet to make a statement on any further changes to the new subscription rules they may present with the developer’s release of iOS 5.

Based on comments from Sony, the New York Times reported that AAPL is “further tightening its control on the App Store,” and it suggested that applications which rival Apple’s own iBooks app may be in danger of being removed from the App Store. It was thought that Apple was unhappy with the availability of ebooks outside of Apple and in-app purchases.

It’s not uncommon, however, for some of us journalists to get it wrong from time to time, and a rather timely response issued by Apple today has clarified the company’s position on third-party ebook readers and ebook sales through iOS apps.

An official comment from Apple spokesperson Trudy Miller confirmed that the company has not “changed our developers terms or guidelines.” Speaking to John Paczkowski of the New York Times, Miller explained that Apple now require applications to offer customers the ability to purchase books from within in-app purchases if they are also available to purchase outside of the app. So the company isn’t banning sales outside of the App Store, they just require applications to give users the option of purchasing through this route if they wish to do so.

Although Apple will argue that this move is to make life easier for the user, it’s hard to ignore that the company takes a cut of everything sold through iTunes and the App Store. Many already complain that the books sold through iTunes and the iBooks application are overpriced, and so we turn to the alternatives, who offer the same titles at a lower price, and we save our money. However, when we purchase books from Amazon for our Kindle app at present, Apple doesn’t see any of our money.

Buying books within applications through in-app purchases will undoubtedly be easier for the user – you simply select the book you want to purchase and click ‘buy’ – iTunes already has your billing info, and so your books begins downloading. There’s no redirection to a website in Safari where you must first login, then find the book you want to buy, then enter your credit card details, and then get your download.

Because things will be easier this way, most customers will choose to buy this way, and Amazon and Sony and all the rest will lose a little bit of the money we paid for our books to Apple. This could mean that the price of ebooks through third-party sources is slightly increased, however, I’m sure they’ll still be cheaper than Apple.

Jump back to the present and it seems that the early demise of the Kindle product line is not going to be so fast or simple. Amazon today announced that their eBook sales are outpacing regular hardcover book sales. For the last three months, Amazon sold 148 eBooks for every 100 hardcover books. Further, last month, Amazon sold 180 eBooks for every 100 hardcover books. These numbers defied all expectations. So what happened?

No one can say for sure what happened since Amazon does not release any data about where the majority of the sales were made and which device is used more extensively, but there were several factors that definitely helped. Aside from the hardware differences between the iPad and the Kindle devices (weight, display type, comfort in holding, etc…), Amazon dropped the price down on the Kindle devices. At $189 for the 6” Kindle and $389 for the 9.7” Kindle, these devices are priced much lower than when they were released and the math works much better. Avid readers who read multiple books each month realize the savings alone in the cost of the book. A reader reading 20 books a year will pay for the device in the cost saving when compared to purchasing hardcover books.

But the most interesting theory behind these numbers is that one of the reasons for the increase was the release of the iPad. On the same day of the release, Amazon’s Kindle App for the iPad was also released. Further, Amazon started a marketing campaign targeting iPad users. The purpose was to convert users from using iBooks to using the Kindle App. It looks like they succeeded. There is no doubt that the iPad as a hardware device is a great device and many people do not care about the display type when reading is involved. Amazon succeeded in doing something that many companies have failed. They turned the iPad into “their” device. They created a platform and delivery mechanism that worked the same across not just one device (the iPhone version of iBooks only became available recently) and allowed the user to switch between devices effortlessly with features such as location synchronization.

Jefferies analyst Youseff Squali’s analysis of the Kindle circulation estimates further supports this theory. Squali wrote:

We believe that Kindle’s e-book sales are benefiting from the launch of the iPad, since the Kindle e-book store offers a broad (and probably the richest) selection, with over 630K titles, which iPad owners can easily chose from. Our current estimates for 2H10/FY11 could also prove conservative as we assume only 10% Y/Y growth in Kindle device sales with no contribution to e-book sales from the iPad. A more probable scenario, based on a higher unit sales of Kindle and e-books, yields an additional ~$100M and $200M upside to our revenue estimates for FY10 and FY11.

Essentially, Squali deduces that due to a small growth in Kindle device sales, it is clear that the growth in eBook sales is due to other devices and specifically the iPad.

All of this leads to a very interesting question regarding who will be crowned king of the eBooks platform. Unlike iTunes, Apple does not have a first-to-market advantage when it comes to eBooks and has made some execution mistakes with iBooks. Barnes and Nobles is also making a move for this market and have released their own eBook reader application for the iPad. It is clear that Amazon is the current king but no one knows how long that will last for.

Which device do you use for eBooks? Are you an iPad reader using the Kindle App or the iBooks App? Which do you like better? Let us know your thoughts.