Imitation is the best form of flattery, or so it says. Whenever you need to understand whether or not a service or a product is getting traction, just try to look at the clones that it may have inspired and the number of copy cats would tell you how successful the product or service is.

Same goes with Amazon’s Kindle, apparently Nintendo has confirmed the rumors that it will be releasing an eBook reader bundled with 100 Classical books for its Nintendo DS consoles. The eBooks in the collection comprise of works from Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Alexandre Dumas and Oscar Wild, but you could always download more using the WiFi connection. The bundle would go on sale from 26th of Dec for a price tag of 19.99 British Pounds.

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Another one bites the dust? Pownce, a would-be Twitter rival that was heavily hyped due to the involvement of Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, is closing its doors in two weeks.

It's not quite going away, according to a post from Pownce founder Leah Culver on the start-up's official blog. The technology has been sold to blog platform Six Apart, which runs TypePad and Movable Type. And its two full-time employees, Culver and Mike Malone, will be joining Six Apart's team.

"We'll be closing down the main Pownce Web site two weeks from today, December 15," Culver wrote. "Since we'd like for you to have access to all your Pownce messages, we've added an export function...(you can) import your posts to other blogging services such as Vox, TypePad, or WordPress."

Pownce, which is like Twitter with additional features like file-sharing, was so buzzworthy at its debut that people were auctioning alpha test invites off on eBay. It also had a business model, with paid accounts available for sale. But the Pownce hype died off, and Twitter gained more and more market share.

Additionally, we heard that the self-funded Pownce was trying to secure a round of venture capital. It looks like that didn't work out. This is, after all, not a great time to be raising money.

Six Apart is encouraging Pownce members to join its blog platform Vox. "We hope the Pownce and Vox communities can come together, just as the teams have, towards a better future," Six Apart's Chris Alden wrote on the company blog.

Pownce's two other co-founders, Rose and Daniel Burka, will become Six Apart "advisers."

Rosenblatt is the guy who cut costs while building revenues at DoubleClick before selling it to Google (GOOG) for $3.1 billion. He beat out Google's head of sales Tim Armstrong and former AOL CEO Jon Miller in our final round of voting.

We haven't heard from Rosenblatt about whether he'd even take the job, but we decided to collect recommendations to send to Yahoo's board anyway.

We started with another former CEO of DoubleClick, cofounder Kevin Ryan, who also happens to work in our office as SAI chairman. Kevin loves the idea of Rosenblatt-run Yahoo. He gave us five reasons why:

• He's experienced. Rosenblatt successfully managed an Internet company with more than 1,000 employees.
• He owns the niche. DoubleClick wasn't just a tech company and it wasn't just an advertising company. It was both -- like Yahoo.
  
• He can cut and grow Yahoo at the same time. At DoubleClick, Rosenblatt cut headcount from 2,000 to 1,000 between 2001 and 2003.
  
• He can cut and grow. While selling off businesses DoubleClick needed to get out of, Rosenblatt managed to increase its revenues anyway.
• He's new. Yahoo needs someone who isn't responsible -- and isn't interested in defending -- past decisions.

Current DoubleClick/Google employees crush on Rosenblatt, too. One told me: "There is nothing not to love about him. [Rosenblatt taking the Yahoo CEO gig] would be great for him. Huge loss for us."

A few readers told us why they chose Rosenblatt:

David Rosenblatt is a incredibly smart and an amazing manager; he turned Doubleclick around and was behind the entire sale to Google. He is far and away the best man for the job. Yahoo would be crazy to let him get away...

Rosenblatt's banking connections prob facilitate another deal with MSFT quickly.

DR!!! Worked for him. Smart guy, understands the business and surrounds himself with strong people.

David R. Thats what people at DCLK call him. A great CEO worked with him, even played basketball with him (he was part of the DCLK b'ball team) in the league in nyc. A great competitor.

