KINDLE FIRE SELLING FASTER THAN EXPECTED BY J.P. MORGANMobile Entertainment's Zen Terrelonge writes today that J.P. Morgan is "eating its words" that the Kindle Fire wouldn't do well relative to the iPad, and the financial services firm's hardware team now projects that Amazon will move 4.5 to 5 million devices in the 4th quarter.
This is based on checks of supply chains that show production on this model has increased due to a large number of pre-orders and vendors reporting "an abundance of rush orders over the past fortnight."
Douglas Anmuth, an internet analyst there who monitors Amazon, anticipates several models in 2012, including 7" and 10" devices with 3G and WiFi.
One J.P. analyst disagreed saying the tablet is under-featured, something that was said about the iPad last year too. Consumers seem to have different requirements from those with a largely technical focus, from what has been seen in pre-orders. Other articles have explained that the minimum iPad cost of $500 has been more than some want to spend, and some want a smaller, maybe more personal style tablet for web browsing and email.
Considering the streaming media content that Amazon offers (12,000 streamig-videos, including more current PBS ones, that come with Amazon's Prime package of free two-day shipping on most products for $79/yr ($6.58/mo.), it's not a surprise that this new, smaller tablet is doing so well on pre-orders.
Amazon currently has over 100,000 movies and tv shows at a time that Netflix has lost about 800,000 subscribers due to their pricing decisions. Despite better earnings than expected, Netflix stock plunged. I'm a fan of Netflix's streaming video library, though, which works well through my Comcast. At least we have several options these days.
Amazon expected to to show a profit dip this quarter due to low margins (if any) on the Kindle Fire
Slashgear's Chris Davies reports that some believe Amazon is taking a loss on the Kindle Fire, relying instead on resulting digital media sales to be enjoyed on the tablet.
Geeky-gadgets's Roland Hutchinson writes that Google's Andy Rubin has said there were around 6 million Android tablets out there, so if Amazon sells as many the next quarter as most analysts are expecting, the Kindle Fire would be the most popular Android tablet released so far.
In the meantime ViewSonic will launch the 7" ViewPad 7e tablet soon, with several more features but an inferior display (800x600) and touchscreen ("resistive"). While Amazon should welcome the release of more tablets that can access their content, I imagine they'll be customizing (beyond the special accelerating features of the Silk browser on the Fire) content for their own tablet.
Reviews of Steve Jobs book by Walter Isaacson (Fixed link)
SecondAct's Patrick J. Kiger has a good summary round-up of reviews of Isaacson's book, which Amazon thinks could be the year's bestseller.
A couple of observations from the roundup:
His summary of NY Times critic Janet Maslin ends,"Isaacson also explains that Jobs' mean streak, unpleasant as it was, also helped drive Apple to its phenomenal success."
Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams focuses, he writes, on Jobs's controversial decision of postponing conventional medical treatment for a tumor in 2003. As a cancer survivor, who knows how unpredictable cancer can be (and how unnecessarily destructive some treatments), I noted her sensible, "Jobs lived eight years after his initial diagnosis. Anyone with experience of cancer will tell you that five is considered a relative triumph."
I've known many who obeyed all the doctors' recommendations, and even when after the requisite operations their lymph nodes were diagnosed to be free of spread beyond the local area and they were announced to be cancer free, they were given chemo for 'prevention' and were dead in a few months to two years. Others fare well. It's just not utterly predictable as has been presented by too many about Jobs' cancer.
I think people should get off his case, post mortem, for his personal decision though of course he would wonder what would have happened had he had the operation. Not only did he survive 8 years with the less aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, he led a quite productive life during those 8 years.
CBS News story on Amazon's good customer service noted on Reddit (Link fixed)
CBS News's Chenda Ngak writes about a Reddit thread and Ngak's own experience with customer service. I've posted a link to a recent customer support forum thread on the Kindle forums.
Tuesday's free Kindle books
UPDATED on Wednesday to show each book link for Tuesday, since most will stay free for a few days. These will be shown on the 'next' page showing "More", so that those wanting to go through the details can do so by: clicking on "MORE" just below)
*****
The usual TEMPORARILY-Free Books: Alerts from the Amazon Kindle forums - via the tireless
NOTE: The alerts are quoted from Joyce's collecting of mostly temporarily-free books. They're
' Happy Reader "Joyce" says:
Sweet Ophelia (A Romantic Comedy)
Author: Kenneth Rosenberg
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
DESCRIPTION: Warren August is down and out in Hollywood, flat broke and living on the streets. When he stumbles onto a movie set in search of food, he sets in motion a chain of events that could finally turn his life around. He might even have a chance to win back his beloved Ophelia. Sweet, sweet Ophelia, who broke his heart three years before. But can he hold it together long enough to redeem himself? And will she ever take him back? This novel is a clean romantic comedy about discovering what true love really means. Formerlytitled "Sweet Ophelia and the Tinseltown Blues."
