While the Kindle has been an amazing accomplishment in paving the way for e-books, its time has seemingly passed. Citi analyst Mark Mahaney predicts that the Apple iBookstore will surpass Amazon’s service as the selection gets bigger and Apple sells more iPads. Electronista writes,

“Although not mentioned by Mahaney, Amazon also faces concern over the exposure of the Kindle reader and store versus Apple’s devices.”

As iBooks will begin opening doors on iPod touches and the new iPhone 4 starting next week, Apple will have a prominent advantage in simply outselling Amazon. The sheer amount of iBooks compatible devices, coupled with iBookstore integration with pre-existing iTunes accounts, makes purchasing e-books incredibly convenient. For the value of the Kindle compared to the iPad, consumers looking for an e-book platform may feel they’re getting more bang for their buck with Apple’s portable computer. Quite quickly, Apple is set to dominate yet another electronic market.

[via Electronista]

For those unfamiliar with Scribd, it’s an excellent social networking tool designed to get people talking about written materials – documents, comics, books – they’re all there. Lately they’ve been undergoing the arduous process of freeing themselves completely of Adobe Flash, and as they wipe away the last remaining remnants, the results have been dramatic.

CEO Trip Adler reports that user engagement, “Has surged.” Scribd isn’t saying their user base is increasing, rather, their pre-existing user base (50 million unique visitors) are spending a substantially greater amount of time searching for documents and sharing materials with friends.

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Manufacturing is an intense process that requires cooperation amongst a variety of vendors. Preparing to launch a new product isn’t simply a matter of ramping up production, due to the limited availability of product in our ever increasing demand for electronic devices. With the industry under enormous pressure to support multiple clients like Hewlett Packard, Dell, and of course Apple, the answer isn’t simply, “You should have prepared for this.” It’s an incredibly complicated issue.

Because the iPhone 4 is in such huge demand, customers outcry against Apple’s foreboding delays. Of the issues Apple faces between customer relent and manufacturing woes, The Mac Observer sources the problem in obtaining plane switching displays. While the issue is expected to be resolved by this holiday season, Apple’s initial demand for the new iPhone 4 may be met with later shipping dates as they wait to receive the necessary components.

[The Street via The Mac Observer]

Has the iPad revolutionized the publishing industry? Not quite, but according to publishers it is providing them with a new avenue of integration for video and text that’s just starting to transform business. While publishers are taking advantage of a new market that’s engaging early adopters worldwide, CEOs are responding with rather mixed results.

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This morning, sample iPhone 4 pictures and video arrive courtesy of the Czech Republic, which look absolutely fantastic for a smartphone. According to AppleInsider, the iPhone 4’s new camera is, “Orders of magnitude more sophisticated than anything previously attempted in a smartphone.”

The tipster who went hands on with Apple’s latest and greatest also noted the potential of the stainless steel band to become scuffed over time, and complimented the iPhone’s impressive battery life; during an hour of heavy use, the iPhone’s battery only dwindled by 10%.

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Apple hasn’t included any form of HD Radio radio in their ever expanded line of iPods and iPhones, but that could soon change. For those familiar with HD Radio, one of the main benefits is Music Tagging, which allows currently playing songs to be reviewed later and purchased through iTunes. Taking advantage of this capability, Apple may implement HD Radio to open a new market for iTunes Store purchases, according to a recent patent.

While iPod Nanos currently implement iTunes Tagging via FM Radio, HD Radio would provide listeners with higher quality broadcasts and access to exclusive HD stations if they exist in the local area.

[AppleInsider via TUAW]

Apple has been known to push various security patches for OS X quite often, and 10.6.4 specifically prevents the installation of a dangerous trojan which can be used by hackers to capture data from the target machine. With an ever vigilant stance on security, Sophos noticed an update to a file called XProtect.plist which points to the new threat, codenamed “HellRTS” by Apple. Sophos officially names HellRTS the OSX/Pinhead-B Trojan, which was distributed through a disguised download of iPhoto.

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