Thursday, May 24, 2012

Kindle News: Waterstone, soft rumors, Paramount movies to Prime

Kindle News: Bits and pieces - I'm on vacation this week and the news is mostly very soft rumors, most of them conflicting so until they firm up I don't tend to report them, but a bit on that further on down.

Waterstones in the UK has signed an agreement with Amazon to sell Kindles in the UK, although Waterstones had been said to be in talks with Barnes and Noble for international sales.  However, managing director James Daunt said in a statement. “The best digital readers, the Kindle family, will be married to the singular pleasures of browsing a curated bookshop. With the combination of “We asked ourselves, ‘what do our customers want?’; the answer was the Kindle. Once we’d done that this was self-evidently the best deal,” Daunt told The Bookseller...
...
paidContent's article by Laura Hazard Owen ends with what what looks like a quote from The Bookseller:
"Daunt said the two businesses had started talking only ‘relatively recently,’ admitting that he had looked at other options but rejected them. ‘Ultimately, when we thought about it, we had to give the customers what they wanted. And the best device on the market is the Kindle.’ "

They have about 300 stores, so it is a real plus for Amazon and of course bad news for Barnes and Noble.

Rumors
The Kindle Fire rumor a couple of weeks ago was that they were working on an 8.9" tablet to be ready for the holidays, end of 2012 but that while some orders were underaway, there were no named companies as there were when rumors were stronger in the past.

Now it's a 10" model, others say but with no basis for the rumors. I think it's a slow newscycle and these articles invariably end with "What do you think will happen?"

We'll see.

Hundreds of Paramount movies being added to Prime
See TechCrunch for details.

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4 comments:

  1. What the announcement (and all previous announcements) failed to mention is that almost 100% of the videos added to "Prime" is NOT added to Prime. They are added to Instant Video, meaning you MUST rent them out.

    A lot of news outlets make that mistake of thinking "instant video" = Prime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shannana, I didn't see this until I finally got back from vacation today.

      Here is the actual Amazon press release wording:

      "Hundreds of Critically-Acclaimed and Blockbuster Films from Paramount Pictures Coming to Prime Instant Video

      Fan favorites Mission: Impossible 3, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Mean Girls, Nacho Libre, Clueless and many more soon to be available to Amazon Prime Members with unlimited streaming

      SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 23, 2012-- (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Amazon continues to invest in Prime Instant Video and add to the already-vast selection of movies and TV episodes available to customers as part of their Prime membership. Amazon.com, Inc. today announced a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures that brings hundreds of new hit movies to Prime Instant Video in the U.S. over the next three years. Prime Instant Video now offers customers more than 17,000 movies and TV episodes to enjoy. To start watching Prime Instant Video immediately, visit www.amazon.com/piv. Customers who are not Prime members can enjoy a free one month trial of Prime.

      “We are continuing to invest in building a vast selection for Prime Instant Video and are excited to bring Prime customers some of the most renowned and popular films in cinema history under this new agreement with Paramount,” said Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon. “This deal will bring Prime Instant Video customers hundreds of new movies to enjoy on their Kindle Fire or any device connected to Amazon Instant Video, including titles such as Star Trek, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Top Gun, The Italian Job and The Truman Show, and we will remain committed to adding even more great movies and TV shows to Prime Instant Video in the future.”

      Prime customers can enjoy Prime Instant Video on Kindle Fire or any of the hundreds of compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including PlayStation 3."

      If someone has been on Prime for the month's free trial, then after the 30-days are over, they'll see Instant Video costs shown instead of $0.00 ...

      These are 'legacy' videos ... meaning older but popular. Let me know if you continue to see a rental cost on these AND you are on Prime and what happens if you call Kindle Support at 1-800-321-8851 about it. Thanks.

      Delete
    2. ShannaRa! Sorry for the mispelling of your name!

      Delete
  2. I commented extensively on the Waterstons deal over at ILMK:
    http://ilmk.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/big-british-blow-for-bn-waterstones-goes-with-kindle/#comment-26752

    One curiosity I noted is that Waterstones already sells EPUB DRM eBooks (they are fairly pricey). I wonder if this says anything about the ongoing saga of Epub v Amazon/kindle support? Could the lack of direct Amazon support for ePub be coming to an end? As you have already remarked ePub titles can be read on the KF with the right app installed.

    As to the rumors, I agree: best to wait. In a couple of weeks we will be coming up on the first of the two remaining announcement windows for 2012 (that being "Back to School" -- Jun-Aug; the other is Christmas -- Oct-Nov).

    ReplyDelete

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