Kindle News: Quite a bit more on the expected Amazon announcements

A bit more on the Amazon announcement

As a result of the raised expectations and Amazon's announcement Friday that the company has "expanded its licensing agreement with Comcast-owned NBCUniversal adding, to its Prime Instant Video feature, "hundreds of popular and award-winning TV episodes, including prior seasons of Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and more..." Amazon's stock hit a record high ($246.87/share)

Rumors from Staples
At first (on July 23), it was Demos Parneros, president of U.S. Retail for Staples Inc, who was reported by Reuters' Alistair Barr (paraphrased -- not an actual quote) to have said, in Reuter's words:

' Amazon is to introduce up to five or six tablet SKUs, or stock-keeping units ... The tablets will be different sizes, including a 10-inch model, Parneros said. Amazon spokespeople declined to comment on the company's plans. '

And, with that, the news sites began reporting that there would be 5 or 6 tablets, when actually "stock keeping units" are more often variations on a basic model.

  That can mean, for example, that a Kindle Fire could be sold in configurations of 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of storage with 8GB or 16GB of RAM and you'd have 4 to 6 "tablet SKUs" already.  Add that they might even add 3G capability as an option to one or two of those and you have more tablet SKUs.

  People are expecting they'll keep a basic Kindle Fire model with a configuration close to the one we have now (maybe at $149) and add an upgraded one with the heavier specs we've discussed for a few months.

  However, Barr also reported that Parneros mentioned there will be a 10-inch model.  We don't know exactly what he said though.   A 10" version had not generally been expected until closer to the holidays or even early Spring 2013, but they might announce the plans and timetable at the coming press conference.  Or they could surprise us with one.  Personally, I like the 7" or even 8.9" form factor but then I already have a 10" tablet (Samsung) that I don't use nearly as much as I use the Kindle Fire, though I do like it.  It's just not as practical for carrying outside and is not as comfortable to hold for extended reads.  The 7" one is more like carrying a book (and easier on the eyes when reading books).

More rumors from Staples
1.  While re-reading a CNet story I'd recommended the other day, I noticed a comment from someone identifying himself as a Staples employee.  This reminded me of having seen and reported a comment at Engadget.com in April 2010 from a Best Buy employee who reported seeing cases for Kindle on the truck, before there had been verification Best Buy was to be a seller and while it took those Kindles quite some time to show up at Best Buy they eventually did.  At that time, it seemed odd to think of Kindles selling there, for some reason.

  The CNet story commenter (ss5joshua) this week said the following:

' I work at Staples, and our store is getting a reset in two weeks.  Part of the reset is taking out the two endcaps that the Kindles are currently using (one for the standard E-Readers, the other for the Kindle Fire) and giving them a 20' display on the first aisle of the technology department.  I figured four devices wouldn't be able to take up that much space :P '

  A 20' display IS quite large, especially compared to the current two endcaps.  So there may well be quite a selection in store, so to speak, for us.  They may also have opted to stock up on much more in the way of accessories.

  That commenter's info does seems plausible though.

2.  Another one I noticed is just a wish and a question and probably has no basis in fact at this time, although many have wished we'd heard anything about a color e-Ink model.  We'd be lucky to get a front-lighted b&w model, and I think it's important they do that.  Users of the Nook Glowlight have shown they don't care that much about any resulting loss in contrast due to the added layer.  (I hope Amazon keeps at least one e-Ink model without the light, as I love the contrast of the Pearl screen the way it is.)

  But the commenter (paulej) links us to the Eink company's page on their Triton or Color Active Matrix technology.  The color is, as always with these e-Ink devices, very muted and not to be compared with LCD devices' vivid colors, but they may be good for understanding color charts, graphs, and other illustrations in textbooks that can also be read in bright daylight.

  HOWEVER, again, I've seen *zero* rumors credited to the usual chatty "supplier" sources when orders are involved) and then proudly described to reporters in Taiwan.  There's just been no inkling (pun intended) of that, and it's not something that could likely be hidden either  However, it might be possible for next year's batch.  In demos of this technology, which also involves a second layer, there has been a reported loss of contrast seen.  Imagine a third layer to shed front-light on a 2-layered color e-Ink device.

But the many possibilities will keep us guessing for the next 13 days.

That same Reuters article -- the section on Lab 126 growing
The Reuters article had a substantial section on what the Lab 126 staffing growth indicates.