*****
Shedding Skin
Author: Robert Ward
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
DESCRIPTION: "A tour of the 1950s and 1960s recounts the author's coming-of-age experiences in a period torn between idealism and despair, chronicling his journey between Baltimore and Haight-Ashbury and his witness to the historical events of the time.This classic novel, the 1972 winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Award, turns, providing an essential companion piece to The King of Cards. Illuminated by the author's personal experiences, this authentic coming-of-age novel presents a cavalcade of memorable characters and adventures.A tour of the 1950s and 1960s recounts the author's coming-of-age experiences in a period torn between idealism and despair, chronicling his journey between Baltimore and Haight-Ashbury and his witness to the historical events of the time.
This classic novel, the 1972 winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Award, turns, providing an essential companion piece to The King of Cards. Illuminated by the author's personal experiences, this authentic coming-of-age novel presents a cavalcade of memorable characters and adventures."
*****
A Wee Christmas Homicide (Liss MacCrimmon Mystery)
Author: Kaitlyn Dunnett
Genre: Women's Sleuths
DESCRIPTION: Using Tiny Teddies, highly collectible bears, to launch a Twelve Days of Christmas marketing ploy should be a totally benign means of attracting customers for the business owners of Moosetookalook, Maine, but Liss MacCrimmon's brainchild brings in a frenzy of bear hunters-and a crazed killer-in Dunnett's lively, clean-as-a-whistle third cozy to feature the co-owner of the Scottish Emporium (after 2008's Scone Cold Dead). When the supply of Tiny Teddies wanes, Liss is approached with an offer of a new batch of these impossible-to-acquire fur balls. Knowing to steer clear of anything illegally transported from Canada, Liss declines, apparently unlike Gavin Thorne, proprietor of the Toy Box. Thorne's demise soon follows an unknown assailant's shooting an overpriced bear to stuffings. Dunnett (the pseudonym of Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of the Lady Susanna Appleton historical series) stirs smugglers, lovers and thieves into a healthy helping of foul play.
***** [22 more]
The Bow of Heaven - Book I: The Other Alexander
Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data
Going to Jackson
A King in a Court of Fools
Iron Rain
Abyss
Zero Sum Book 1 - Kotov Syndrome
The Woman Event
Stingray (Vince and Cat Next Generation)
Nightmares
Wild & Steamy
LORD OF MY DREAMS
The Source (The VooDoo Follies)
Grayson House
Call Me Ishmael
The Avatar Path: The Way We Came
When the Walls Fell (Out of Time)
Claim Me (Erotica An erotic menage suspense novel)
Harvest Moon
Pollywogs & Watermoccasins
The R Factor: At First Glance
Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield
***** [14 more]
THE ACCIDENTAL EXORCIST
Knowing the Truth About Salvation
My Only Regret
Ten Tales of Spotty Ruin (Ten Tales Series)
The Kult (A Prosper Snow novel, Book 1)
Gullhanger - Or How I Learned To Love Brighton & Hove Albion
Hollowland (The Hollows, #1)
Out of Time: A Time Travel novel
Unsaid Words of My Life
Siren
Three books of occult Philosophy or Magic
Exploring the Nicene Creed
Air (A Novelette) (Elements of the Undead)
The Viscount and the Witch, short story (The Riyria Chronicles) '
[These were from Joyce's free-books alerts Tuesday in the forums, Morning - 3; More - 22 more; Late afternoon - 14 more.][
To: Kindle-Edition Subscribers:
A favor: Let me know, if you care about it, at andrys [at] panix.com, whether you prefer to have the individual book-link listings on the Kindle or whether they're not usable and you'd rather not see them.
You can actually click through the log of Joyce's links via the Kindle, click on the Zoom box if needed to read the Amazon page better. Thanks for any feedback.
Tuesday's Kindle Daily Deal was
Carry Yourself Back to Me, by Deborah Reed, 24 customer reviews, 4.5 stars
Kindle Daily Deal - (Changes at midnight, Click for latest)
Monday's price: $7.99; Tuesday's discount: $6.00
Kindle Daily Deal Price: $1.99 (75% off)
"In her first literary novel, Reed (who writes suspense fiction under the penname Audrey Braun) triumphs with this thoughtful, graceful story of singer/songwriter Annie Walsh." --Publishers Weekly
Kindle Touch 3G Kindle Touch WiFi Kindle Basic (UK: KBasic) Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G) K3 Special Offers K3-3G Special Offers DX
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers. Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
A more nuanced take on the Jobs bio:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/opinion/nocera-the-biographers-dilemma.html?ref=technology