Oct 25

Amazon focusing on ‘lifetime’ Kindle revenue, anticipating record device sales for Q4

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, earnings, financial, financials, kindle, Today's Chili

Today’s Amazon earnings were decidedly split — the company revealed both a 44-percent increase in net sales and a 73-percent decrease in net income. So, why the discrepancy? It may at least partially be due to the much discussed suggestion that the company actually loses money for each Kindle sold — a trend which, if true, has likely only been compounded by the release of the uber-cheap ad-supported version of the device. The company addressed the matter in part, suggesting that it is focused on “the lifetime value [of the Kindle], not just the economics of the devices and accessories.” The total economic picture of the Kindle includes the device itself, accessories, downloaded content and ad-revenue.

Things are apparently looking up for the company, as well, with Amazon anticipating “a record quarter in terms of device sales” for Q4. The positivity is a reflection, in part, of greater than anticipated Kindle pre-orders. Says CEO Jeff Bezos, “In the three weeks since launch, orders for electronic ink Kindles are double the previous launch. And based on what we’re seeing with Kindle Fire pre-orders, we’re increasing capacity and building millions more than we’d already planned.”

Amazon focusing on ‘lifetime’ Kindle revenue, anticipating record device sales for Q4 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 25

Amazon net sales up, net income down for Q3 2011

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, earnings, financial, financials, kindle, Today's Chili
Amazon pulled back the financial curtain for Q3 2011, revealing $10.88 billion in net sales for the quarter, a 44 percent jump over this time last year. Net income, on the other hand, decreased 73 percent year over year, down to $63 million. The quarter also saw the company’s “biggest order day ever for Kindle,” according to CEO Jeff Bezos — September 28th, the introduction of three new reader devices from the company. The company’s Q4 report will likely be affected by the coming launch of the Kindle Touch and the long-awaited Fire tablet.

Continue reading Amazon net sales up, net income down for Q3 2011

Amazon net sales up, net income down for Q3 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 24

Amazon’s new e-book format brings HTML5 support to your Kindle library

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, Books, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, tablet, Today's Chili
“Great looking books.” That’s what Amazon is promising to deliver with Kindle Format 8 (KF8) — a new, HTML5-based file format for Kindle books. According to the company, KF8 will allow publishers to produce picture books, comics and graphic novels with greater ease, thanks to the platform’s rich formatting capabilities and design elements. In fact, this format brings more than 150 new formatting tools to the table, including fixed layouts, nested tables, sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics, among others. It should be noted, however, that audio and video are not included on the list of supported HTML tags and CSS elements. At first, content creators will only be able to use KF8 for the Kindle Fire tablet, though Amazon says it’ll gradually expand to its entire lineup of devices and apps “in the coming months.” No word yet on when KF8 will become available as an update to Amazon’s Kindle Publisher Tools suite, but you can find more details at the source link, below.

Amazon’s new e-book format brings HTML5 support to your Kindle library originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 21

Amazon adds e-readers to Trade-In program, ebook lovers pass the old Kindles to the Bezos side

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, minipost, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili

Early adopters are usually SOL a few months into owning their new doodads. After helping make products successful, their version 1.0 devices are often cast aside to make room for the newer, better, faster kit waiting in the pipeline. If you happened to jump on the Kindle bandwagon early on or even just a short while ago, you may be feeling these very flames of tech fury whenever you consider the company’s newly refreshed line. Well, buck up bookworms, a partial solution to your economic woes is now available. Amazon’s accepting your used and abused e-readers in exchange for a gift card applicable to any purchases you make on the site. It’s the same old trade-in program the Bezos-backed company’s been running for years, only now you’ll have a more sensible way to upgrade your E Ink or tablet game.

Amazon adds e-readers to Trade-In program, ebook lovers pass the old Kindles to the Bezos side originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 16

Kindle 3 gets software upgrade, ready to soar into the cloud

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, Books, cloud, e ink, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, ebooks, feature, Features, firmware update, FirmwareUpdate, keyboard, kindle, minipost, reader, Today's Chili

Amazon has pushed out a new update for the Kindle 3, now operating under the alias of the Kindle Keyboard. This gives the well-buttoned e-reader access to some of the cloud features found on its freshly unboxed younger brother, and includes the ability to view any archived documents, notes and highlights you’ve added to that intangible pile of books and articles. You’ll need to tether the Kindle to your PC, point your browser towards Amazon, and download the file corresponding to the right region and model. Excitable annotators can grab the upgrade now at the source link below.

