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Tag: Amazon

  • Kindle Fire 2 Leaked Pic Hits the Web

    Kindle Fire 2 Leaked Pic Hits the Web

    When Amazon announced this morning that the Kindle Fire had sold out, it was clear they were happy to be hinting at the impending announcement of the Kindle Fire 2 on September 6th. Now the leaks have begun, meaning that many of the rumors Amazon will neither confirm nor deny will soon be replaced by facts.

    The Verge has obtained what it claims is a picture of the next Kindle Fire. Seen above, the device seems to have more rounded corners than the original Kindle Fire, but a similar interface. The device also appears to have a front-facing camera, meaning video calling might soon be possible on a Kindle. Not much else can be discerned by the picture, though The Verge states it has seen another picture that shows a “streamlined user interface with less ‘chrome.’” That publication said it has been asked not to publish the second photo.

    All of this speculation will be cleared up next week as Amazon announces the next Kindle Fire. And in addition to that device, it is rumored that a 10-inch Kindle Fire, a new Kindle Touch, and even a Kindle smartphone are possible announcements for next week’s Amazon event. Pricing rumors for these devices have not cropped up, though it’s likely that the new 7-inch Kindle Fire will stay near the current one’s $200 price.

    (Photo courtesy The Verge)

  • Kindle Fire Sells Out Just In Time For Kindle Fire 2 Announcement

    I think it’s safe to say that Amazon will be announcing a Kindle Fire 2 at their September 6 event. It was revealed that the popular Kindle Touch had sold out with no explanation on Monday. Now Amazon has dropped us a line saying that the Kindle Fire is also out of stock.

    It is rather strange, however, that Amazon would gleefully announce that their number one selling product is sold out. The company wanted to let everybody know that the Kindle Fire has managed to capture 22 percent of the U.S. tablet market since its launch.

    “We’re grateful to the millions of customers who have made Kindle Fire the most successful product launch in the history of Amazon,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “This has been a big year for digital products on Amazon—all of the top 10 sellers on Amazon.com since Kindle Fire launched just less than a year ago are digital products. Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead—we will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem.”

    Amazon isn’t saying it, but they are obviously setting up for some big Kindle news next week. It was already rumored that the Kindle Fire 2 would be announced, but other rumors suggest that Amazon will also be launching revisions to the entire Kindle line. It’s also rumored that Amazon will be launching a 10-inch Kindle to compete with the iPad.

    Amazon is starting to create more questions than answers at this point. Will the Kindle Fire ever be back in stock? Will they just ditch the original Fire in favor of the Kindle Fire 2? Will the Kindle Touch be back in stock, or are they just discontinuing the model? Will there be something to take its place? What about the oft-rumored Kindle Phone?

    Unfortunately, we don’t have a single answer. Surprisingly enough, Amazon is far more resilient to leaks than Apple. There has not been a single hardware leak in regards to Amazon’s plans for the next line of Kindles. All we have to go on is hearsay from people within the industry.

    It’s only a week until September 6 so we won’t have to wait much longer for all the details. It will be interesting to see if Amazon announces a whole new fleet of Kindles, or just the Kindle Fire 2.

  • Amazon Will Now Sell Its eBooks Through Other Retailers

    Amazon Will Now Sell Its eBooks Through Other Retailers

    Amazon is known for books. Even before the Kindle, the site was a favorite of book buyers. The company is now a major player in the eBook scene with their own major publishing imprint. Published books on their imprint were previously only available through Amazon, but those books will now start to appear elsewhere.

    Paid Content reports that Amazon has inked a deal with Ingram that will see books published through Amazon NY available through Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo. Book lovers, regardless of eReader, will now be able to read the content available from Amazon.

    As always, there is a catch. The deal doesn’t guarantee that Amazon’s books will appear on other devices. It’s unlikely that Apple will stock Amazon-published books. The Cupertino-based company has outright rejected an eBook in the past for linking to Amazon. I just don’t see the two putting aside their rivalry for a little mutual benefit.

    As for Barnes & Noble and Kobo, you can probably expect eBooks to start popping up on their respective services soon. Barnes & Noble is probably going to be the most aggressive with this new deal as their Nook eReader is quite popular. The promise of more content, even if it is from Amazon, may entice people to go with the Nook over the Kindle.

    That being said, the Kindle is still amazingly popular among readers. Just yesterday, Amazon let it be known that Kindle owners had downloaded or borrowed the 180,000 Kindle-exclusive books over 100 million times. Unfortunately, today’s deal won’t see those exclusive titles appearing anywhere else. Even with their publishing imprint going to other carriers, people might still flock to Kindle for their exclusive books.

    Regardless of what eReader the consumer buys, this is a win for Amazon. They are already a fairly large publisher, but this could push them to even greater heights. They will grow even larger in the unlikely event that Amazon eBooks show up on the iPad.

  • Kindle Owners Really Love Their Exclusive Books

    Being a Kindle owner definitely has its perks. Amazon has an extensive collection of Kindle-exclusive books that you can’t read anywhere else. As it turns out, that exclusivity is a real money maker.

    Amazon announced today that the 180,000 books that are exclusive to the Kindle store have been purchased, downloaded, or borrowed more than 100 million times. The ability of Amazon Prime members to borrow books via Kindle seems to have had the biggest impact on sales. Authors love the Kindle exclusive library as well since it gives them the kind of exposure that would have been impossible anywhere else.

    Amazon notes that several popular Kindle exclusive titles like “War Brides” by Helen Bryan and “A Scattered Life” have been downloaded or borrowed hundreds of thousands of times. Even more impressive is the novel “A Modern Witch” by Debora Geary as it briefly unseated the super popular “Fifty Shades of Grey” as the best-selling book on the Kindle store. It has since gone on to sell more than 200,000 copies.

