Amazon
Rumors have been in the air for several months that claim Amazon will compete in the handset space with its own offering, much like it did with its Kindle Fire line of tablets. According to a new report from the Taiwan Economic News, the Internet retail giant has selected the infamous Foxconn to manufacture the handset. Additionally, Amazon is said to have ordered 5 million units and will launch the device at $100 to $200 sometime in the second quarter or third quarter of 2013.
The Kindle Fire line of tablets, which has software based off Android with many custom additions (and even more subtractions), has done wonders for Android’s tablet marketshare, helping the platform close the seemingly insurmountable gap with the iPad. Amazon was the first to offer a tablet at such a low cost, selling in seemingly big numbers. However, no specific figures have ever been given. With its large online marketplace and bevy of apps on its Amazon Appstore, we wouldn’t put it past the company to be a serious competitor in the handset game. (via Engadget)
I (and, to be honest, more my kids) have used the Kindle Fire HD for over a month, and I thought I’d share some thoughts from an iPad/Android user’s perspective.
The hardware is excellent and a significant upgrade from the original Fire. It feels extremely solid and the 1,280-by-720 HD display looks great. The speakers are better than either the iPad Mini or the Nexus 7 and not barely — by a long shot. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are “stereo speakers” (it is a 7-inch device obviously and there is little separation), but they are both louder and clearer than the competition. The HD is also noticeably thinner than the original Kindle Fire, but that comes at the expense of bigger bezels that give it a bigger footprint than the same-screened Nexus 7 and similar size to the bigger-screened iPad Mini. This is unfortunate because one of the nicest things about the size of a 7-inch tablet is either it can squeeze into a back pocket or, more likely, a coat pocket…and those inches count. Neither the iPad Mini nor the Kindle HD fit in my jacket pocket as well as the much more slender Nexus 7.
But, that’s not the biggest problem…
PureGear makes a bevy of highly rated products for mobile devices, and we at 9to5Google decided to test out some of its more popular cases and accessories for the Samsung Galaxy S III and subsequently help last-minute holiday shoppers with a few stocking stuffer ideas.
Also, 9to5Google is giving away two PureGear Slim Shell cases ($24.99 value each) in black and white/clear. So, check out the review roundup below, leave a comment, and we will contact the winners in 9to5Forums.
An image gallery is below.
Duke Nukem 3D is free today on the Amazon Appstore for Android as one of the online retailer’s Daily Deal specials. The action game normally goes for 95 cents, and it has nearly a 4-star rating or Google Play based on over 5,000 reviews. Folks can even receive a complimentary $1 Amazon MP3 Credit with this download. One claim per Amazon account, however, until Dec. 31.
Check it out: Amazon | Duke Nukem 3D by Machineworks
After reducing prices for the big shopping event known as “Black Friday,” Amazon said this morning that its Kindle Fire saw a record amount of sales of up to three times the previous record set. Amazon offered the base Kindle Fire at only £99, creating for an “incredible reaction” on Amazon.co.uk. The United States store surely saw similar numbers.
“In response to strong customer demand we included Kindle Fire in Black Friday deals week, dropping the price to just £99, and the reaction has been incredible. Customers purchased more than three times as many Kindle devices on Black Friday than on any other day in its history on Amazon.co.uk, and our previous record was impressive,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Kindle EU. “This fantastic Kindle Fire offer runs until midnight, Monday 26th November, so customers still have time to snap up a Kindle Fire in time for Christmas.”
The full press release is below:

We know Apple has had a lot of success pushing iPads in education, and during Apple’s Q3 conference call, CEO Tim Cook said the company would continue to be “very aggressive”. Apple’s iPad 2 sales in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 thanks to a price drop to $399. In Q2, Apple said it sold about a million iPad units to the United States education market. With Apple’s upcoming iPad mini announcement possibly bringing an even lower price point for iPads in education, Amazon is announcing its plans today to get Kindle tablets into schools.
