It's Steve Jobs's World, You Just Live There

Two tech stories today highlight Apple's increasing product dominance, for better or for worse they're driving the smartphone and e-book reader markets right now.  First, Apple's iPhone has killed the Microsoft KIN...

Microsoft said on Wednesday it had canceled plans to sell its "Kin" phones in Europe this Fall. The company added the internal team working on the Kin phones would be combined with the group working on Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Phone 7 software. 

"We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current Kin phones," Microsoft said in an emailed statement.

The move underscores the challenges facing Microsoft, whose software is used on the vast majority of the world's PCs, as it strives to adapt to consumers' growing taste for handheld Internet-connected gadgets like smartphones.

In April, Microsoft said it was shelving an internal project to develop a tablet PC similar to Apple's iPad.

...while Amazon has made a major price cut on the Kindle DX in the wake of being outsold by the Apple iPad.

Amazon's new Kindle DX, which sports a higher-quality 9.7-inch screen, will sell for $379, down from $489, and have free 3G wireless connection with no monthly bills or annual contracts, the company said.

It was the second price cut for Amazon in as many weeks. Responding to the threat from the iPad, Amazon cut the Kindle with a 6-inch screen to $189, hours after book-selling rival Barnes & Noble Inc lowered the price on its "Nook" to $199. Both had cost $259.

At stake is market share for e-books, the fastest-growing segment in a moribund bookselling industry. In addition to the iPad, the Nook and Kindle also compete with Sony's Reader device. Industry experts and rivals say the field will get even busier, with more e-readers expected this year.

Apple's iPad, launched in April at a starting price of $499, can function as an e-reader, but unlike competing models, it has a color screen and can be used as a full computer. It sold more than 2 million units in its first 60 days and its own e-bookstore has quickly won market share, putting pressure on rival readers like Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook.

I own an older Kindle 2 myself as well as an iPhone 3G, but when it comes time to upgrade, let's just say I'm not looking at Apple's competition.  Which is ironic, up until these two products came out, you couldn't have paid me to own an Apple anything.

Now they're in the driver's seat.  Go figure.