    “We have a huge library of books that are only available on Kindle, and they’re super popular – in less than a year they’ve been downloaded more than 100 million times,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. “Exclusive books are another great benefit for Kindle readers, and we’re going to continue to work hard to make sure the Kindle ecosystem is the best in the world for our customers.”

    Amazon also points out that Authors who make their titles exclusive to Kindle through the KDP Select program receive 77 percent more royalties from paid sales. One author in particular, Stephanie Bond, said that royalties from paid sales for her novel “Our Husband” increased by over 2,000 percent since joining KDP Select.

    Other authors, including Andrew E. Kaufman and Thomas Benigno, all praise the KDP Select program for letting them get their foot in the door. Both authors now have titles on the top 100 best seller list and have seen sales rise to the 100,000 mark.

    If anything, the KDP Select program makes self-publishing easier than it’s ever been. Authors no longer have to foot the bill on publishing a few thousand copies in hopes that they sell. Amazon and Apple both offer self-publishing programs on their respective stores that up-and-coming authors can make a name for themselves on.

    Internet self-publishing is still growing and expanding all the time. The success that authors have found on KDP only point us more towards a future where more and more authors, musicians and other creators will be peddling their wares on the Internet instead of indie bookstores.

  • Kindle Touch Goes Out Of Stock Before Amazon Event

    There are rumors swirling around the Internet that Amazon will be announcing the Kindle Fire 2 at an event on September 6. Other rumors suggest that the company will be announcing an entirely new Kindle line with updated hardware from everything from the Kindle Touch to the classic original Kindle. Amazon themselves may have just confirmed this to be the case.

    Engadget noticed this morning that the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are both out of stock on Amazon’s Web site. It’s entirely possible that the hardware is just out of stock. The timing seems to suggest otherwise.

    Before you freak out, all the other Kindle devices are in stock and ready to ship. It’s a no brainer that the event next week will feature the heavily rumored Kindle Fire 2. It remains to be seen if Amazon will release revisions to the classic Kindle hardware. The sold out notice might even be indicative of Amazon killing off the Kindle Touch in favor of other hardware.

    It’s still a little under two weeks until September 6. We’re all just going to have to wait and see what comes of this. New Kindle hardware is guaranteed if other models start selling out before the event next week. It would be strange if Amazon killed off the Kindle Touch hardware before the other less capable models. My bets on a hardware redesign, but nothing is certain until the event takes place.

    We’ll keep you updated on any Kindle news and all the other hardware we expect to be revealed in the first two weeks of September.

  • Amazon Touts Prime Service With Boatload of Stats

    Today Amazon released a ‘look how awesome our Prime service is doing” update, and as a part of that self-promotion effort also gave us some pretty interesting stats about the seven-year-old program.

    First, Amazon is happy to announced that Prime has hit a significant milestone. As of today, more items are shipped using Prime’s free two-day shipping benefit than Amazon’s older free Super Saver Shipping initiative. If it’s been awhile since you’ve made a purchase on Amazon, the Super Saver Shipping offers free shipping on any order over $25. Amazon says that they’ve extended the amount of products offered via Prime Two-Day Shipping to 15 million.

    Some more interesting facts about Prime Free Two-Day Shipping?

    • The top two most-shipped items are the Kindle Fire and the original Kindle.  Amazon says that the first book in the Fifty Shades of Grey series is number four.
    • If you’re a member of Amazon Prime, you could ship 500 products through Two-Day Shipping every day for the rest of your life and still not ship every product available.

    And of course, Amazon Prime is not only about free shipping. There’s that whole streaming video platform element to it. Here are some stats about Prime Instant Video:

    • In a given week, 96.4 percent of the Prime Instant Video catalog is viewed.
    • The number of titles available for unlimited streaming through Prime Instant Video has increased from roughly 5,000 titles at launch to over 22,000 today. Just this year alone, the title count has grown from 13,000 to over 22,000, an increase of 70 percent.
    • The most watched TV show available through Prime Instant Video is Downton Abbey Season 1.
    • The most watched movie available through Prime Instant Video is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (English Subtitled).

    Also, the most borrowed book in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is The Hunger Games, which just ousted Harry Potter as the most popular series on Amazon (in terms of total purchases, both print and Kindle).

    “Since Amazon launched in 1995, we’ve been focused on growing selection for our customers. Following the introduction of Amazon Prime in 2005, we’ve worked hard to grow Prime selection as well. We’re incredibly proud to be able to offer more than 15 million Prime items today. We’ve also grown the Prime Instant Video library to more than 22,000 movies and TV episodes, all with unlimited streaming, and Prime members can borrow more than 180,000 books for free, with no due dates, using the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – that’s up from roughly 5,000 when the program launched less than a year ago,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

    Last week, Amazon announced a few new content partnerships for Prime Instant Video. One will bring sports documentaries including ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, and the other beefs up NBCUniversal content like Battlestar Galactica & Parks and Recreation.

  • Amazon Prime Instant Video Adds Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and More through NBCUniversal Deal

    Amazon Prime Instant Video Adds Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and More through NBCUniversal Deal

    So say we all.

    Amazon is a busy little bee when it comes to adding content to their streaming platform, Prime Instant Video. Earlier this week, they announced that ESPN’s acclaimed docu-series 30 for 30 was coming to Prime Instant Video along with other sports-related programming. And now, an expanded licensing agreement with NBCUniversal will bring hundreds of additional episodes of popular TV shows to the service.

    The expanded deal will bring previous seasons of shows like Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, and many more to Prime Instant Video.