Reuters reported today that Amazon is launching a service, called “Whispercast”, aimed at allowing schools to easily deploy and manage multiple kindle devices:
The Alphabet Car app is free today on the Amazon Appstore for Android as one of the online retailer’s Daily Deal specials. The word game normally goes for $2.99, and it has a 4-star rating or higher on both Amazon and Google Play. Folks can even receive a complimentary $1 Amazon MP3 Credit with this download. One claim per Amazon account, however, until Dec. 31.
Check it out: Amazon | Alphabet Car by Animoca
A new survey by research organization Pew Internet & American Life Project depicts how Android rose from 15 percent in 2011 to 48 percent in 2012, in terms of U.S. adult tablet ownership, due to the higher-priced iPads steadily losing traction.
Pew’s Journalism website elaborated:
Over the last year, tablet ownership has steadily increased from 11% of U.S. adults in July of 2011 to 18% in January of 2012, according to PEJ data. Currently, 22% own a tablet and another 3% regularly use a tablet owned by someone else in the home. This number is very close to new data, released here for the first time, conducted in a separate survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project on July 16 through August 7 2012 that found 25% of all U.S. adults have a tablet computer.
The growth in tablet adoption is likely related to the advent of the lower-priced tablets in late 2011. Overall, about two-thirds of tablet-owning adults, 68%, got their tablet in the last year, including 32% in 2012 alone. That has lessened Apple’s dominance in the market. Now, just over half, 52%, of tablet owners report owning an iPad, compared with 81% in the survey a year ago.
Android-based devices are now at 48 percent overall: approximately 21 percent own the Android-forked Kindle Fire, 8 percent own the Samsung Galaxy, and the remaining is a mix. It is worth noting Android would only hold 27 percent without the $199 Kindle Fire.
The survey did not include Google’s Nexus 7 or Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, however, as they were not yet introduced. The final numbers also mirror world sales data, according to Pew, which place the iPad at 61 percent and Android at 31 percent.
Check out Pew for more related information on smartphone ownership and operating system loyalty.

Walmart apparently sent a memo to store managers on Sept. 19. announcing plans to stop selling Amazon’s line of Kindle products.
“We have recently made the business decision to not carry Amazon tablets and eReaders beyond our existing inventory and purchase commitments,” said Walmart in the memo. “This includes all Amazon Kindle models current and recently announced.”
Reuters, which cited the memo and an unidentified source “familiar with situation,” first reported the news:
In the memo, Wal-Mart said the decision was consistent with its overall merchandising strategy. While Wal-Mart dwarfs other retailers in overall sales, it trails Amazon and others online and has been stepping up efforts to increase its presence there. Consumers who buy Kindle tablets such as the new Kindle Fire HD can shop on the devices for more than just digital books, pushing Amazon into further competition with stores.
The publication did not provide additional details, but Walmart.com currently reflects the reported change. When searching for “Kindle” on the national retailer’s website, no Kindle-related products appear in the queue. It is unclear if Walmart’s website ever offered the tablets, however.

Amazon took some time today to discuss the new Amazon Maps API it released alongside the Kindle Fire HD earlier this month. According to a post on the Amazon Mobile App Distribution blog, the new API will make it easy for developers “to integrate mapping functionality into apps that run on the all-new Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD.” The Maps API is now in beta and available through the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Portal.
If you are curious about exactly what the new API provides, Amazon provided a description of the core features:
Update: Here’s the full presentation video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYi1jZXz9Kg&list=UULN8H0cLurGAUgwwufetV3Q&index=2&feature=plcp
That’s it folks!
3:00: The ‘big kahuna’ is a $499 LTE 32GB version of the 8.9 inch Kindle HD. That’s exactly where Apple starts.
2:45 Bezos says Amazon wants to make money when people use its products. If someone puts it in a desk drawer, Amazon deserves nothing.
A lot of social media ties to games. Cloud streaming etc.
2:30 Devices called the Kindle SD and HD 7 and 8.9 inch respectively.
Parental controls for more multiple children.Kindle FreeTime: You can set different time limits for different kinds of content for your kids. Books? Unlimited. Games and TV? Limited.
