Borders has been selling e-book readers for a few months now, both the Kobo Reader and the Aluratek Reader which cost $150 and $120, respectively.  The chain has also had iOS apps out for a few weeks now, and along with the e-bookstore is launching apps for Android and BlackBerry devices. {Mashable}

Like Borders’ higher-end e-book reader, the e-bookstore is powered by Kobo.  The store already has 1.5 million books.  That puts it right int he middle of Barnes & Noble, which only has 1 million books available, and smaller than Amazon which boasts more free e-books (1.8 million) than either have in total.  Apple, on the other hand, advertises “tens of thousands” of books in the iBookstore (which excludes popular books like “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” by Steig Larsson).

Borders hopes to gain 17 percent of the e-book market by July 2011.  That might be possible given that Barnes & Noble was able to get 20 percent of the market in about a year’s time.  Borders is late to the game, however, with readers that look rather pricey given their feature set compared to the recent price slashing that has happened among their peers in the market.  Like Barnes & Noble, Borders does have a retail store to help promote the e-book readers, though the fact that the Kindle is available in Target stores now could put a damper on that.

The new updates brings Flash 10.1 to the Google phone, along with a host of other features.  There’s a slightly redesigned home screen, where users will always have access to the call function and the web browser no matter what home screen they are looking at.  The Nexus One will now also feature tethering both via Bluetooth and mobile hotspot where users can connect up to 8 other devices to the phones 3G connection through WiFi.  Other improvements include automatic updates for apps if you so choose, an “update all button” in the Market, and faster speeds for applications.

Phones other than the Nexus One will get the update, but it will take time for the phone manufacturers and carriers to push out the updates.  For the Nexus One, Google handles pushing out updates on their own.  For phones like the myTouch 3G, the update could be relatively simple as it runs on stock Android without any added bells and whistles.  Phones like the EVO 4G and HTC Incredible, however, will likely take longer as they use a custom skin over Android which will have to be made compatible with the new OS version.

It also calls into question the new phones we’ve been seeing like the Galaxy S smartphones from Samsung like the Captivate, Vibrant and Epic 4G and the new Droid X, which were announced as running on Android 2.1.  Of course, this was before we knew that Google would start pushing the updates through.  It would make sense for the companies like Motorola, Samsung and HTC to attempt to put Froyo on their phones before they’re launched, but there’s no guarantee that the updates will be ready in time.  Looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of Over The Air updates of Froyo rolling out over the next few months.  Meanwhile, Google is likely hard at work on the version, Gingerbread.

While each of the three companies have different approaches to mobile, they all agreed that it’s definitely not going away anytime soon.  Crowley agreed the Foursquare is not the winner of location, but simply one of many options.  He disagreed that Google Latitude’s passive check-in model isn’t the way to go as making users check-in makes it more interactive.

When asked about location for Facebook, Cox pointed that that a large amount of Facebook postings are based around location.  Whether that content is status updates or photos, it usually tends to focus around things that are happening in certain locations at a certain time.  Given that, it only makes sense that Facebook would get into location, even if only for geo-tagging.

Guntroda, on the other hand, didn’t agree that geo-tagging as in Google Buzz doesn’t count as checking in to locations.  He highlighted that Google Latitude has 3 million users, and touted the privacy options like the mutual following model and that you can set just what level of location (exact location versus city-level).

In terms of Facebook privacy, Cox pointed out that on Wednesday Facebook will be rolling out new, simple privacy options.  He acknowledged that there has been a privacy issue and that the company wanted to have a solution before saying anything about it.

When asked what the cell phones of the future will be like, nobody was sure.  One thing they could all agree on was that future phones will need much bigger batteries than we have now.  The three panelists also talked about how phones will have to be smarter, will have to be able to determine your location, and who/what is around you and react accordingly.

Zazu, on the other hand, plays that sound or music, but also speaks to you.  The app will read headlines to you from select RSS feeds, give the local weather, or tell the user their day’s agenda.  The free version of the app will let users select from ten select RSS feeds including The Huffington Post and Engadget.  When the premium version launches users will be able to select their own feeds other than the preset ten options.

Just being realistic, talking can put most people to sleep (how many times have you dozed off while the TV’s on?). If there’s a voice that’s annoying enough to wake you from your sleep, but tolerable enough to want to listen to over and over though, it could be a suitable replacement for the usual blaring alarm that shocks you awake.

The app is launching in private beta sometime next week for Android, with the full release coming a bit after that.  While the first version of the app will be for Android 1.6 and up, Zazu Mobile hopes to bring the app to to all platforms including the iPhone and Windows Mobile.  While a premium version of the app is planned before the end of the year, the company is unsure of the price.  The app could range from $5 to $10.