They had 500 employees listed on Linkedin when Amazon launched the KFire and that's
up to 865 as of mid-July, including 792 of them in the San Francisco Bay Area.

An emphasis has been on hiring hardware and software engineers who have experience with cellular products and one post involved responsibility for "adhering to carrier requirements," so it's pretty obvious Amazon has been working on mobile technology involving cell/smartphones.

The postings of jobs is anything but private, and they quote this also: ""Prior wireless or related field test experience that covers smart phones or smart devices a plus..." The hiring of experienced managers in this field is telling also.

One (of two hired from Microsoft's Windows-Phone area) is, Reuters says, director of product management for Kindle Cross Platform and blogged his good luck in getting to work on a product he really loves, before and after joining Amazon, and adds:

' I can't really say much about some of the things on which I am working.  I can say that the goals of some of the teams are huge. Huge." '

  He also mentions something he was told by an Amazon senior VP during the recruitment process:

' He said, "the goal of Kindle was to enable a system to allow someone to buy any book ever published, and have it delivered anywhere in the world in 60 seconds.  It's time to think bigger." '

Maybe we'll get a hint of that.

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Kindle News, lots of it, 10/13/10

The 11 items mentioned below include a few that are mainly links w/short descriptions for those interested in following the links, as there is a lot of news this week and you can follow these when you have time.  The others probably contain too much information but I wanted to see community responses to some of the news.


1. STAPLES
Staples's display area for the Kindles.  Note the larger Kindle on the desk?  I didn't THINK they have the DX Graphite in stock but it was said that they'd be in stores in November.

  At this point, they only have pre-programmed demo models although they call them "interactive"... the article drips with sarcasm, but I wish Amazon felt they could afford to have one model in each store that people could actually try for an idea of how the Kindle  (UK: K3) actually functions.

  In the article's Comments area, someone writes back in similar vein but with a different viewpoint:

  "I got my grubby paws on one of these devices last year, and actually quite liked it.  I found out that you can use the free 3G internet access to surf the web, anywhere on the planet that has 3G cellphone coverage.
  Oh, and apparently you can read books on them as well. "

2. COWEN AND CO.'S DIGITAL BOOK MARKET SURVEY
The L.A. Times Entertainment blog reports on estimated sales based on a survey by Cowen and Co.:

' Not only are sales of the Kindle device expected to grow 140% this year to nearly 5 million units from 2009, but digital book sales via the Kindle store are on track to grow 195% to $701 million in 2010, according to Cowen and Co., which released a report Monday on the digital book market.

...according to the report, written by Cowen analysts Jim Friedland and Kevin Kopelman. "In fact, we think the adoption of tablets will boost Kindle e-book sales."

...For 2010, Cowan estimates Apple will have 5% of the market for digital books, compared with Amazon, which is projected to have 76% of the market.  But by 2015, Cowan estimates Amazon will have 51% of the market and Apple with 16%.

3. AMAZON SINGLES
When I first saw the PR release at MarketWatch, I thought Amazon was expanding into the Dating-Services area, but instead:

' Less than 10,000 words or more than 50,000: that is the choice writers have generally faced for more than a century--works either had to be short enough for a magazine article or long enough to deliver the "heft" required for book marketing and distribution.

But in many cases, 10,000 to 30,000 words (roughly 30 to 90 pages) might be the perfect, natural length to lay out a single killer idea, well researched, well argued and well illustrated--whether it's a business lesson, a political point of view, a scientific argument, or a beautifully crafted essay on a current event.

Today [Oct. 12], Amazon is announcing that it will launch "Kindle Singles" -- Kindle books that are twice the length of a New Yorker feature or as much as a few chapters of a typical book.  Kindle Singles will have their own section in the Kindle Store and be priced much less than a typical book.
  Today's announcement is a call to serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business leaders, historians, politicians and publishers to join Amazon in making such works available to readers around the world.

  "Ideas and the words to deliver them should be crafted to their natural length, not to an artificial marketing length that justifies a particular price or a certain format," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content.  "With Kindle Singles, we're reaching out to publishers and accomplished writers and we're excited to see what they create." '

Nick Bilton of the NY Times points out that

' This medium-length format has traditionally been difficult for writers to sell to publishers as it doesn’t fit into the mold of a printing-press distribution model.

  In a digital distribution system, those pricing structures no longer exist, and a digital price can be adjusted accordingly.

