Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon’s Appstore has been doing brisk business stateside, and is now ready to sell its wares to Europeans in Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Spain. If you sign up, you’ll be able to create reviews and make one-click payments, and will have access to a huge library of apps from top-tier brands, as well as localized content. The company said purchases can be used “across a customer’s Android devices,” which will let you buy an app once, and use it on any of your tablets or smartphones that support the OS. If you’d like to check it out, or get one of Amazon’s Free Apps of the Day, check the PR for all the details.

Continue reading Amazon Appstore arrives in Europe, won’t be late for school

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets

Amazon Appstore arrives in Europe, won’t be late for school originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Thursday folks – just one more work day to go and another weekend will be here. Today a new video gave us a look at reported iPhone 5 parts, and it seems that the iPhone will be sporting a new look with the next iteration. Recent whispers are saying that Nokia will reveal a total of three new Windows Phone devices during its September 5 event in New York City, and today Microsoft updated its logo for the first time in a whopping 25 years.

Twitter has taken away Tumblr Friend Finder functionality, and the inexpensive T-Mobile Concord has launched to bring 4G to budget-minded consumers. It was recently discovered that the SMS security hole known to plague iPhones doesn’t affect other devices running a different OS like Android or BlackBerry, and LG has apparently started working on the screen that may end up gracing the iPhone 5. Speaking of the iPhone, it seems that production on the next model has slowed thanks to a shortage of supplies.

The FCC has approved Verizon’s bid to buy up additional 4G LTE spectrum, and the Xbox 360 will be offering users election coverage starting next week, complete with live streams of the three debates that are planned. A large percentage of consumers are saying that they don’t need 4G LTE service, despite the fact that carriers are advertising it like mad. There’s a new OS X Mountain Lion update on the scene, and it’s bringing some software fixes with it, while today we received word that Facebook’s storage requirements grow by 500TB each and every day.

Sony Mobile has announced that it will be laying off 1,000 employees by March 2014, and the jury that is deciding the Apple and Samsung patent case decided to put in a little bit of overtime today. Paypal will be teaming up with Discover to bring its service to a ton of retail locations, Nissan will be giving prospective buyers of its 2013 Pathfinder a virtual tour of the car with a little help from Kinect, and Amazon has a new event coming up next month, where we’re thinking it will announce a brand new Kindle Fire. It just so happens that we’ll be at that event, so if there is a new Kindle Fire announced, you’ll be able to read all about it here at SlashGear.

Finally tonight, we have a brand new hands-on with the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Enjoy the rest of your evening everyone, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow night for Friday’s edition of the Wrap-Up!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 23, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last week, we caught word that a new Kindle Fire had apparently cleared the FCC. Today The Digital Reader has uncovered another Kindle device that has passed through the FCC, but whereas the device from last week appeared the be the next iteration of the Kindle Fire, this one seems to have more in common with the regular Kindle. Is Amazon planning to launch a new version of the Kindle Fire alongside a new version of the basic Kindle? It sure does seem that way.

This new Kindle device has been dubbed EY21, and it appears to come with both Wi-Fi and 3G functionality. Sadly, it looks like it doesn’t come equipped with a front light like so many Kindle owners have been hoping for, so we may end up missing out on that particular feature this time around. Though a lot of the details are being kept under wraps, it seems pretty safe to assume that this is a new e-ink reader in the vein of the Kindle.

Like the tablet that surfaced last week, this device was submitted to the FCC through a front company. The company this time around is named Hannaford LLC, and The Digital Reader has discovered that the address for this LLC belongs to Corporation Service Company, which is another front company Amazon uses. The same thing happened last week, only then the front company was called Harpers LLC. Like the address for Hannaford, the address for Harpers led back to CSC, so it seems pretty likely that Amazon is behind both of these FCC filings.

