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Kindle
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Rumomonger
No new Kindle from Amazon this year
"There will be no new version of the Kindle this year," Amazon.com spokesman Craig Berman told The New York Times. Berman seems intent on stomping rumors of a new Kindle for Christmas. His message? Stop saving up. Buy some more e-books instead.(Photo by AP/Mark Lennihan)
e-books
Amazon.com execs: Kindle not quite the huge hit everyone says it is
After a TechCrunch report said that Amazon.com had already sold 240,000 Kindles this year, Wall Street analyst Mark Mahaney called the Kindle "the iPod of the book world." Now Amazon.com says both Mahaney and TechCrunch spoke too soon and without talking to the right people. The right people, according to analysts from McAdams Wright Ragen, being analysts from McAdams Wright Ragen. More »
caption contest
Pardon me, do you have any grey poupon?
Amazon.com's electronic-book reader, the Kindle, is a rare find in the wild. The only place we've ever spotted one was in New York's subway system. And that's where a Valleywag reader found this specimen yesterday. Unfortunately, in his excitement, our volunteer paparazzo may have startled the rare creature, perhaps disturbing its mating cycle. You can tell by looking at its eyes. Can you come up with a better caption? Do so in the comments and we'll rename the post with the best one. Yesterday's winner is Sample32 with "This picture would be 10x better if it was accompanied by Australian accents."
amazon.com
"The Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world"
Despite the fact that you've never seen one in person, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney says Amazon.com will sell 378,000 Kindles this year, accounting for $1.1 billion or 4 percent of Amazon's total revenues by 2010. Earlier this year, Mahaney guessed Amazon would sell about half as many copies of the device, which he now calls Amazon's iPod. What changed? More »
rumormonger
Amazon.com to upgrade Kindle book reader into the '90s
If you didn't buy Amazon,com's e-book reader — shown above in a CNET video — you're far, far from alone. A CrunchGear rumor report says Amazon will try again for this year's holiday shopping season. Kindle 2.0, says "an insider," will be bigger, less fussy to use, and thank God Almighty they're going to get rid of the original model's retro 1983 IBM PC sickly off-white plastic case color. Even Zune Brown would be an improvement. The key points from CrunchGear's report: More »
death of print
Attempt to spark Kindle flame leaves publishers cold at Book Expo
LOS ANGELES, CA — Consumers aren't the only ones not buying the Amazon Kindle pitch. At a presentation by Amazon.com representatives at Book Expo America on Saturday, publishers proved an equally tough sell. The reps held a special session to introduce publishers to Amazon's tools for uploading, publishing, and managing inventory for the Kindle. While the Digital Tools for Publishers system is slick and easy to use, the company wasn't particularly transparent about questions regarding the size and makeup of the market for Kindle e-books. More »
amazon.com
Jeff Bezos pitches the Kindle, BookSurge to skeptical mob at Book Expo America
LOS ANGELES, CA — Jeff Bezos pitched the Kindle to attendees at Book Expo America today in downtown LA, and then sat down with Wired editor and author of The Long Tail Chris Anderson for a little chit-chat. The takeaway? Much like Apple, Bezos uses the euphemism "customer experience" for "vertical integration," especially when it comes to the new Kindle and the requirement that print-on-demand publishers work with Amazon subsidiary BookSurge. After the jump, some choice quotes from before Anderson's questions (presumably from his notes, on regular old paper, pictured here) started to veer into extreme audience irrelevance when he brought up EC2 and Bezos' space ambitions. More »
e-commerce
Amazon.com encourages Kindle casual encounters
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos may not be a sexless monk, but what about owners of the Kindle e-book reader? Hoping to ignite the flame of consumer desire across America, Amazon has set up a page for people to "See a Kindle in Your City."Whether you want to meet at your local coffee shop, a public park, or your favorite watering hole is up to you. We hope you enjoy meeting your fellow Kindlers.I give the program two weeks before "Kindle owner seeks Tina for PnP" hits the site.
