Category Archives: Amazon

Sep
26
2012
43
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No, Amazon: ‘App Store’ Should Remain Exclusive to Apple

Posted by at 6:56 pm

Amazon today, in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Oakland, suggested that the term “app store” has become so generic that it could not be possibly used by the online retailer for the purpose of false advertising. The claim is in response to a trademark lawsuit filed in March 2011, in which Apple accused Amazon of misleading developers by using the “app store” name to solicit a mobile software download service.

I’m sorry Amazon, but you’re wrong. The term “app store” should belong exclusively to Apple, especially since it filed for a trademark on the name in 2008 and had that request approved early last year. Apple was clearly not the first company to create an application distribution system, although it popularized the term “app store” by including it on the several million iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices that have been sold in the past four years and counting. (more…)

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Sep
06
2012
33
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Will Apple Respond to Amazon’s Tablet Competition?

Posted by at 5:00 pm

Apple is doing fine – they’re selling the iPhone as quickly as they’re made, and the iPad is quickly ramping up to overtake even the iPhone. No company has been able to throw a wrench in Apple’s iPad rollout. While other tablets have come along, they have been hampered by various factors, including lackluster ecosystems, poor hardware, and a lack of tablet-native apps on other platforms.

That seemed like it could have changed last year, when Amazon launched the original Kindle Fire. (more…)

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Sep
06
2012
40
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Amazon Placing Advertisements on New Kindles

Posted by at 3:20 pm

Amazon will be placing “special offers” (PR DoubleSpeak for “Advertisements) on all of the new Kindle Fire models, likely in a play to help subsidize the devices manufacturing cost and recoup some of the (supposedly) lost money for selling these devices so cheaply.

Even more strangely, Amazon has said nothing about the ability to remove these ads – previous generations of Kindles offered higher-priced models in order to remove the ads (an example of which is shown to the right). That doesn’t appear to be part of Amazon’s strategy, as no mention of it is made in the official press release:

The new Kindle Fire family comes with special offers that appear on the lock screen. Examples of special money-saving offers that customers will enjoy include a $5 credit in the Amazon MP3 Store and a $5 credit for select titles in the Amazon Instant Video Store. Customers will also receive special offers and screensavers from brands like AT&T, Discover and Intel, such as a special offer of a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card when a customer uses their Discover card to purchase a digital product on Amazon.

Definitely disappointing: while it may subsidize the cost, it will put off people who would prefer to know that someone isn’t monitoring how they use their tablet in order to gather valuable data to sell ads with.

[Amazon]

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Sep
06
2012
23
comments
 

Amazon Goes Big: Updated Kindles Offer Serious Competition to iPad

Posted by at 2:51 pm

Seemingly from left field, Amazon has released three new Kindle devices – one traditional, e-ink device, and two new tablet devices.

The traditional Kindle is called the Kindle Paperwhite, which features a backlight built in to the display for reading in the dark, along with various other tweaks to the display and device. Like the Kindle Fire, there isn’t a button to be found on the front – it’s a touch-only device. The original Kindle has seen a price drop to $69, though this new Paperwhite version only costs $79. Quite the device for the price, considering most other touch e-readers are significantly more money. (more…)

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Sep
05
2012
6
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Amazon Has A Phone, Supposedly, But Why?

Posted by at 6:57 pm

Nilay Patel, writing for The Verge states that they have “confirmed” that Amazon has a phone – however, they don’t know when it will be released. Recall that Amazon has a press event, believed to be for new Kindles, tomorrow, and things start to make sense – kind of.

While it has long been rumored that Amazon is going to release a phone similar to its Kindle Fire in that it would be based off of Android for app compatibility, but has been skinned so thoroughly as to almost erase any signs of Google’s original OS, there isn’t as much of a reasoning to do so. The Kindle Fire makes so much sense for so many people because it’s a peripheral device: unlike the iPad, it isn’t designed to replace a laptop computer. It’s designed to read Kindle books, listen to your music from Amazon MP3, watch video streamed from Amazon, and to download the occasional game from Amazon‘s app store. It has an email client, and a web browser, but both are so thoroughly skinned (and, frankly, slow) that most ignore that feature.