  By promoting this new format, Amazon can also avoid upsetting publishers who were frustrated with the company when it introduced its own self-publishing product, allowing writers to price and directly sell their content on the Kindle platform. '

Engadget's Joseph L. Flatley refers to these as "really, really short books"

  To Engadget's mostly tongue-in-cheek analysis - "It looks like Amazon has finally admitted what we knew all along: most books are too long. And boring.
  We need more e-publications that reflect our torn jeans, frayed hair, coffee swilling, ca. early-1990s slacker lifestyle.
  Kindle Singles, as announced by "the man" in an ironic blast of "PR," are described as e-books anywhere from twice the length of a Maximum Rock'n'Roll feature article to a few chapters in a typical book...."

  In the Engadget comments area, Nick Sweetman writes:

' Have you ever heard of this thing called attention span? It's when you actually get to '

  IMHo predicts:

' Mark my words: in 2020 they will come out with Kindle Fractions, for page-and-a-half publications, because by then singles will be considered long and boring :) '

  And, on a more serious note, jtnoel adds:

' Amazon is one of Dime Novel Publishing's distribution channels.  In fact, we currently have close to 30 titles published (although Amazon does not provide publishers the ability to offer texts for free...unless you are one of the big guys).

  The issue is about getting noticed. Publishers pushing short/serialized content through Amazon are, in short (no pun intended), lost in the shuffle.  By breaking this out into its own model, there is a great opportunity for authors/publishers like us to get some real marketing push from Amazon. '

 Dingus is amusing:

' The "Amazon Singles" name is all about branding.  Because calling them "Amazon Short Stories" sounds like a comic from the '50s.
  Also the acronym might not fly. '

 And, on a note that might please Amazon and Singles-authors, Mark points out why this might work:

' There are probably a lot of awesome short stories by authors I love, that I don't read.  Why?  Because I don't want to buy compilations with other short stories I am not interested in reading. '

zippycart.com makes some good points:

' ...Others view Kindle Singles as a new revenue source [for writers].  Writers can now take a different approach, and create smaller books that have a more narrow focus.

  It might take a year to write a traditional book, but Kindle Singles could be easily produced in two weeks to a month.  This quick turn around time could allow writers a chance to sell more digital work, so they can have the money to allow them to spend time focusing on bigger books.

  Other writers, on the other hand, may look at this as a new opportunity to carve out a unique niche, where they produce dozens of 30 to 90 page books.   Either way, this new addition to the Kindle Store provides a great deal of opportunity for many. '

Technorati's Laura Zavelson writes:

' If viewed through a magazine/newspaper lens, this could be the first step in letting journalists and writers produce their own work rather than having to be on staff or go through the tedious pitch process.  While the press release did not discuss the business model, there is also the possibility that writers might even be able to earn more for their work by going straight to distribution and bypassing the publishers.

  ... The newsstand price of a top consumer magazine runs about $5. What if you could spend less and just buy the articles you're interested in?  Would you do it? '

4. ZORK FOR KINDLE AGAIN
Geek.com's John Brownlee writes that while he feels the Kindle is 'worthless' for any games (of the action type, definitely), Zork is another matter:

' Given how extremely dedicated and talented the text-adventure community is even today, this seems like an absolutely wonderful development for the Kindle, transforming it from an e-reader into an affordable handheld console for a type of game not really supported on other systems.  Roll out support for A Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and I’m there. '

5. AMAZON TO SELL KINDLE IN CHINA?
In an article in Investor's Business Daily, by Doug Tsuruoka, about Amazon and sales of mooncakes! in China, I saw this:

' Amazon operates under the name Joyo Amazon in China.  Market research firms in China say Amazon is doing well selling books.  There are unconfirmed reports in the Chinese press that Amazon will soon start selling its Kindle e-book reader in China. '

Probably true.  In the July 28 blog entry, I wrote that the Global Times, China reported that

' Despite claims by Amazon that its E-book reader, Kindle, has no timetable for entering the Chinese market, its Chinese branch, Joyo, is in what is believed to be preparations to launch the device, media reports said Wednesday.

  An industry insider disclosed that Joyo has initiated recruitment of distribution managers and personnel via recruitment organizations, which leads industry analysts to believe this is a prelude to launching.  Information on talent-recruitment is available on Joyo's official website. '

And a couple of days later came the news that the new Kindle now handles Chinese characters.

