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Amazon Working on New TV and Movie Streaming Service
Posted 08/31/10 at 04:44:59 PM by Ryan Whitwam
Any way you slice it, companies that are already in the online video business are looking to get deeper in. Reports indicate that Amazon is working to expand their video offerings to include TV and movies from the likes of NBC, Time Warner, and Viacom. The new service would likely be viewable on devices Amazon currently uses for video. Devices like the Roku, Xbox 360, and PC would all fall into this category.
Amazon currently charges $1.99 for many individual TV episodes. The new streaming service would probably be a subscription affair, or would offer cheaper prices. Amazon may provide free subscriptions to current Amazon Prime members, who pay $79 per year for unlimited 2-day shipping on purchases.
As usual, the viability of this strategy is reliant on content creators signing on. No word on that yet, but Amazon will want to hurry if the Apple rumors about $0.99 streaming rentals on iTunes are real.
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Amazon: Latest Kindles Selling Faster than Ever
Posted 08/25/10 at 11:57:06 AM by Paul Lilly
Despite the tablet hype, the ebook reader market is very much alive and well, at least in Amazon's camp. The online retailer today announced that more next-gen Kindles were ordered in the first four weeks of availability than any previous Kindle launch in the same time frame.
"Kindle is the best selling product on Amazon.com for two years running and our new generation Kindles are continuing that momentum," said Steven Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle. "Readers are excited about all that the new Kindle has to offer -- 50 percent better contrast, 20 percent faster page turns, 15 percent lighter, up to one month of battery life -- and a new price of only $139."
It's that last bit that's probably most responsible for the Kindle's wildly successful launch. Prior to the recent price war among ebook readers, a Kindle would run nearly twice as much. At $140, it's far easier to justify a dedicated ebook reader, even without all the purported improvements to the underlying design.
Anyone order, or plan to order, one of the new Kindles? Or are you holding out for a low-cost tablet?
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Which Platform is Winning the eBook War?
Posted 08/24/10 at 07:09:51 AM by Paul Lilly
Back in early June, Steve Jobs went on stage and made a bold claim about the iPad. According to Jobs, "in the first 65 days, users have downloaded over 5 million books," equating to about two and a half books per iPad. By his numbers, that put the iBooks market share of ebooks from five or six major publishers to 22 percent in just 8 weeks time, an impressive feat, if it was true.
Jobs may very well be right, but if he is, not all authors are seeing those same kind of numbers. Mystery author J.A. Konrath, for example, is one of the few authors who publishes numbers on ebook sales, and according to his most recent blog post, Apple's iBooks platform doesn't hold a candle to Kindle.
"Publishers might be looking at enriched or enhanced ebooks as their new big-ticket items to replace hardcovers," Konrath writes. "But the major ebook retailer, Amazon, isn't set up for video. Kindle isn't even able to do color yet. That leaves Apple, and according to my numbers, Apple is a very small part of the ebook market. I sell 200 ebooks a day on Kindle. On iPad, I sell 100 a month."
That adds up to 6,000 ebooks through Kindle per month, versus 100 for the iBooks platform, or a 60-to-1 ratio. If his numbers are any indication of across the board performance, Jobs may need to invest in a new magical calculator.
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Kindle vs. iPad – Screen Technology Compared at 375x Magnification
Posted 08/15/10 at 01:26:44 PM by Justin Kerr
Dozens of comparisons between LCD and E-ink screens are made almost every day, but this is the first time we’ve seen both at 375x magnification. It still doesn’t really settle the argument as to which is better for reading, but it’s interesting to check out for yourself either way. The two technologies pictured above are the iPad’s 1024-by-768 IPS 132 pixel per inch LCD, along with the Kindle 2’s 600-by-800 167 pixel per inch e-ink display.
It would be interesting to see how much crisper the new “pearl” e-ink screen would look by comparison, but we still have a long way to go before it reaches parity with print.
Below is also a comparison between the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 LCD. Does the retina display live up to the hype? See for yourself.
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Amazon Gets Taste of Success with Kindle, Wants to Build More Hardware
Posted 08/12/10 at 09:08:06 AM by Paul Lilly
Whether or not Amazon ever expected its Kindle line to be as popular as it has become is irrelevant. The point is, Amazon got a taste of success in the hardware market, and according to a report in The New York Times, the online vendor craves more.
The NYT points out that the job board for Lab 126, the division of Amazon behind the Kindle phenomenon, has a bunch of job postings related to electronics hardware. Of course, these could simply be for next-gen Kindle devices, but is Amazon up to something more?
Citing "peoeple with direct knowledge of the company's plans" who aren't at liberty to speak publicly on the matter, and therefore asked to remain anonymous, the NYT reports that Lab 126 is looking at building other kinds of hardware beyond the Kindle.
"Jeff's original goal for the lab was to build a range of other devices," said one person, referring to Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive. "There was talk of music players and other electronics."
Do you think it's a good idea for Amazon to look beyond the Kindle? What kind of hardware, if any, do you think Amazon should produce? Post your thoughts in the comments section below!