    “We are excited to be working with NBCUniversal to add their award-winning lineup of TV shows such as Parks and Recreation and Friday Night Lights to Prime Instant Video,” said Brad Beale, Director of Digital Video Content Acquisition for Amazon. “We continue to invest heavily in our content selection for Prime members, and have now reached over 22,000 movies and TV episodes available instantly with unlimited streaming.”

    And a hint of more to come?

    “We are thrilled to have several of our iconic programs available to subscribers of Amazon Prime, a service focused on the best possible consumer experience,” said Frances Manfredi, President, Cable & New Media Distribution for NBCUniversal. “We look forward to further expanding NBCU’s content offering available to Prime subscribers in the near future.”

    This deal makes it a big year in terms of content for Amazon Prime. Earlier, Amazon inked deals with Discovery Communications, MGM, and Warner Bros.

  • Kindle Fire 2 Release Date Expected To Be Announced On September 6

    What is up with the first two weeks of September? Every major tech company on the planet is making some kind of huge announcement next month one right after the other. Windows Phone 8 news will hit on September 5 while Apple will be revealing the iPhone 5 on September 12. This week, Nintendo announced that they would be discussing the Wii U just one day after the iPhone 5 event. Amazon has now entered the fray with an event scheduled one day after the Windows Phone 8 event.

    BGR is reporting that Amazon has started to send out press invites for an event to take place on September 6 in Santa Monica, California. The invite doesn’t actually say what the event will be about, but it’s safe to assume that the Kindle Fire 2 will be there.

    So what can we expect out the Kindle Fire 2? Surprisingly, there’s not much to go off at this point in time. Amazon has been rather tight lipped about production and parts don’t mysteriously appear on Chinese forums. What we do know is that the president of Staples claims that Amazon will be releasing five or six new tablets this year under the Kindle brand.

    The Kindle Fire 2 is going to take the spotlight, but those five to six tablet SKUs probably cover the entire Kindle line. We can probably expect to see new versions of the regular Kindle and the Kindle Touch among others during the press event on September 6. We also can’t forget the persistent rumors that Amazon will be releasing a 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire to directly compete with the iPad.

    Amazon has seen incredible success with the Kindle Fire thus far. A Kindle Fire 2 will only stoke the flames of demand even more. People want a powerful, yet affordable, tablet in their lives and the Kindle Fire was that tablet until Google moved in with the Nexus 7. A revamped Kindle Fire 2 at the same $199 price point with a cheaper regular Kindle Fire could be just the thing to kick the Nexus 7 out of the competition.

    We’ll keep you updated throughout the next few weeks on any Kindle Fire 2 related developments. Who knows, Amazon might even give out some details on the oft-rumored Kindle Phone.

  • Amazon Takes The Kindle To India

    India is one of the largest growing markets in the world right now. It’s quickly growing at a pace similar to China which has many companies tripping over themselves to break into the market. Amazon is the latest company to capitalize on the insane growth that the Indian economy is experiencing.

    Amazon announced today that the Kindle e-reader is now available for purchase in India from their Web site or local Croma retailers nationwide. The company has also launched a Kindle store specifically for Indian customers. The new storefront features all the latest and greatest works from India’s most famous authors alongside plenty of free classics.

    “We are proud to launch this new Kindle store for Indian customers – offering Kindle book purchases in rupees and the ability to buy and read the work of many great Indian authors,” said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, Amazon.com. “In addition, we are excited to work with Croma to make Kindle available at retail outlets across India.”

    Amazon’s entrance into India has apparently been planned for quite some time. The company already has a few Kindle-exclusive books for sale from some of India’s most famous authors. These works include “Love, Life and a Beer Can” by Prashant Sharma and “Reality Bites: A Not So Innocent Love Story” by Anurag Anand.

    Independent authors in India will also benefit from the launch of Kindle thanks to the Kindle Direct Publishing program. Now authors can easily make their works available to all Kindle owners throughout the country at no cost to themselves. Amazon will even pay royalties in rupees to authors who use KDP.

    Amazon will only be selling the Kindle, Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G in India. There was no mention of Kindle Fire availability, but it should come in time. It’s much easier to secure licenses for books than for the wide variety of Bollywood films that Amazon would obviously want on an Indian Kindle Fire.

    As Amazon is moving into new markets, they are looking to expand in current markets. There’s already talk of a Kindle Fire 2 releasing shortly in the U.S. alongside a new 10-inch Kindle Fire to directly compete with the iPad. The company has been extremely successful with its Kindle line so far. I have no doubt that they will also be successful in India.

  • ESPN’s 30 for 30 Sports Docu-Series Coming to Amazon Prime Instant Video

    ESPN’s 30 for 30 Sports Docu-Series Coming to Amazon Prime Instant Video

    In a landscape packed with legitimate streaming video heavyweights, Amazon is looking to make their Prime instant Video service more attractive with the addition of new content – this time from the sports and documentary genres.

    Today, the company announced that they had reached an expanded licensing agreement to bring ESPN’s critically acclaimed, fan favorite series 30 for 30 to Prime Instant Video.

    30 for 30 originally aired from October 2009 to December 2010. The series featured 30 stories from around the sports world, all taking place during the “ESPN era.” Episodes featured stories about icons like Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson, as well as compelling profiles of some lesser known figures and professional & collegiate programs. The series was then spun-off into another docu-series, ESPN Films Presents:.

    Amazon Prime is also grabbing some additional sports documentaries as part of the agreement:

    “We’re continuing to grow our Prime Instant Video library to provide our Amazon Prime Members with all the content they want – from feature films, to hit TV episodes to documentaries, and everything in between,” said Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon. “With the addition of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, film lovers and sports fans will have instant access to enjoy compelling sports stories from talented and thoughtful film makers including, ‘The U,’ ‘Pony Excess’ and ‘Winning Time.’”