“Sometimes you invent for customers. Sometimes you invent for yourself.” Bezos has four kids. He knows about negotiation over screens.
2:20 First time I’ve seen Amazon bring out speeds and feeds. Touting TI OMAP processor over Tegra 3 (as in Nexus 7) in floating point. Lots faster. Means wicked fast page turning. MIMO dual antenna radios help get content faster.”41% faster than iPad, even faster than Nexus 7.”
2:15: Kindle Fire: “In less than a year, Kindle Fire is 22 percent of tablet sales in the US.” #1 best selling device on Amazon.com
$159 is the new price of th 7-inch version including longer battery life and more RAM and better performance.
New 8.9″ version 1920×1200
The 8.9-inch Kindle has Dolby Digital Plus – the first tablet to have this. Dual speakers vs. singular speaker on iPad.
“Customers are smart. Last year, there were more than two dozen Android tablets launched into the marketplace, and nobody bought ‘em. Why? Because they’re gadgets, and people don’t want gadgets anymore. They want services that improve over time. They want services that improve every day, every week, and every month.”
2:00 Keeping the $79 Kindle with new Black plastic. Adding more fonts and faster pageturns and knocking off $10: $69
1:45: Kindle Paperwhite: 8week battery life, 7.7ozs/ 9mm thick. Patented backlighting. High Re screen – 212ppi. Don’t call it Retina.
[tweet https://twitter.com/markgurman/statuses/243769411838816256]
1:42: Lights go down. Commercial from the game last night plays
[tweet https://twitter.com/nickbilton/statuses/243765633240662016]
1:40 So the first 10 minutes are over an nothing to show for it. only 110 more!
1:30 here we go…
1:20 BREAKING:
[tweet https://twitter.com/adamlashinsky/statuses/243761459065143298]
1) Amazon CEO will be present. 2) there will be demos. 3) amazon has prepared.
1:18: Mobile Nations peeped Amazon Board member and former Apple/Palm/HP hardware design guru Jon “Ruby” Rubinstein. He’s here to “learn”
1:15: 2 hours eh? This is going to be a helluva show.
1:00: I just want to say for the record that a Streaming TV product makes more sense than a Phone for Amazon. That is all.
Show starts at 1:30PM ET folks.

Amazon’s next-generation Kindle Fire could land in the fall with a larger display.
At least that is what Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader reported after receiving a tip about a new Kindle Fire clearing the Federal Communications Commission yesterday:
A friend of mine has tipped me to an anonymous set of FCC documents which were posted yesterday. They don’t show any useful detail, but they do lead somewhere interesting. Like Amazon’s past FCC submissions, this paperwork belongs to a new front company. This time around the company is Harpers LLC.
Hoffelder did not find any details in the FCC filing beyond the eReader’s label, but he reviewed the dimensions given and said it looked like a 9.7-inch or 10-inch tablet:
The general screen geometry is likely going to be 4:3 (like the iPad), and not widescreen like many Android tablets. And since some of the hidden parts of the FCC paperwork will be revealed in December, this device will clearly be launched this fall.
The original Kindle Fire is a version of Amazon’s popular Kindle eReader. It announced in September 2011 with a color 7-inch multi-touch display and a forked version of Google’s Android operating system.
Go to The Digital Reader for the full report.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdoxX0XGros&feature=player_embedded]
Amazon just announced a new gaming experience for developers and the Kindle Fire: GameCircle.
According to the Amazon Mobile App Distribution blog, GameCircle is a “new set of services designed to make it easier for you to create more engaging gaming experiences and grow your business on Kindle Fire,” by making “achievements, leaderboards and sync APIs accessible, simple and quick for you to integrate, and will give gamers a more seamless and entertaining in-game experience.”
Amazon offers a growing suite of developer services. Its new GameCircle is geared specifically for game developers too, which is great news for the Kindle Fire since it is facing a firestorm of Android-based content competition from the new Nexus 7. Game Circle also helps players to better experience their games through three key features —achievements, leaderboards, and sync—that will surely continue to entice folks to the dominating Android-based eReader.