6. QUALCOMM'S MIRASOL DEMO AT AMERICAN MAGAZINE CONFERENCE
ChicagoNow's yearley reports that the color but e-paper-like Mirasol display (that can do video) for future e-readers was demo'd at American Magazine Conference.  The part that most interested me, in a long article explaining Mirasol technology, was this:

' The Mirasol is a "color display that future E-Readers will be able to integrate for a different viewing experience from the present offerings...There is currently a dedicated fab facility, special factory that produces the displays, in Taiwan which increases its production reach and will be able to supply demand given a deal is reached soon for an E-Reader... [Emphases mine, as usual.]

The display can show images and video as a clear XGA format at 1024 x 768 screen resolution with 223 pixels per inch.

...The final question on everyone's mind is perhaps what E-Reader devices the Mirasol display might be a part of in the near future and if it will be in other mobile devices besides E-Readers.  However, that was the one question that could not currently be answered and [they] were not able to say at the present time to anyone.  Though currently Qualcomm is in the process of working on deals with major players in the E-Reader market.

The CEO of Barnes & Noble was present at the American Magazine Conference, so perhaps he caught onto some ideas after previewing the Qualcomm Mirasol display and will decide to bring it to the Nook, along with Mirasol's full color and video capabilites. '

See far more info on this promising (but muted-color) display at ChicagoNow.

7. TOM'S HARDWARE WEBSITE NOW IN KINDLE BLOG EDITION
Kindle Edition of Tom's Hardware mobile The popular and highly-regarded "Tom's Hardware" site is now available in a Kindle Edition for 99 cents a month.

8. AMAZON AND BEST BUY WORKING ON TABLETS?
Yet another rumor, this time from androidandme.com, about a possible Amazon tablet in the works (I'd not mentioned any of the other Amazon tablet rumors).

  They point out that

' TechCrunch "was the first to post the rumor that an Amazon tablet was coming and it makes perfect sense when you really think about it. Amazon’s site attracts nearly 80 million visitors each month and they have demonstrated their ability to move a branded device like the Kindle e-reader. If Amazon takes their moneymaking Kindle brand and slaps it on an Android tablet, they now have the perfect mobile platform to push their growing video-on-demand library, while also using their killer recommendation engine to sell apps and games. '

Just a rumor and not a strongly-based one though it makes sense it might happen someday.  And Amazon's Lab126 has had job postings for positions requiring experience in video and animation.

9. RELUCTANT EBOOK ADOPTER DETAILS HOW HE FELL FOR THE ENEMY
How I got a preview of the Kindle 3 – and totally geeked out - by Christopher Sutton, a "reluctant ebook adopter."  The link for this delightful read was tweeted to some Kindlers by @mikecane.

It's a long piece by a guy who's always loved physical books and strongly resisted the idea of an e-reader (does this sound familiar?).  He explains his slow turnaround, to the extent he wound up in the new Amazon video, "What Customers are Saying".  Seen just under "The Reviews Are In -- where this link takes you, though it takes a bit to load -- the video also includes a couple of appearances by Jesslyn who runs the information-focused blog My Kindle Stuff - Info, How-To & Book Resources at http://mykindlestuff.com.

10. FOR EDUCATORS - a recommended article
The Chronicle of Higher Education's Jeffrey R. Young asks, As Textbooks Go Digital, Will Professors Build Their Own Books?.  It wouldn't be that easy, for many reasons.

11. GOOD READING ON THE FUTURE OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY
BookBotics - The Future of Publishing, at http://www.ebookbotics.com/
  "BookBotics features commentary and analysis about the future of books, reading and publishing business models in an era of digital media and convergence technologies.  While BookBotics focuses on these issues in particular, it also provides information on legal issues in the publishing industry as well as the many technological developments and curiosities that have become part of our digital culture."


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Staples to sell Kindle 3's and DXG this Fall in 1500+ stores

Staples will carry the three current Kindle models starting this Fall, which is just about here, and there is one store about 3 blocks from where I am.

  It's all over the news but I first heard it from an anonymous commenter at this blog, and I think it's great news.

  They have knowledgeable computer and electronics staff there, which will be a benefit for customers.

  In other news, Borders' Kobo reader has lowered its price to $129.  You can search 'kobo' at the top right here to get previous articles here about the Kobo reader.

  Wall St. Journal story on Borders and Kobo is here.


Kindle 3  (3G/WiFi or WiFi-only) (UK: Kindle 3),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!