    According to Amazon, this bumps up the total offerings of Prime Instant Video to over 22,000. Back in March, Amazon inked a deal with Discovery Communications to bring Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet content to Amazon Prime. In June, they announced a deal that would bring hundreds of classic MGM movies to the service. And last month, Amazon partnered with Warner Bros. to bring shows like The West Wing and Fringe to Prime.

  • Amazon Glacier Launched For Cheap Data Archiving

    Amazon has launched a new low-cost storage service called Amazon Glacier. The company says it’s optimized for data that is infrequently accessed, and for which retrieval times of several hours are suitable, in order to keep costs low.

    Glacier comes with a pay-for-what-you-need model, and customers can store data for $.01 per gigabyte per month. The monthly bill is based on the amount of data stored and transferred.

    Upload and retrieval requests cost $0.050 per 1,000 requests. LISTVAULTS, GETJOBOUTPUT, DELETE and all other Requests are free. Data Retrievals are free. Here’s a closer look at the data transfer pricing:

    Glacier Pricing

    “Companies typically over-pay for data archiving,” the company says. “First, they’re forced to make an expensive upfront payment for their archiving solution (which does not include the ongoing cost for operational expenses such as power, facilities, staffing, and maintenance). Second, since companies have to guess what their capacity requirements will be, they understandably over-provision to make sure they have enough capacity for data redundancy and unexpected growth.”

    “This set of circumstances results in under-utilized capacity and wasted money,” Amazon adds. “With Amazon Glacier, you pay only for what you use. Amazon Glacier changes the game for data archiving and backup as you pay nothing upfront, pay a very low price for storage, and can scale your usage up or down as needed, while AWS handles all of the operational heavy lifting required to do data retention well. It only takes a few clicks in the AWS Management Console to set up Amazon Glacier and then you can upload any amount of data you choose.”

    Data in Glacier are stored as archives, which can be single files or combined files. You can use the AWS Management Console (or the Glacier APIs) to create vaults to organize archives.

    Glacier is, of course, designed for use with other Amazon Web Services. Users can import/export data into Glacier, and Amazon says that in the coming months, Amazon S3 will introduce an option to allow you to move data between S3 and Glacier using data lifecycle policies.

  • Amazon Looks to Gauge the Political Pulse with “Red & Blue” Book Map

    If you want to get a look into the political pulse of the country based on political book purchases, Amazon’s got you covered. Today, they’ve unveiled the Amazon Election Heat Map 2012, an interactive map that allows you to see exactly what the country is reading on a state-by-state basis.

    At the top of the map, there’s an all-encompassing breakdown that shows the split between “red” and “blue” books that have been purchased in the last 30 days. As of today, 56% of the political books purchased swing conservative. As you may expect, Mississippi shows the deepest red slant, at 72% to 28%. Washinton D.C. shows the deepest blue slant, at 78% to 22%.

    If no red or blue majority exists, a state will show up beige (as is the case with Pennsylvania).

    You can click on any state to see a specific breakdown of the book purchases, which will give you a percentage split as well as the top five book from each category:

    Although red it currently beating blue, when it comes to the Presidential Candidates, President Obama’s The Audacity of Hope is beating Mitt Romney’s No Apologies by a 64% to 36% margin.

    “Book sales by geography always have interesting things to say about our states, and an election season is a particularly good time to use this data to help customers follow the changing political conversation across the country,” said Chris Schluep, Senior Editor, Amazon.com Books.

    Amazon notes that this heat map doesn’t directly correlate to political leanings. “Book purchases may reflect curiosity as much as commitment,” they say. Still, it’s a nice way to see what kinds of philosophies have piqued the nation’s interest in the months leading up to the election.

  • AWS Elastic Beanstalk Now Runs Python Apps

    AWS Elastic Beanstalk Now Runs Python Apps

    Amazon announced that AWS Elastic Beanstalk will now support Python applications, in addition to PHP, Java and .NET.

    Specifically, Elastic Beanstalk will now support Python apps and frameworks that run on Apache HTTP Server and the WSGI interface.

    Amazon also introduced new features, which it says will make it easier to build Python web apps on Elastic Beanstalk.

    “First, you can now easily leverage Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) database instances with your Elastic Beanstalk applications,” the company says on the AWS site. “Amazon RDS makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud, making it a great fit for scalable web applications running on Elastic Beanstalk. To learn more about how to setup and use an Amazon RDS database instance with your application, visit “Using Amazon RDS with Python” in the Developer Guide.”

    “Second, you can customize the Python runtime for Elastic Beanstalk using a set of declarative text files within your application,” Amazon adds. “If your application contains a requirements.txt in its top level directory, Elastic Beanstalk automatically installs the dependencies using pip. Elastic Beanstalk is also introducing a new configuration mechanism that allows you to install packages from yum, run setup scripts, and set environment variables. To learn more about customizing your Python environment, visit “Customizing and Configuring a Python Container” in the Developer Guide.”

    To start running Python apps on Elastic Beanstalk, check out Amazon’s developer guide, which includes walkthroughs for Django and Flask apps.

    [Hat tip to CIO.]

  • The Hunger Games Ousts Harry Potter As Amazon’s Top Series

    Katniss Everdeen and crew have officially unseated the wizards of Hogwarts as the champions of Amazon. According to Amazon, The Hunger Games trilogy has just surpassed the Harry Potter series to become the best-selling book series of all time on the site.

    This includes both print and Kindle sales.

    What makes this even more impressive for author Suzanne Collins is that The Hunger Games trilogy is (obviously) only three books, while the Harry Potter series consists of seven incredible popular novels.