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One Kindle Per Child Trials Underway in Ghana
Posted 08/09/10 at 09:11:32 AM by Paul Lilly
Everybody by now has heard of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, and if a nonprofit organization called Worldleader is successful in its latest efforts, the One Kindle Per Child initiative will become equally well known.
A series of trials have already begun in Ghana, which involves giving students Amazon.com Kindles to read in school and at home. Worldreader, which is spearheading the project, was co-founded by David Risher, Amazon's former Senior VP who played a huge role in growing Amazon's operations beyond just books. Risher left Amazon before the Kindle came out, but sees huge potential in the device's ability to bring eBooks to students in parts of the world where getting them regular books can take months and months.
"There's a huge difference between able to read from a selection of the 10 books that you happen to have -- or that somebody donated -- versus being able to get your hands on a book that you are really interested in," says Risher. "When you combine that with very, very low distribution costs for additional books and falling technology prices, these are ingredients for doing something really special."
According to Risher, eReaders are particularly well suited to developing nations because of their low power consumption and use of the GSM network.
"Computers play a great role, but eReaders really sole the reading problem in a much more direct and simple way," Risher added.
More here.
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Kindle's Got Game (Two of Them)
Posted 08/05/10 at 11:33:12 AM by Paul Lilly
Users can no longer accuse Amazon's Kindle of being nothing more than a stuffy eBook reader too good for gaming. The Kindle Development Kit (KDK) launched earlier this year ensured it was only a matter of time before we saw some other apps for the Kindle. like the two games that have just been released.
Both titles are simple word puzzles (you weren't really expecting Quake, were you?), starting with Every Word, a world scramble game. Users are shown six or seven scrambled letters and are challenged to come up with as many words as possible. Think of it as Scrabble Lite.
The other game is Shuffled Row, which tasks users will seeing how many words they can make from 60 lettered tiles. Tiles are added to your row one at a time, giving you a constant pool of fresh letters to work with. You can think of this one as, um, Scrabble Lite as well.
Simple? Sure, and they're also both free. It's also the just the beginning of more to come, and we suspect at some point we'll see some paid games show up, as developers get a 70 percent cut of the revenue.
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You Snooze, You Lose - New Kindle's Already Sold Out
Posted 08/03/10 at 11:30:13 AM by Paul Lilly
Hopefully all of you who were enticed by Amazon's new, smaller Kindle didn't sit on the fence before hitting the 'submit order' button. If you did, you may have to wait until September to get your paws on the new eBook reader.
"Due to strong customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Order now to reserve your place in line. Orders are prioritized on a first come, first served basis. Orders placed today are expected to ship on or before September 4th.," Amazon wrote on the Kindle's product page.
That's a delay of just over a week from the original August 27 launch date, but if the new prices prove popular enough, that date could get pushed back even further. Amazon released two new models, a Wi-Fi only version for $139, and a Wi-Fi + 3G unit for $189. Both devices are 21 percent smaller than the last-gen Kindle, but sport the same 6-inch reading area.
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Amazon, Apple Investigated for Potential Anticompetitive eBook Deals
Posted 08/03/10 at 11:11:10 AM by Paul Lilly
Connecticut's Attorney General's Office is looking into possible shenanigans between the country's largest eBook publishers and two heavyweight dealers, Amazon.com and Apple, Inc. According to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, both Amazon and Apple have reached agreements with several eBook publishers ensuring that they each receive the best prices over the competition.
"These agreements among publishers, Amazon and Apple appear to have already resulted in uniform prices for many of the most popular eBooks -- potentially depriving consumers of competitive prices," Blumenthal said. "The eBook market is set to explode -- with analysts predicting that eBook readers will be among the holiday season's biggest electronic gifts -- warranting prompt review of the potential anti-consumer impacts."
Blumenthal went on to say that Amazon and Apple own the lion's share of the eBook market, "allowing their most-favored nation clauses to effectively set the floor prices for the most popular eBooks." These kinds of agreements, Blumenthal contends, inevitably lead to coordinated pricing and discourages discounting.
More here, including the letters Blumenthal sent to Amazon and Apple.
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New Amazon Kindle Announced, Available August 27
Posted 07/28/10 at 07:11:50 PM by Ryan Whitwam
Remember yesterday when everyone noticed the Kindle was out of stock? Well now we know why. Amazon has announced new Kindle, but we kind of expected this one. The new model is just being called the Kindle, and brings a few improvements over the older model. The new eInk screen will have a 20 percent faster refresh rate, as well as better contrast. Internal storage has been bumped up to 4GB from the previous 2GB. Even with the new eInk screen, Amazon is claiming this unit will get a month of battery life with wireless off.
There will be two distinct models of the new Kindle. A Wi-Fi only version that will go for $139, and a 3G version for $189. The higher price is the same as the previous generation model. The keyboard has been altered with a different 5-way control, and slightly larger keys. The device is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the Kindle 2 as well. Customers will have the choice of color, either graphite, or classic white.
So, are you going to take the plunge on this new reading device? If so, will you be selling off a Kindle 2 to do so? Tell us if you find anything in this new package compelling.
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