It's On: Apple Sues Amazon Over App Store Trademark

The world of trademarks is a fascinating, and incredibly (perhaps needlessly) complex one. At first glance, Apple's decision to sue Amazon over the use of "Appstore" in the name of Amazon's new Android, um, app store may seem a bit trivial.

Of course the tech world is full of generic words/terms that are claimed as trademarks by one company or another: Perhaps you're familiar with a little word processor called Word? Businesses have to defend their trademarks, or risk losing them. With that said, many times it can be questionable whether the trademark should've been granted to begin with, and this might be one of them. But again, trademark disputes usually quietly remain in the shadows: there's an initial flurry of coverage when a suit is announced, and then off in the shadows, things are quietly resolved.

The risk Apple always runs with picking a fight with Amazon, is the key role Amazon plays in how you purchase items from the App Store(tm) . When the original iTunes store launched, Apple licensed Amazon's one-click technology. That is Amazon's patented system by which you can buy something online without first putting it in an online shopping cart. And yes, whether that system even deserves a patent is a discussion in and of itself. And who knows, if things get ugly enough, Apple could open that can of worms.

Stay tuned, as this shapes up to have the potential to become a real cluster in the coming months.

Snow Leopard Takes Two Spots in Amazon Top Ten

Taking a quick look at Amazon's Top Ten selling software titles reveals Snow Leopard at #2, just behind Microsoft Office Home and Student for Windows.

Snow Leopard also registers at #4 with the Family Pack upgrade, which I find to be an interesting anecdote on how honest Apple owner can be, (or a cynic would say gullible. Be gone, cynics!) Between the two versions of Snow Leopard is Big Kahuna Reef, a free XP download. So technically, two of the top three paid software spots are occupied by Snow Leopard.

Apparently a lot of XP users are headed back to school and saying, "you mean it doesn't come with Office!?" which has pushed it to #1. The Mac version of Office Home & Student is #6 on the list.

Is that where you expected Snow Leopard to be? We sort of assumed it would be #1 during the launch.

The Palm Pre: Your Thoughts

At the D: All Things Digital conference (a conference which always seems to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about old media) more details of the Palm Pre were announced. Most tantalizingly, the Pre will sync your music through iTunes. Well done, Mr. Rubinstein! In one fell swoop, Palm avoided one of the biggest hurdles: people simply are not going to leave iTunes. If you can't beat em...

But the question is, what do you think of the Pre as we slowly approach launch date? Has Palm one-upped Apple? Is the Pre a viable iPhone competitor? Does the iTunes syncing make you more likely to give this phone a second look? Let us know in the comments.

Get 770 Free Songs From Amazon

So the pirates lost today (The Pirate Bay Pirates, not the Pittsburgh Pirates, who will probably lose as well), but that doesn't mean you can't still get free music. And what if you could get that free music legally, as well? "The Other MP3 Store" Amazon has 770 tracks available for free download according to CNet. Choices range from the obscure to the famous, but why not start the weekend with some free, fresh music...

Here you go... Go wild.

The iTunes music store could have some competition, if only...

Business is hard. The digital music business is really hard. Or is it? On paper at least, you need to create an easy user interface, have a wide selection, and offer unique features. There's one other part of the equation everyone seems to keep forgetting though: advertising.

Amazon has a decent mp3 store. It has a fine selection of tracks, and the best way to get your music into your iTunes library without using the iTunes music store. So why then, isn't it more popular? No one knows/remembers it exists! Other than the promotion with Pepsi, (which didn't have the same ad support as the previous Pepsi deal with Apple) have you ever seen an ad for the service?

Now Amazon is expanding to the UK, where we're told most digital downloads are in a protected Windows Media format. What a great opportunity for Amazon to expand their marketshare, but if the y make the same mistake as in the U.S., they will be a very distant second place at best.

The only digital music competitor to sink any real money into advertising was the failed buy.com music store. Maybe the failure of Buy caused everyone else to be gun shy. The problem with Buy was never the advertising though, it was a clunky store with a small selection, of wildly varying price points. Any company serious about taking on Apple will have to match ad for ad with them just to make any impact. Think about all those Coldplay commercials from Apple, who easily has the #1 position. There's no magic wand to make your music store competitive with Apple. People need to know the store exists, and then be reminded of that at every turn. It's a simple business principle