    “Since debuting in 2008, Katniss Everdeen and the Hunger Games have taken the world by storm, much as Harry Potter did a decade before,” said Sara Nelson, Editorial Director of Books and Kindle, Amazon.com. “Interestingly, this series is only three books versus Harry Potter’s seven, and to achieve this result in just four years is a great testament to both the popularity of the work and, we think, the growth in reading digitally during that time.”

    Right now, Mockingjay (book three), Catching Fire (book two), and The Hunger Games sit at #7, #9, and #11 on the Kindle bestsellers list, respectively.

    On the print side, The Hunger Games sits at #16, Mockingjay at #28, and Catching Fire at #40.

    The Hunger Games was turned into a very popular film of the same name, starring Jennifer Lawrence. The sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is due out in November of 2013.

  • Surprise, You’re a Gun Owner Now; Man Orders TV from Amazon, Gets Assault Rifle

    Now how am I supposed to watch the Olympics?

    After ordering a new flat-screen TV from Amazon, a Washington D.C. man got quite the shock when his package arrived without a flatscreen TV inside.

    But it wasn’t empty. Instead, his shipment contained a semi-automatic rifle with a 20-round mag and an MSRP price of a little over $2,000.

    The gun was a Sig Sauer SIG716, to be exact. But honestly, it doesn’t really matter which assault rifle shows up to your front door instead of your new television. I’d say it’s pretty strange either way.

    The surprised new gun owner, Seth Horvitz, tells FOX 5 D.C. that he ordered the TV through a third party via Amazon.

    “[Police] were a little confused at first, they’ve never seen anything quite like it,” says Horvitz. “They just took my information and then said we’ll handle this weapon because it’s illegal to keep here. It’s illegal to transport in a car, so it can’t be returned.”

    Here’s the gun in question (fully assembled):

    sig 716 carbine rifle

    Apparently, the gun’s actual destination was a gun store in Pennsylvania, according to shipping papers. But just how did it wind up at Mr. Horvitz’s apartment doorstep? Police are currently investigating.

    Although Horvitz had to know something was amiss when he saw a short, rectangular box that couldn’t possibly fit a flatscreen TV, opening it up and seeing an assault rifle must have been quite the experience. It’s kind of scary that the weapon was just sitting in his apartment hallway for a while – someone could have themselves a brand new large caliber carbine right now.

    Strangely enough, this isn’t the first strange shipping story involving Amazon we’ve heard this year. Back in January, a college student in Kansas found a bag of cocaine inside a used book she ordered via Amazon’s Warehouse Deals program.

    DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

  • Amazon Locker Service Is Expanding

    Amazon Locker Service Is Expanding

    Amazon started a locker service about a year ago, and it’s currently be expanded, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, who says lockers are popping up around the Bay Area as of the past few weeks.

    Amazon’s help center does not acknowledge the Bay Area, but indicates that lockers are currently in operation in Seattle, New York, the Washington, DC area, and London. Amazon isn’t saying where else the offering may be expanded to next, but it does appear to be expanding.

    Amazon Locker lets customers receive packages at pick-up stations located in stores that Amazon is renting space in, not entirely unlike a Redbox or Coinstar kiosk. The lockers are currently in grocery stores, drug stores and convenience stores (reportedly, including 7-Elevens) that are open 24 hours.

    When packages are delivered to the lockers, customers receive emails informing them that they’re ready for pick-up. These emails contain unique pick-up codes, the location/address of the locker, and which one will actually contain the package. The locker system has a touch screen that customers can enter the codes into. Packages are available for pick-up for three days from the delivery date. When a package is not picked up, it will be returned to Amazon for a full refund.

    Items eligible to be shipped to lockers are those sold or fulfilled by Amazon.com, with dimensions smaller than 11.8 x 11.8 x 11.8 inches, with shipping weight that is less than 10 lbs, and that don’t require special handling.

    Upon order placement, Amazon will tell you if a locker location is full, and that your item can’t be shipped to that address. You can then search for another nearby locker location. Customers can select shipping speeds, but eligible speeds will display based on the capacity of the particular locker location you’re trying to have your order sent to.

    Hopefully if you’re using an Amazon Locker anytime soon, you won’t accidentally be shipped a weapon, open your package in the store and get arrested for armed robbery.

    Image: Ubergizmo (From New York)

  • Amazon Goes From Game Retailer To Game Developer

    Amazon Goes From Game Retailer To Game Developer

    Amazon has been doing a lot lately to position themselves as one of the major players in the gaming market. The retailer seems to have a hand in everything these days from traditional sales to free-to-play digital games. They never had a hand in actual game development, but a retailer wouldn’t make games, right?

    My assumption was wrong as Amazon announced yesterday afternoon that they are indeed now in the business of making games. The retailer revealed the existence of Amazon Game Studios and their first game, Living Classics, on the newly minted Amazon Game Studios Web site.

    So why would Amazon, a retailer, get in the business of making games? The company says that they’re providing additional entertainment and value to their customer base that plays a lot of free-to-play social games. To ensure they have a hit with their first game, Amazon Game Studios plays it a little too safe with Living Classics. Here’s the description:

    Living Classics, our first major release, is what we call a “moving object game.” In the game, a family of foxes have wandered into vibrant, animated illustrations from their favorite books including Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and King Arthur. Players help to reunite the foxes by exploring beautifully illustrated scenes and spotting moving objects. You can visit friends, share rewards you’ve earned, rediscover famous stories, and reunite fox families.

    Regardless, Amazon entering the actual game creation business is pretty big news. While their first game is only available on Facebook, what’s to stop them from making free-to-play desktop games? They already have a portal for other publishers to distribute their games and content to players. Will Amazon use their power to push their games over those of others? It’s too early to tell, but they are questions that we must keep in mind going forward.