javaone
Sun has great friends, but business plan still a mystery
At the JavaOne keynote this held at the Moscone Center this morning, EVP of software Rich Green took the stage and told the assembled crowd, mostly developers, "Welcome to the revolution. Businesses used to drive technology adoption, but now it's all about consumers." Which suggests the company, known historically as an enterprise hardware and software provider, is changing focus to enable more consumer-focused applications. Not mentioned? Last week's announcement of a $34 million quarterly loss and a stock price that has hardly improved since plummeting 20 percent. But look everybody, Neil Young! More »
sex trade
Amazon.com can't tell who's getting off on the Kindle
For the makers of e-book readers, the raincoater audience — the straightish men who frequent adult bookstores for the promise of a little action in the back — are an unlikely market. They're not even there to read, for starters. But for literate smut fans, who have been choosing Amazon.com from the first day they made erotic books available in discreet, brown-wrapped boxes? If they're turning to the Kindle to deliver their porn, Amazon's not telling. Not entirely. We've got numbers on how well the same books sell in print, but not for their Kindle counterparts. Better figures might be possible if everyone's who's spindled their Kindle dropped Amazon a line.
books
First Lady, First Daughter prove Steve Jobs right about future of book industry
In case you missed their guest appearance on Today, Jenna and Laura Bush have collaborated with an illustrator on Read All About It!, the $17.99, 32-page tale of math machine and science whiz Tyrone, a reluctant reader until the books that his teacher read to the class actually came to life. All five-star reviews so far, with the exception of one Zebo Quad, who opines: "This book just proves that celebrities could vomit onto a blank page and publishers would publish it." It also suggests Steve Jobs was onto something when he dissed the Amazon Kindle e-book reader:It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore.
nerdspotting
A real live Kindle user
When Jeff Bezos and company reported Amazon.com's earnings at the end of last quarter, they swore the Kindle was flying off the shelves. But I've never seen one in the wild. Or even heard of a sighting. Until today when I saw, thanks to Silicon Alley Insider, a photo of a girl reading a Kindle on the New York subway. Take that, Kindle-hater Steve Jobs. Have you ever seen anyone using a Newton on the subway?
amazon.com
Kindle book sales not beating Sony Reader, says e-book publisher
Arthur Klebanoff, CEO of e-book publisher RosettaBooks, says Kindle-compatible e-books will not outsell Sony Reader-compatible books published by his house in 2008. This despite the fact that Amazon.com execs told analysts Kindle sales were "outpacing our expectations" — and Amazon appears to be skewing search results on the site in Kindle's favor.
amazon.com
Amazon.com's search results promote Kindle
For years, retailers have given preferential shelf space to certain products — sometimes because they are higher margin, or because the manufacturer has paid for that placement. Should Amazon.com be any different? During the holiday season, the online retailer listed its Kindle e-reader at the very top in search results for "sony reader." Clever! Even better, a search for "kindle" doesn't mention its Sony competitor at all. My personal favorite? A number of customers have tagged the Kindle with "sony reader." That's what loser-generated content gives you, I guess.
acquisitions
Amazon.com buys Audible.com for $300 million
What's the value of the spoken word? $300 million, according to Amazon.com, which just purchased the leading digital audiobook reseller, Audible.com. The amount is a premium of more than 20 percent on yesterday's closing price. The purchase of Audible, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary, shows that Amazon is serious about digital content. Amazon has sold Audible's audio downloads since May 2000, and the purchase is a natural fit as Amazon offers more content via digital delivery. But what does it mean for the consumer? More »
apple
Steve Jobs: Oh yeah, and Amazon's Kindle won't work either
Remember the comparisons between Amazon's Kindle and the iPod? Don't try them on Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The Kindle was a bad idea, Jobs told the New York Times after yesterday's Macworld keynote. "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore." Mmhmm, Mr. Jobs. And whose fault is that?
e-commerce
