Hasta La Gadget!

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 a lot of rumors in the last year, but now Barnes & Noble has finally unveiled its first official  plans for taking its Nook tablets and e-readers to markets outside of the U.S. Today it announced that it will be launching the devices, starting first with the e-readers, in the UK in October, along with a new UK online storefront for the Nook digital bookstore (2.5 million digital titles) and “partnerships with leading retailers” to sell them.

The move comes as B&N’s arch rival Amazon gears up to launch the Kindle Fire in the UK — in a deal with leading book retailer Waterstones that includes other Kindle devices as well as e-books. Both the Kindle Fire and the Nook are built on forked versions of Google’s Android OS.

The news also comes at a time when people are scrutinizing how well the Nook line of devices is performing, questioning what sort of an impact Microsoft’s $300 million investment in B&N will have longer-term.

Prior to Amazon announcing a Waterstones agreement, many had thought that B&N would partner with the UK bookseller itself as a way of getting its Nook line of readers and tablets into the UK market. The CEO of Waterstones had publicly praised Waterstones, and reviled Amazon as a devil.

In the absence of a Waterstones deal, B&N now promises “partnerships with leading retailers,” although it has yet to specify any names. It also says that pricing for the Nook readers and tablets will be revealed closer to the date of commercial launch.

Amazon already offers its Kindle e-readers in a number of global markets, and in that sense this is about B&N catching up: “The first products to be available when the company begins offering its products in the UK in mid-October,” it notes, “include Barnes & Noble’s line of…E Ink Readers, NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight.”

The company does not specify when its tablets will be entering the mix.

B&N has for months now been building up its presence in the UK and the rest of Europe, so this may well be a first-move into the rest of the region. In March, the company incorporated in Germany and started to hire there. It has also been running events to cozy up to Android developers in the UK — although in the absence of local billing, and more concrete details on device launches here, that perhaps hasn’t been as buzzy as B&N would have hoped.

The company is due to report its quarterly earnings this week, and all eyes will be on how well its digital and device strategies are holding up, in the wake of people reading less paper books and general problems that have befallen other traditional booksellers like Borders.

Judging by how B&N has marketed the Nook in the U.S., its retail partnerships in the UK will be key to how well it does here. The company doesn’t have any physical stores of its own, and yet its sales strategy in the U.S. has been heavily based on promoting the devices in-store, creating reading areas and offering users free reading time while in the retail location. Whether it will take the same approach here has yet to be made clear. But again the fact that Waterstones, the biggest physical bookseller in the UK, is not going to be among those stocking it will inevitably be a setback in that sense.

The Nook tablet has less than 5% of the U.S. market for tablets at the moment, according to IDC. B&N says that it has sold “millions” of Nook devices to date.

Sony’s got a new ereader. It’s actually quite nice. It’s just not as nice as all the other ereaders that are either out or about to be out. And sadly, it’s more expensive than its direct competitors, too. Poor Sony. More »

Well, Barnes and Noble seems to be in a giving mood today. The company revealed earlier this morning that eager customers can nab themselves a 16GB Nook Tablet for $199 — $50 off its original price. Meanwhile, the 8GB Nook Tablet now goes for $179 (down from $199), and aging Nook Color can how be had for the relatively low price of $149.

As for why Barnes and Noble has suddenly decided to slash prices — well, there are a few reasons why the move makes plenty of sense.

We’re already knee-deep in August for one, which means the back-to-school buying frenzy is starting to heat up considerably. Students (with parents in tow, naturally) will be trawling their local big box stores and online retailers for gadgets to accompany them to school, and a little price break makes the Nook lineup just a bit more palatable.

Perhaps more important here is the issue of competition. B&N’s line of e-readers are right up there with Kindle series, but its Nook Tablets have plenty of strong rivals to contend with and a lower price tag couldn’t hurt. After a bit of a rough start, Google’s impressive little Nexus 7 is endearing itself to those watching the low-cost tablet space, and it shouldn’t be long before Amazon releases something new to stymie its rival. In fact, recent rumblings indicate that Amazon may make its move sooner rather than later.

Barnes and Noble isn’t the only e-reader peddler that has recently futzed with product pricing — Amazon slashed the price of its aging (and hefty) Kindle DX earlier this week, and astute observers were quick to point out that models like the Kindle Touch 3G were curiously unavailable from the online retailer.

Gizmodo took the news as potential proof that Amazon was trying to burn through existing inventory ahead of a long-rumored Kindle announcement they believe will take place next week. While multiple sources have pointed to a new Kindle unveiling in the third quarter, I’m not quite convinced the timing is right just yet — each previous crop of Kindles were on the market for over a year before its successors were revealed. Amazon’s most recent Kindle announcement was also preceded by an invitation that went out to the press a week prior to the event, and so far as I know nothing like that has hit anyone’s inbox yet.

That’s not to say Amazon won’t make a move next week, but I’m not quite onboard with the notion yet. Then again, I wouldn’t mind being wrong this time — my 2nd generation Kindle is getting a bit long in the tooth.

We first caught sight of Sony’s latest reader when it mysteriously swung past the FCC, but now the PRS-T2 has arrived to spill the beans at Park Row’s most famous resident. J&R’s pre-order page reveals that the 6-inch touchscreen WiFi-only device is packing a 800 x 600 E-Ink display, a battery promising two months life and a built-in stylus. Software options include six dictionaries, Evernote Clearly, Facebook for Reader and a free copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The electronics superstore has the device listed as “coming soon,” and when it arrives, will set you back $130 — but, as its write-up notes, that’s the price you pay to avoid being bothered with adverts.

Sony Reader PRS-T2 up for $130 pre-order at J&R originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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