    If you want to see how Amazon’s first game turned out, check out Living Classics on Facebook. If you’re unwary, check out the trailer first to see if this “moving object” game is right for you.

  • Amazon Gets Into The Textbook Renting Business

    Your local college textbook store now has another competitor – and it’s a big one. Amazon has just begun to allow students to rent print textbooks for what they say can be up to 70% of the sale price. I specify “print,” because Amazon already lets students rent Kindle textbooks.

    Amazon textbook rentals work in a similar fashion to other textbook rental services like Chegg. Students can pay a percentage of the book’s price and keep it for an entire semester (130 days, specifically). When the semester’s over and you’re so sick of looking at it that you want to burn it, you can ship it back to Amazon for free.

    This is a new service from Amazon, as the “Rent your textbooks” option just began to appear on the “Textbooks” homepage. But the “rent” option is already starting to appear for textbooks across the site:

    Amazon textbook rentals

    This $154 textbook is available for rent for $44. Of course, buying it at your brick and mortar college bookstore would most likely run your over $200.

    At any time during the rental period, if you decide that you just can’t live without it, you can always buy the textbook for the full price.

    Students who are scribblers, beware. It looks like it’s up to Amazon to determine whether or not they can charge you the full price of the book for excessive highlighting:

    As a courtesy to future customers, we ask that you limit your writing and highlighting to a minimal amount. If we determine that the book is no longer in acceptable rental condition when you return it, including because of excessive writing or highlighting, you will be charged the full purchase price, less any rental fees and extension fees you have already paid, and we will ship the book back to you to keep.

    Amazon also says that you may receive either a new or used textbook for your rental – depending on availability.

    While this may not be the nail in the coffin for college brick and mortar bookstores, it could be the framing of the coffin. As more online properties get into this business, the traditional model of paying a ridiculously high price for something you use for a couple of months and selling it back for a fraction of what you originally paid will go by the wayside. Good riddance.

    [via CNET]

  • Jeff Bezos Gives $2.5 Million To Back Same-Sex Marriage In Washington

    In February, the Washington State legislature passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. That bill had the backing of the Democratic Governor, Christine Gregoire.

    But opponents of same sex marriage garnered enough signatures to put it on the ballot in November, and now the people of Washington will decide the fate of marriage equality in their state. And today, we learn that proponents of same-sex marriage in Washington will have a substantially larger amount of cash at their disposal, thanks to Jeff Bezos.

    Yes, that Jeff Bezos. The Amazon founder and his wife has officially pledged $2.5 million to support same-sex marriage in Washington – as voters will decide its fate via Referendum 74 in November.

    According to the New York Times, this $2.5 million donation not only doubles the cash flow of same-sex marriage activists in the state, but also makes Bezos and his wife MacKenzie one of the biggest monetary supporters of marriage equality in the whole country.

    Bezos isn’t the only high-profile tech head to give money to this Referendum campaign, but he is the most generous. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer each gave $100,000.

    Here’s exactly what the voters in Washington will be deciding on in November:

    This bill would allow same-sex couples to marry, preserve domestic partnerships only for seniors, and preserve the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform, recognize, or accommodate any marriage ceremony.

    The bill that sparked the Referendum, Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6239, also converts all current “domestic partnerships” into marriages after 2014 – except for seniors.

    The group that snagged the signatures and prompted the Referendum calls themselves Preserve Marriage Washington, who says,

    For thousands of years, marriage between one man and one woman has proven to be the cornerstone of our society. Thirty-two other states have already voted to preserve marriage—November 6 is our opportunity to do the same. Since same-sex couples already enjoy all the benefits of marriage in Washington—and same-sex marriage would grant no new rights whatsoever—it’s clear that the other side’s intent in this battle is to reinvent the family and make marriage a genderless institution.

    Apparently, Mr. Bezos disagrees.

    Bezos is known for his interesting investments. When he’s not giving money to social causes, his fortune is spent on a personal space shuttle and a giant 10,000-year clock.

  • Amazon Earnings: Q2 Sales Up 29% (But Not Good Enough)

    Amazon has released its Q2 financial results, missing analysts’ expectations. The report includes net sales of $12.83 Billion, a 29% increase year-over-year. At the same time, net income decreased by 96% to $7 million. The quarter included a net loss of $65 million related to the acquisition of Kiva Systems.

    The company has cast Amazon Prime as a bright spot. Here’s what CEO Jeff Bezos had to say in the announcement: “Amazon Prime is now the best bargain in the history of shopping – that is not hyperbole,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “We successfully launched Prime seven years ago with free unlimited two-day shipping on one million items. The price of annual membership was$79. Since then, Prime selection has grown to 15 million items. We’ve also added 18,000 movies and TV episodes available for unlimited streaming. And we’ve added the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – borrow 170,000 books for free with no due dates – it even includes all sevenHarry Potter books. What hasn’t changed since we launched Prime? The price. It’s still $79. We’re very grateful to our Prime members, and thank them whole-heartedly for the business and for the word-of-mouth that has made this program grow.”

    At the time of this writing, Amazon stock is down by nearly 2% in after hours trading.

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jul. 26, 2012– Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2012.

    Operating cash flow was $3.22 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $3.21 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2011. Free cash flow decreased 40% to $1.10 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.83 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2011.

    Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 468 million on June 30, 2012, consistent with 468 million one year ago.

    Net sales increased 29% to $12.83 billion in the second quarter, compared with $9.91 billion in second quarter 2011. Excluding the $272 millionunfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 32% compared with second quarter 2011.

    Operating income was $107 million in the second quarter, compared with $201 million in second quarter 2011. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $8 million.