One reader composed a list of ten reason while Rosenblatt will get the job:

• Turned around DoubleClick as CEO, gave it a rebirth and sold to Google for 5x in less than 2 years
• Unlike the AOL guys, has had a history of success in the online business-- success follows people and breeds more success...
• Is not a homegrown, loyal Google guy like [Tim Armstrong] and would probably leave
• Has seen the insides of Google, whose organization is most likely factorial worse than Yahoo only masked by the 1 phenomenal revenue stream
• Probably made 95% of his DCLK acquisition money already-- time to diversify!
• As President of Display, he will always be the step child to the search guys [at Google]
• Is highly ethical
• Is a technologist who gets the advertising space, exactly what Yahoo! needs with its open strategy and apt platform
• Is smart-- street smarts combined with cognitive intelligences (Yale and Stanford MBA)
• Is respected in the industry-- advertisers, publishers, agencies AND investors.

See Also:
Everyone's Pick For Yahoo CEO

During most of the winter, Murdoch's people (his "henchmen", they tended to call themselves) had continued to analyse the Dow Jones business. The company was trading no higher than the mid-30s; Murdoch had heard about Rich Zannino's estimate of getting the share price to, tops, $45. Nobody at News Corp thought Dow Jones could be worth, most optimistically, more than $50.

But Murdoch insists they should offer $60 - and because he's Murdoch no one is going to tell him he's a fool. Dow Jones management and the Bancroft family may act sanctimonious and high and mighty, but $60 [which values the company at $5bn], Murdoch knows, will call their bluff.

In early April he makes the call.

He's apologetic when Zannino, on vacation at the Ocean Club in the Bahamas, calls him back, sorry to disturb, but it's important, he says, that he see Zannino as soon as he gets back. Suspecting something large, Zannino might here, too, have consulted with others at the company. But he doesn't tell anyone - he persists in allowing himself to believe that seeing Murdoch, even urgently, could be about many things.

After 45 minutes in which they talk again about American Idol, Murdoch says: "Well, I'm thinking about making an offer to buy Dow Jones."

Zannino demurs a bit: "You know Rupert, you know as well as anybody, this isn't my call, it's the family's call. And the family has consistently - and Rupert, even as recently at our last board meeting - said that they're committed to the independence of Dow Jones and they have no interest in selling the company."

Murdoch: "I know that. I was thinking I'd take the offer directly to the board. I know the family feels that way. I've called [Michael] Elefante in the past. He won't even take a number. The number I'm thinking of is ... 60."

Zannino: (internally) Holy Shit! (externally) Silence.

Murdoch: "So I'm thinking I'll just take that directly to the board to try and get that through the board ... So that's what I'm going to do - I'm going to make an offer to the board. Did I just make an offer to you?"

Zannino: "No you didn't. You mused about wanting to buy Dow Jones. I told you the family has the call and it's not for sale, and you told me you were going to contact the board."

Zannino is trying to find his balance - he's walked out to the furthest point and now, teetering on the precipice, he's trying to come back. Zannino tells Murdoch he isn't going to tell his board about the offer, because it's really not an official offer, suggesting to Murdoch that if anybody asks him about it, he should say he was just joking about the $60.

But, in the car, Zannino understands that the breach has just occurred - that he's let Murdoch in. He breathlessly calls Joe Stern, the Dow Jones general counsel, and tells him: "He gave me a number." Back at the Dow Jones office, each successive person let in on the news understands that the breach is real - and that they can't close it.

Murdoch has correctly analysed that Zannino, who might have blocked his access to the board, has not.

[Continue reading at the Guardian.]

See Also:
New York Times (NYT) Now Losing Business To Wall Street Journal

“Welcome to Macintosh” (subtitle: the documentary for the rest of us) features a mix of history and cult with interviews from ex-Apple employees, engineers and community members, shedding light on the company’s innovations, failures, cultural impact and what the future holds post co-founder Steve Jobs.

As we noted, it was announced out on DVD this fall, but the delay makes this a good bet for the Mac fanatic on your Christmas list. (Word to the wise: pre-order, since it won’t ship until mid-December).