The Kindle Fire works because it is literally all about content. While an iPad plays videos and music and allows for the reading of books, it is also about content creation (some would argue that it’s to a limited extent; I’d disagree – I wrote this on an iPad). The Kindle Fire is about the Amazon ecosystem, but the Amazon ecosystem is one that isn’t really suited to smaller screens. There’s a reason that the Kindle Fire has a seven inch display – that size is widely regarded to be the best for reading, or for watching movies while relaxing. Both of those mediums are best consumed on a larger device, as opposed to a phone.  (more…)

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Aug
07
2012
2
comments
 

Apple and Amazon Take Action in Response to Mat Honan Hacking Incident

Posted by at 7:53 pm

Last weekend, writer Mat Honan had his iCloud password reset on him and, subsequently, his Twitter account hacked and the content on his iPad, iPhone and MacBook remotely wiped. It was a dreadful weekend for Honan, in which his digital identity was taken over thanks to some clever social engineering between hackers and customer service representatives for Apple and Amazon.

Apple first responded to the situation and has now temporarily suspended over-the-phone iCloud password resets for at least 24 hours while it looks into the issue. This move is being taken to ensure that the incident is not repeated while Apple investigates its security measures. Amazon too has changed its security measures, no longer allowing customers to make credit card or email address changes on the phone.

[Wired via MacRumors]

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Jul
11
2012
0
comments
 

WSJ: Amazon Testing a Smartphone

Posted by at 8:39 am

Fueling the fire surrounding the rumored Amazon phone, The Wall Street Journal made a report early this morning saying that Amazon is “working with component suppliers in Asia to test a smartphone.” According to people familiar with the situation, Amazon is currently considering expanding its mobile offerings, and that these could include the recently speculated iPhone competitor. To back up these rumors, the Journal has reported that unnamed officials who work with Amazon’s part suppliers have also commented, saying that Amazon is testing a smartphone, and that mass production could begin “late this year, or early next year.”

(more…)

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Jul
06
2012
12
comments
 

Rumor: Amazon Working on Smartphone to Compete with iPhone

Posted by at 7:00 am

For several years, Amazon was known as an online retailer that also sells a widely successful lineup of Kindle eReaders. Then, late last year, the company decided to make a splash into the tablet industry with its inexpensive Kindle Fire. While the Kindle Fire has never been viewed as a direct competitor with the iPad, instead catering to the low-end tablet market, it has still been a huge success for Amazon despite declining sales in recent months. Amazon was able to sell the Kindle Fire at such a low price by pushing sales of its massive digital content library on the tablet. But now, Amazon has a new product up its sleeves. (more…)

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Jun
26
2012
7
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Rumor: Kindle Fire 2 by Late July

Posted by at 11:18 am

Rumor: Kindle Fire 2 by Late July

CNET writes:

What’s next for Kindle hardware? Well, a credible source has told CNET that Amazon will unveil a second-generation Kindle Fire this summer and that it’s targeting July 31 for a launch event.

Amazon appears to be targeting back-to-school promotions instead of the holiday shopping season with its second-generation, low-priced Kindle Fire tablet.

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Jun
04
2012
16
comments
 

iPad Continues to Dominate Tablet Market, Kindle Fire Fizzles

Posted by at 2:15 pm

While the popularity of the iPad continues to surge, demand for the Kindle Fire has staggered significantly since its release last September. According to a new report by ABI Research, the tablet market has experienced 185 percent growth since last year, with 18.2 million tablets shipped in the first quarter of 2012 alone.

Apple continued to hold a stranglehold on the tablet market by accounting for a tremendous 65 percent share — or 11.8 million — of those tablets shipped in the first quarter. The launch of the new iPad with Retina display and price reduction on the iPad 2 helped contribute to the high quarterly sales for Apple. (more…)

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