The “iPad” killer title that’s been given to the Amazon Kindle Fire may justified after all. A leaked screenshot of Amazon’s “ALASKA” inventory and SKU management system shows Kindle Fire pre-orders have already topped 254,000 units. Based on figures from CultofAndroid, that equates to ~50,000/day or ~2,000/hr. Compare that to the iPad 2′s ~300,000 launch day units (includes pre-orders, sales to partners, and sales to retail channels) and you can see how smart of a decision it was to price the Fire low.
With over a month to go still before the Fire goes on sale, we’re thinking quite a bit more pre-orders will be placed. It’s going to be a busy holiday shopping season…
- September 30, 2011 2:58 pm
If a 7″ tablet is good, increasing the screen size to 10″ must be better, right? While such a question is actually multi-faceted and quite complex, we’re pretty sure Amazon would have a hit on their hands if new rumors claiming Amazon will release a 10″ tablet just in time for the holidays proves true, especially if Amazon can launch such a device for $299-$349. Part of the new Fire’s draw is its rather robust feature set and low $199 price point.
Toss in other rumors that started surfacing today saying Amazon is in serious talks to buy HP’s foiled webOS mobile operating system and you’ve got plenty of new, juicy material to keep the rumor mills chugging away for at least another month.
- September 28, 2011 11:00 am
Amazon just unveiled some new Kindles. Bookworms rejoice! Now there’s a Kindle for everyone at $79, $99, $149, and $199 price points. Hop past the break for the rundown…
- September 28, 2011 9:56 am
Can the myriad of Android tablets already on the market feel the heat (bad pun) from Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet? At $199 it’s far cheaper than pretty much all of the competition and yet still runs powerful (customized) version of Android. Specs include a dual-core processor, 7″ IPS display, WiFi (no 3G version) and a free month of Amazon Prime.
Pre-orders start today. Ships November 15th.
In a ruling that shouldn’t come as too surprising, the judge presiding over the Apple vs. Amazon lawsuit regarding the term “App Store” and Apple’s trademark over it was swung in Amazon’s favor. According to the judge, Apple’s App Store is neither famous enough nor exclusive enough to warrant the kind of protection they seek. Not to mention, Apple hasn’t proved how competitors’ “appstore” naming schemes are confusing.
“The court finds that Apple has not established a likelihood of success on its dilution claim. First, Apple has not established that its ‘App Store’ mark is famous, in the sense of being ‘prominent’ and ‘renowned.’ The evidence does show that Apple has spent a great deal of money on advertising and publicity, and has sold/provided/furnished a large number of apps from its AppStore, and the evidence also reflects actual recognition of the ‘App Store’ mark. However, there is also evidence that the term ‘app store’ is used by other companies as a descriptive term for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices.”
You win some. You lose some. We’ve thought Apple’s App Store legal battle was frivolous and senseless all along. But hey, when there’s money to be made…
The Android tablet market is set to get some very interesting hardware later this year based on a new leak by BGR. Specifically, the least powerful device called (Coyote) will pack an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor. And we all know how sweet Tegra 2-powered devices are. Though the really exciting hardware lies in the quad-core “Hollywood” device based off of Nvidia’s T30 “Kal-El” platform. The extra two cores are reportedly good enough for up to 500% more performance than current Tegra 2 hardware. Both tablets are scheduled to drop before the end of the year. If you’re looking for a Christmas gift, you may want to consider an Amazon tablet this year.
Consider us intrigued. More information as it becomes available…
Rumors of an Amazon-built tablet got a healthy shot of validity this morning with a report from DigiTimes. According to local sources, Taiwanese OEMs are beginning to get orders for Amazon’s upcoming tablet. The tablet is said to be a direct answer to the slew of tablets from competing manufacturers running rampant, specifically the higher-end Android tablets and Apple’s iPad.
Amazon has had pretty good success with their Kindle eReader so far. If they can continue lowering the price on that while also pushing out a higher end full-fledged tablet for a decent price, Amazon could grab quite a bit of marketshare.
The long awaited “digital lockers” that music junkies and mobile aficionados have been begging for has finally been delivered. But it isn’t Apple who has long been the #1 focus on such a service/feature — it’s Amazon.
Dubbed “Amazon Cloud”, this new streaming service is pretty enticing on paper. Music, video, photos, and documents can all be uploaded to an initial 5GB chunk of online storage space. Purchase a single song from Amazon’s music store and your allotment is bumped up to 20GB. On top of that, tracks purchased from Amazon’s own store do not count towards your overall storage limit. If 20GB isn’t enough, extra storage can be purchased starting at $20/year for an additional 20GB and climbing all the way up to $1,000/year for a full terabyte.
Complimenting the online locker service is the new Cloud Player and Cloud Player for Andorid. The former will work in most common browsers across Mac, PC, Android Tablet, and Android phones. However, if mobile use is truly your main desire, the Android specific version of Cloud Player also includes access to the full Amazon digital music store an a mobile-friendly version of the actual player. Both versions will allow upload and downloading of files, streaming and managing of playlists, and now worries of quality loss — all music is streamed at the same quality it was uploaded. (Audiophiles better have a good connection for FLAC streaming…)
Being the first out of the gate has its pros and cons. For now, Amazon is the sole provider of any type of digital music locker service designed as Amazon Cloud is. At the same time, competitors can now tweak their own offerings to meet or exceed Amazon. Though, such is the way of the technology/business world. Nevertheless, we’re excited.
For now, Amazon Cloud is U.S. only. But fret not. As soon as other countries are given the green light, we’ll be sure to divulge anything and everything we know. Stay tuned…
The day Angry Birds aficionados have been waiting for is finally here. Angry Birds Rio has officially launched. Available for iOS (App Store) and Android (Amazon App Store — exclusive), the latest saga in the birds’ journey brings two new episodes complete with 60 levels of bird slinging fun. However, the fun will continue throughout with episodic updates based on the official RIO movie. New characters, achievements, and unlockable secrets are also planned moving forward.
Angry Birds Rio is free on the iOS App Store and $0.99 on the Amazon Android App Store. However, if Android users act within the next 24 hours, Angry Birds Rio can be snagged for free under Amazon’s “Free App of the Day” promotion. Give Angry Birds Rio a try and let us know what you think!