On sale from the official site, the DVD, which costs about $20, offers three hours of extra content including extended interviews, a “making of” feature, trailers and photo journal.

The doc features a number of Macsperts including CoM’s Leander Kahney. In the trailer he speaks on design: “That’s what makes these products so beautiful, that level of comittment and dedication to the thing. To make it the best thing possible.”

Pretty things, we like.

Much has been written about VMware in recent months, with the release of Fusion 2.0. The software provides operating system virtualization, allowing you to run your favorite Windows applications and devices on any Intel-based Mac.

Today, until 11:59 PM Pacific Time, the VMware e-store is running a deal for 50% off of VMware Fusion. We recently covered a 25% discount promotion, which pales in comparison to the huge offer today.

To take advantage of the promotion, you need to enter the coupon code “CyberMondayDeal” (without the quotes!), at checkout. The 50% discount is available worldwide, but is a one day only offer — you’ll need to act quickly to take advantage of the deal.

The main two competitors to VMware Fusion are Parallels and Virtual PC, both offering similar functionality. An aggressive push is being made from VMware at present, and for Mac users in the U.S. and Canada, it is interesting to note that this 50% discount can be used in conjunction with a concurrent offer of a $30 rebate for those switching from Parallels or Virtual PC. If you own either of these packages, you’re able to pick up VMware Fusion for a mere $10 (unfortunately, this offer isn’t available for international users).

If you are in the market for a virtualization package, now would be an excellent time to make a purchase. If you’re undecided upon which company to go with, our comparison of VMware Fusion 2 and Parallels Desktop 4 will provide an interesting read.

It's a little late in the holiday season for a big consumer product launch, so it might not be a gadget that's on sale until next year. But it could create some buzz for Nokia's investor roadshow in Brooklyn on Thursday.

What is it? We don't know. Here's Phone Scoop editor Eric Zeman's report from Spain:

According to what I've been told by Nokia staffers, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will be dropping a huge bomb during his keynote address. The device is so secret that most Nokia employees haven't seen it yet.

We hope it's a high-end smartphone that can better compete with Apple's (AAPL) iPhone -- a weak spot for Nokia. Why?

• The smartphone market is growing significantly faster than the overall mobile phone market, which Nokia now expects to shrink next year.
  
• While smartphones represent a small percentage of Nokia's unit sales, they represent a relatively higher percentage of Nokia's revenue and profits.

Meanwhile, another possibility from UBS analyst Maynard Um: A notebook/tablet PC, a market where Nokia hasn't yet had much success. Um notes today:

Our checks indicate Nokia may be working on a 9'-10' notebook/tablet PC with a second OLED display, touchpad, near field communication (NFC) capability, HDMI out, and Linux OS. Given its seemingly higher end functionality, we do not think it will compete in the traditional netbook (~US$400) market.

Um thinks component orders will probably be placed soon, with a decision on the manufacturer to follow.

Have more info? Drop us a line at dfrommer@alleyinsider.com -- confidentiality guaranteed -- or via our anonymous tips form.

See Also:
Nokia Pulls Out Of Japan
Nokia: Global Consumer Spending Crash, Cutting Estimates
This Winter's Smartphone Wars Are Set: Who's Going To Win?

Munster's team spent 10 hours counting Mac and iPhone sales in five Apple stores last Friday. They calculated:

• Mac sales averaged 13 per hour, up from 2 per hour in early November.
• iPhone sales averaged 3.4 per hour, up from 1.3 per hour in early November. Friday's iPhone sales numbers are "likely understated" because they missed some iPhone gift card sales.

See Also:
Apple's Black Friday Sale: No 15% Discount
Brits Ban Deceptive Apple iPhone Ad
Apple Eases Up Unfriendly Anti-Piracy Feature On New MacBooks

TimeDrift v1.0 for Palm OS is available now for $9.95 and comes with a free trial period. It is currently on sale for $7.95 for a limited time.