Achievements allow players to “track all earned trophies, treasures, badges, awards, and more without leaving the gaming experience,” while leaderboards give an “in-game view of score comparison information and percentile ranking, allowing players to quickly and easily check standings against top players or competitors, without ever leaving your game.”
Sync autosaves players’ in-game progress to the cloud for immediate pick-up exactly where they ended when switching devices or restoring a deleted game. Losing progress, scores or achievements is not a problem with GameCircle, because as all data is safely stored in the cloud.
The next Kindle Fire is eyeing a July 31 launch date.
CNET just reported that Amazon’s next version of the widely popular Kindle Fire, otherwise dubbed the “Kindle Fire 2” or the second-generation Kindle Fire, would unveil next month. The publication cited “a credible source” but could not confirm the summer date, and it pointed to DigiTimes for specs, which claimed the rumored 7-inch eReader will release with a $199 price tag and 1,2800-by-800 pixel display at the beginning of the third quarter.
According to CNET:
The DigiTimes article cited the usual sources in the “upstream supply chain” and talked about how Amazon would reduce the price of the current Kindle Fire to $149. It also speculated that Amazon’s long-rumored larger tablet is still on hold but that new e-ink Kindles with integrated lighting were expected to be released alongside the Kindle Fire 2 (or whatever Amazon chooses to call it).
Our source didn’t mention the higher resolution display but did say that the new tablet would have a camera and physical volume-control buttons (many users complained that the Kindle Fire only has on-screen volume controls).

Amazon officially confirmed this morning that it would open its Appstore to international users for the first time since launching in the United States last year. The countries in the initial international rollout scheduled for “this summer” include the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Amazon is inviting developers to visit its developer portal to begin localizing and preparing their apps for distribution in the new countries. It also noted developers would be able to select specific countries and set prices by market, but developers will by default have their apps made available internationally.
As part of the announcement, Amazon also explained it would introduce two new changes to the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Agreement that benefit developers. Most importantly, developers will now earn 70 percent of paid app sales starting July 1.
Amazon just bulked its Kindle app for Android, iOS, and its Cloud Reader by adding children’s books, comics, and graphic novels that were previously exclusive to Kindle Fire owners.
The apps now offer over 1,000 titles for children with features like Text Pop-Up, which help to improve and simplify the reading experience, and Kindle Panel view for comics and graphics to allow panel-by-panel viewing. A few of the literary additions include Brown Bear, Curious George, Batman, and Superman.
Android tablet owners, or those with Cloud Reader on a widescreen display, will also notice the ability to customize their reading experience with new margin and line spacing controls. The update also brings side-by-side viewing of two pages in landscape mode. Meanwhile, iOS users have a new Search option to locate content by title or author.
This article is cross-posted on 9to5Mac.
Google and Microsoft are directly targeting Amazon with their new clouds that are allegedly in-development.
According to GigaOm’s Derrick Harris, who cited unnamed sources familiar with the plans, Google is developing a cloud computing offering that will give Amazon’s EC2 cloud a run for its money. More sources claimed Microsoft is even working on an IaaS platform that will either release or announce before Google’s offering. The sources further elaborated and said Google should lunch its service for renting virtual server instances by the latter half of 2012, while Microsoft scheduled its announcement for June 7 in San Francisco.
GigaOm explained:
- Although Google declined to comment on whether the offering is indeed on the way, an IaaS cloud would make a lot of sense for the company. It already has a popular platform-as-a-service offering in App Engine that is essentially a cloud-based application runtime, but renting virtual servers in an IaaS model is still where the money is in cloud-based computing. Google also has an API-accessible storage offering — the aptly named Google Cloud Storage — that would make for a nice complement to an IaaS cloud, like Amazon’s ridiculously popular S3 storage service is for EC2.