Another interesting thing to note is that Amazon now owns the trademark for “Firedock,” which was the name of an upcoming Kindle Fire speaker dock from Grace Digital Audio. It appears that Amazon wants this term for itself, and while it’s unclear what Amazon will stick with the Firedock branding, it’s possible that the company will be revealing a Kindle Fire dock of its own soon, perhaps along with a new Kindle Fire and Kindle. With Barnes and Noble announcing that the Nook will soon be arriving in the UK, it looks like Amazon is gearing up to make the the war of the eReaders a little more interesting. Stay tuned.

Thanks Nate!

New Kindle shows up at FCC, Amazon acquires ‘Firedock’ trademark is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve heard word in the past that Amazon is working on a sequel to the Kindle Fire, with the company reportedly aiming at a larger form factor compared to the current 7-inch screen. The Digital Reader has done some detective work and come across what may be an FCC filing of Amazon’s next tablet, believing that the online internet retailer may have used a front company to file the documents in order to sneak the tablet under the radar.

The filings were issued by a company called Harpers LLC, with The Digital Reader tracing the company back to an address rented by CSC Entity Services. The listed name on the paperwork, Stephen Facciolo, is apparently the President of Harpers, who just so happens to also work for CSC. Meanwhile, his name appears on LinkedIn for CSC, with the website concluding that CSC is the first front company that Amazon employed to set up the second front company.

The Digital Reader stipulates that this isn’t the first time that Amazon has gone about its FCC filings in such a roundabout way. Amazon reportedly used three front companies for its Kindle Fire submission to the FCC the day before the official announcement back in September 2011. While The Digital Reader may have cracked the code, the actual FCC filing leaves much to the imagination, with little to no details surrounding Amazon’s next Kindle Fire iteration.

Having said that, the aspect ratio of the device indicates that Amazon is moving to a 4:3 form factor instead of 16:9 ratio that many Android OEMs use. Why the company has chosen to do so remains to be seen, but given that the one-year anniversary of the Kindle Fire is rapidly approaching, we may soon find out exactly what Amazon has up its sleeve.

[Thanks, Nate.]

Amazon’s next Kindle Fire may have just hit the FCC is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It appears that Amazon may be feeling the heat of the Nexus 7 wave – or perhaps even the oncoming Apple iPad mini – as they place essentially their entire Kindle collection on sale for back-to-school. Though many of the sales have halted here on the morning after a super-sale weekend, Amazon did have the Kindle DX up for 29% off (that’s $110!) and cases, speaker docks, sleeves of all kinds, and more. This could mean several things, but what we’re banking on is this: a whole new model – or models – coming on quick.

With several manufacturers hoping to stay on top in the 7-inch and reader categories here in the right-before-school season, Amazon is certainly feeling the strain of sticking with essentially one model for an extended period with the Kindle Fire. Because of this, they’ve prepped bargains for release here (as Gizmodo notes, starting last Friday) that appear to be emptying out their shelves for the very near future where they’ll be filled back up with new equipment. What will Amazon bring to the table?

We must assume that the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Touch 3G, also appearing to be low in stock in several stores across the nation – or completely sold out – will be turned out along with the DX and the Kindle Fire. Rumors thus far have pointed toward a Kindle Fire 10-inch tablet as well as slightly more advanced displays for e-readers of all types and models.

Over a Barnes & Noble you’ll find that the price cuts continue to their own models of tablets, these and Amazon’s also likely partly due to their cut from Target stores across the nation – though that tip now seems less solid as the big red chain continues to sell some models online. The 8GB Nook Tablet is now available for $20 off its normal price while the Nook Color remains its discounted price – since the Tablet was released – at $149.

A new Amazon tablet in the Kindle Fire line would likely continue with the rather-low prices as the Nexus 7 from Google cuts out the bottom of the price environment, while e-reader devices have been tipped as remaining essentially the same prices that they’re at now. We’ll know more soon!

[via CSM]

Amazon clearing tablet inventory is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.