    Net income decreased 96% to $7 million in the second quarter, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared with net income of $191 million, or $0.41per diluted share, in second quarter 2011. The second quarter 2012 includes $65 million of estimated net loss related to the acquisition and integration of Kiva Systems, Inc.

    “Amazon Prime is now the best bargain in the history of shopping – that is not hyperbole,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “We successfully launched Prime seven years ago with free unlimited two-day shipping on one million items. The price of annual membership was$79. Since then, Prime selection has grown to 15 million items. We’ve also added 18,000 movies and TV episodes available for unlimited streaming. And we’ve added the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – borrow 170,000 books for free with no due dates – it even includes all sevenHarry Potter books. What hasn’t changed since we launched Prime? The price. It’s still $79. We’re very grateful to our Prime members, and thank them whole-heartedly for the business and for the word-of-mouth that has made this program grow.”

    Highlights

    • Kindle Fire remains the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since launch. Over this same period, the top 10 selling items on Amazon.com were digital products – Kindle, Kindle books, and accessories.
    • Kindle Owners’ Lending Library has grown to over 170,000 books available to borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, including many titles exclusive to Amazon. Additionally, customers can now borrow all seven Harry Potter books in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
    • During the quarter, 20 of our top 100 bestselling Kindle titles were from Kindle Direct Publishing authors.
    • Amazon expanded its catalog of title offerings for Prime Instant Video to more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes, announcing licensing agreements with Paramount Pictures and MGM, for titles including Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Mean Girls, Nacho Libre, Clueless, Moonstruck, Rain Man, Silence of the Lambs, Species, Stargate and many more.
    • Amazon.com announced that Prime Instant Video is now available on the Xbox 360 console. Customers can now access Amazon video content through Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Mac or PC, or on a TV using either a compatible connected device such as a Blu-ray player or a Roku or directly on compatible Smart TVs.
    • Amazon’s LOVEFiLM, the leading European film and TV subscription service, announced new multi-year agreements with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution and NBCUniversal International Television Distribution, providing LOVEFiLM members in the U.K.exclusive streaming access to movies and TV series from the studios, including Despicable Me, Green Zone, and Robin Hood. The agreements are the latest in a long line of exclusive content deals announced by LOVEFiLM, including agreements with Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Entertainment One and STUDIOCANAL.
    • North America segment sales, representing the Company’s U.S. and Canadian sites, were $7.33 billion, up 36% from second quarter 2011.
    • International segment sales, representing the Company’s U.K., German, Japanese, French, Chinese, Italian and Spanish sites, were$5.51 billion, up 22% from second quarter 2011. Excluding the unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 28%.
    • Worldwide Media sales grew 13% to $4.12 billion. Excluding the unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 15%.
    • Worldwide Electronics and Other General Merchandise sales grew 38% to $8.16 billion. Excluding the unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 42%.
    • Amazon.com announced that developers can now submit mobile apps for distribution through our upcoming appstore launches this summer on the Company’s U.K., German, French, Italian and Spanish sites. In just over one year, the Amazon Appstore onwww.amazon.com has grown to tens of thousands of apps and games. For additional information, visithttps://developer.amazon.com/welcome.html.
    • Amazon.com introduced “GameCircle,” an all-new gaming experience for Kindle Fire, and released a series of APIs for developers to add this new experience to their games. GameCircle offers gaming customers a series of features such as achievements, leaderboards, and sync that make gaming even more fun, convenient and social on Kindle Fire. The newly-released GameCircle APIs will help game developers quickly and easily integrate their games with GameCircle, allowing them to grow their business by reaching new customers and keeping them engaged. For additional information, visit http://amazon.com/gamecircle.
    • AWS relaunched AWS Support with the expansion of free support for all AWS customers, a reduction in pricing on premium support plans and adding multiple new features to help customers better interact with and improve their use of AWS, including chat functionality and proactive alerts when opportunities exist to save money, improve system performance, or close security gaps. The price reduction marked the 20th time AWS has lowered prices since its launch in 2006. For additional information, visit http://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport.
    • Amazon announced the Amazon Career Choice Program, providing employees with a resource for building the job skills needed for today’s most in-demand and well-paying careers. For employees who’ve been with Amazon as little as three years, the program will pre-pay 95% of the cost of courses such as aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technologies, medical lab technologies, nursing, and many other fields.

    Financial Guidance

    The following forward-looking statements reflect Amazon.com’s expectations as of July 26, 2012. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, such as fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and consumer spending, world events, the rate of growth of the Internet and online commerce and the various factors detailed below.

    Third Quarter 2012 Guidance

    • Net sales are expected to be between $12.9 billion and $14.3 billion, or to grow between 19% and 31% compared with third quarter 2011.
    • Operating income (loss) is expected to be between $(350) million and $(50) million, down from $79 million in the comparable prior year period.
    • This guidance includes approximately $275 million for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, and it assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions, investments, or legal settlements are concluded and that there are no further revisions to stock-based compensation estimates.

    A conference call will be webcast live today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, and will be available for at least three months at www.amazon.com/ir. This call will contain forward-looking statements and other material information regarding the Company’s financial and operating results.

    These forward-looking statements are inherently difficult to predict. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons, including, in addition to the factors discussed above, the amount that Amazon.com invests in new business opportunities and the timing of those investments, the mix of products sold to customers, the mix of net sales derived from products as compared with services, the extent to which we owe income taxes, competition, management of growth, potential fluctuations in operating results, international growth and expansion, the outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, risks of inventory management, seasonality, the degree to which the Company enters into, maintains and develops commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, and risks of fulfillment throughput and productivity. Other risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to new products, services and technologies, system interruptions, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. In addition, the current global economic climate amplifies many of these risks. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

    Our investor relations website is www.amazon.com/ir and we encourage investors to use it as a way of easily finding information about us. We promptly make available on this website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the SEC, corporate governance information (including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics), and select press releases and social media postings.