- Microsoft clearly got the message on where developers are spending in the cloud, too, which is why it’s reportedly expanding its Windows Azure cloud to compete with Amazon more directly than it already does. That means the ability to rent Windows and Linux virtual servers by the hour as well as, it has been reported, support for Java on the PaaS side of Azure. The speculation that Microsoft will make these moves at some point is nothing new, and tweets last week from a Microsoft analyst saying “Infrastructure as a Service is on the roadmap” only stoked the flames.

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 made its way to Amazon today with a number of listings for the device at $799 and others at $829 after being unveiled earlier this month. The device was slated for an international rollout towards the end of May, and the listings on Amazon are set to ship June 1. However, at least one seller noted an expected arrival date of “on/after 4th June 2012”.
The Galaxy S3 packs a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, 8-megapixel camera (1.9MP front camera), and quad-core 1.4Ghz processor. Following the launch, we got some early benchmarks of Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy device—as well as a few hands-on impressions from around the Web.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/PfMYY7_ogUA]
LG displayed its Google TVs at Internet Week New York yesterday, and Venture Beat met with the company’s Georg Rasinski, director of home electronics brand management, for a brief demonstration on the G2 Series.
As showcased in the video above, the LG sets feature—among many things—a speedy dual-core CPU, motion control technology through the “Magic Remote,” and passive 3D. They also run Google TV 2.0 with a customized home screen and 3D interface, as well as immediate access to apps and bookmarks.
The sets will be available next week through retailers like Amazon in 47-inch and 55-inch models at $1,699 and $2,299, respectively.
LG’s full press release for the two Google TVs is available [here] as a PDF.
Amazon notified its developers a part of the Amazon Appstore this evening that they can now charge over $20 for in-app purchases, according to TechCrunch.
“With our parental controls functionality now updated, in-app items over $20 may now be submitted via the developer portal.
That’s a lot.
Amazon finally nixed AmazonWireless.com‘s beta mode by officially launching the website with two new advantages for the online retailer’s customers.
AmazonWireless first launch in July 2009 as a beta to ease the process of buying cell phones while allotting the best value for top devices. A new benefit for the website is “AmazonWireless Best Price Guarantee.” As the name indicates, Amazon now promises the best cell phones prices with service from the main carriers.
Amazon is rolling out a big 6.3 update for the Kindle Fire right about now with the following updates:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Epson America announced it is now shipping the world’s first Android-powered wearable display—the Epson Moverio.
With Google’s impending entry into the glasses space, Epson’s $699.99 offering is essential due to its 80-inch perceived projection display, Dolby Mobile surround sound, Wi-Fi connectivity, 6-hour battery life, 1GB of built-in storage, and 4GB microSDHC with accompanying slot.
Google’s mobile platform powers the track-pad controller and allows a user to watch YouTube or Vimeo videos, play apps and games, browse the Internet, and more. According to Epson America’s Director of New Business Development Anna Jen, there is even support for side-by-side 3D technology:
“The Moverio BT-100 see-through display is poised to significantly impact not only the way people interact with content for personal enjoyment, but the development of content for future applications – from virtual training platforms to a new way to interact with 3D CAD environments to visualizing 3D design renderings.”
The Epson Moverio BT-100 is now available through Epson’s retail website, select resellers, or by pre-order through Amazon. The Tokyo, Japan-based electronics manufacturer also recommended a few apps that take full advantage of its latest achievement, such as Netflix, Pandora, Amazon Kindle, and the Angry Birds suite.
The full presser and additional promo shots are below.
Amazon just updated the “Kindle” for Android app to support Kindle Format 8, and it brings a variety of children’s books, comic books, and graphic novels with vivid color and illustrations.
“Shop for over 1000 children’s titles such as Brown Bear and Curious George, and comics such as Batman and Superman. Plus, richer formatting in thousands of other Kindle titles,” announced the app’s description on the Google Play Store.
The new collection of reading materials compliment an already existing catalog of over 850,000 Kindle books and 100 different newspapers and magazines hosted through Amazon’s free application that does not need a Kindle slate. For those that already own a Kindle, Whispersync seamlessly beams a user’s last page read, and any bookmarks, highlights, and notes across all compatible devices.