Kindle 3 gets software upgrade, ready to soar into the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 04

Amazon puts the kibosh on Kindle Touch 3G’s experimental browsing free ride

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, minipost, Today's Chili

Back in the early ’90s, a certain Mr. Vandross and Ms. Jackson serenaded us with a little ditty on the benefits of free goods. Well, it might be time they updated the track because the best things in this eReading life are no longer free over a carrier’s 3G. If you happened to grow accustomed to sucking down data on your AT&T- or Sprint-enabled Kindle keyboard, we’d advise you to hold off on that newly introduced upgrade. An Amazon rep lurking the web retailer’s forums this past weekend delivered the disheartening news that experimental browsing over 3G on the Kindle Touch would no longer be supported. Sure, you can still connect to WiFi and surf via the clumsy E Ink browser, but where’s the on-the-go, loophole-exploiting fun in that? Bookworms with a predilection for an interwebbed free lunch should cling tightly to their outdated eReaders.

Amazon puts the kibosh on Kindle Touch 3G’s experimental browsing free ride originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 03

Amazon Kindle Lighted Leather Cover hands-on

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, case, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, hands-on, light, Today's Chili
It’s true of other portable electronics and it applies here, too: if you own an e-reader, there’s a strong argument to be made that you need a case. Sure, readers are a little more scratch-resistant than smartphones, but a little bit of backpack trauma can do some nasty things to an e-ink display. That could be Amazon’s elevator pitch, anyway. Introduced at the company’s launch event last week, the Kindle Lighted Leather Cover comes in various sizes, with versions for the Kindle Touch and fourth generation Kindle. We spent some hands-on time with the latter over the weekend and have to say: we’re liking what we’re seeing so far. Read on to find out why.

Gallery: Kindle Lighted Leather Cover hands-on

Kindle Lighted Leather Cover hands-on

Continue reading Amazon Kindle Lighted Leather Cover hands-on

Amazon Kindle Lighted Leather Cover hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 03

Amazon Kindle review (2011)

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e ink, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, review, Today's Chili, video

There’s little question that the Fire stole the show at last week’s Amazon event. After all, the new tablet marks a change for the company’s Kindle line, which until now has been defined by relatively simple E-Ink-based devices. The Kindle Touch, meanwhile, stepped up to bat to take on the likes of new Nook and Kobo touchscreen readers. But while most expected that device to become the heir to the Kindle throne, the company made a something of a surprise move, offering up a new device that will bear the reader’s name. Now in its fourth generation, the Kindle has shed its keyboard and been reborn as a pocket-sized, lighter-weight reader. And a cheap one, at that — $109 for the standard version and $79 for the ad-supported. So, is the new Kindle worthy of the name that has become synonymous with e-readers? Or did the company make too many sacrifices in the name of slashing prices? Find out in our review after the break.

Gallery: Amazon Kindle review (2011)

Amazon Kindle review (2011)

Continue reading Amazon Kindle review (2011)

Amazon Kindle review (2011) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 03

Kindle Fire pre-orders heat up, reportedly reach 95,000

Posted in: 7-inch, amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, Android, android tablet, AndroidTablet, kindle, pre-order, PreOrder, slate, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili, video

The Kindle Fire won’t be out til November, but it’s already giving off some strong pre-order smoke signals. According to digital marketing firm eDataSource, Amazon’s first tablet has generated enough buzz to pick up just under 100,000 orders — an estimate based on a sample of 800,000 e-mail users. Even with these rosy estimates, however, Amazon still has a long way to go before it catches up with Apple, which sold 300,000 iPads on its debut. But we’re guessing that the Fire’s $199 price tag probably won’t hurt its chances.

Kindle Fire pre-orders heat up, reportedly reach 95,000 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 28

Amazon Kindle Touch impressions (video)

Posted in: amazon, amazon kindle, AmazonKindle, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, Today's Chili, touchscreen, video, wifi
One of the three major devices launched at today’s Amazon event, the Kindle Touch is aimed firmly at the latest touchscreen Nook and Kobo devices. Like those readers, the new Kindle is based around an infrared touchscreen in the place of a physical keyboard, making the device a good deal smaller than the Kindle 3. The touchscreen is fairly responsive, and the thing flips through pages quickly with a swipe or a tap, refreshing about once every six pages or so, a rate about on-par with that of its chief competition. A task like performing a search on the other hand, requires a much larger screen refresh — still, activities like these and typing are performed quite quickly for an E-Ink device. The search function itself is rather precise, letting the user locate instances of things like character names throughout a text. In all, it looks as though Amazon has produced a worthy competitor to the space-leading touch devices — and the $99 / $149 price tags for the WiFi and 3G versions certainly don’t hurt. Check out a video of the device after the break.

Gallery: Kindle Touch impressions

Kindle Touch impressions

Continue reading Amazon Kindle Touch impressions (video)

Amazon Kindle Touch impressions (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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