    About Amazon.com

    Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.

    Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp,www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
    (in millions)
    (unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
    June 30, June 30, June 30,
    2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011
    CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, BEGINNING OF PERIOD $ 2,288 $ 2,641 $ 5,269 $ 3,777 $ 2,047 $ 1,629
    OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
    Net income 7 191 137 391 377 1,038
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash from operating activities:
    Depreciation of fixed assets, including internal-use software and website development, and other amortization 485 244 942 446 1,579 766
    Stock-based compensation 221 144 381 254 684 481
    Other operating expense (income), net 32 41 79 74 158 129
    Losses (gains) on sales of marketable securities, net (2 ) 1 (4 ) 3 (10 ) 2
    Other expense (income), net (19 ) (39 ) (4 ) (2 ) (58 ) (53 )
    Deferred income taxes (43 ) 20 (81 ) 35 20 67
    Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation (85 ) (15 ) (125 ) (61 ) (126 ) (159 )
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
    Inventories (124 ) (274 ) 622 69 (1,224 ) (1,130 )
    Accounts receivable, net and other (166 ) (73 ) 580 286 (572 ) (304 )
    Accounts payable 180 114 (4,078 ) (2,535 ) 1,453 1,835
    Accrued expenses and other 59 63 (470 ) (119 ) 716 663
    Additions to unearned revenue 382 257 779 467 1,376 805
    Amortization of previously unearned revenue (333 ) (251 ) (602 ) (471 ) (1,151 ) (935 )
    Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 594 423 (1,844 ) (1,163 ) 3,222 3,205
    INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
    Purchases of fixed assets, including internal-use software and website development (657 ) (433 ) (1,043 ) (731 ) (2,123 ) (1,374 )
    Acquisitions, net of cash acquired, and other (624 ) (469 ) (673 ) (608 ) (770 ) (921 )
    Sales and maturities of marketable securities and other investments 1,251 2,028 2,989 3,967 5,864 6,138
    Purchases of marketable securities and other investments (565 ) (2,077 ) (1,417 ) (3,189 ) (4,485 ) (6,746 )
    Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (595 ) (951 ) (144 ) (561 ) (1,514 ) (2,903 )
    FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
    Excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation 85 15 125 61 126 159
    Common stock repurchased – – (960 ) – (1,237 ) –
    Proceeds from long-term debt and other 123 34 190 123 242 197
    Repayments of long-term debt, capital lease, and finance lease obligations (141 ) (140 ) (293 ) (251 ) (483 ) (398 )
    Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities 67 (91 ) (938 ) (67 ) (1,352 ) (42 )
    Foreign-currency effect on cash and cash equivalents (19 ) 25 (8 ) 61 (68 ) 158
    Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 47 (594 ) (2,934 ) (1,730 ) 288 418
    CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, END OF PERIOD $ 2,335 $ 2,047 $ 2,335 $ 2,047 $ 2,335 $ 2,047
    SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW INFORMATION:
    Cash paid for interest on long term debt $ 8 $ 3 $ 14 $ 6 $ 22 $ 12
    Cash paid for income taxes (net of refunds) 20 (1 ) 39 6 66 35
    Fixed assets acquired under capital leases 207 230 356 411 699 673
    Fixed assets acquired under build-to-suit leases 15 97 31 166 125 219
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Consolidated Statements of Operations
    (in millions, except per share data)
    (unaudited)
    Three Months Ended  Six Months Ended 
    June 30,  June 30, 
    2012 2011 2012 2011
    Net product sales (1) $ 10,791 $ 8,611 $ 22,040 $ 17,310
    Net services sales (2) 2,043 1,302 3,979 2,460
    Net sales 12,834 9,913 26,019 19,770
    Operating expenses (3):
    Cost of sales 9,488 7,525 19,515 15,133
    Fulfillment 1,356 941 2,651 1,795
    Marketing 537 341 1,017 667
    Technology and content 1,082 698 2,027 1,278
    General and administrative 232 166 432 300
    Other operating expense (income), net 32 41 79 74
    Total operating expenses 12,727 9,712 25,721 19,247
    Income from operations 107 201 298 523
    Interest income 10 16 22 31
    Interest expense (21 ) (15 ) (42 ) (27 )
    Other income (expense), net 50 23 (49 ) 4
    Total non-operating income (expense) 39 24 (69 ) 8
    Income before income taxes 146 225 229 531
    Provision for income taxes (109 ) (49 ) (151 ) (138 )
    Equity-method investment activity, net of tax (30 ) 15 59 (2 )
    Net income $ 7 $ 191 $ 137 $ 391
    Basic earnings per share $ 0.02 $ 0.42 $ 0.30 $ 0.87
    Diluted earnings per share $ 0.01 $ 0.41 $ 0.30 $ 0.85
    Weighted average shares used in computation of earnings per share:
    Basic 451 453 452 452
    Diluted 458 460 459 460
    (1) Represents revenue from the sale of products and related shipping fees and digital content where we are the seller of record.
     
    (2) Represents third-party seller fees earned (including commissions) and related shipping fees, digital content subscriptions, and non-retail activities.
     
    (3) Includes stock-based compensation as follows:
    Fulfillment $ 58 $ 32 $ 94 $ 56
    Marketing 16 10 28 17
    Technology and content 112 75 198 136
    General and administrative 35 27 61 45
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)
    (in millions)
    (unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
    June 30, June 30,
    2012 2011 2012 2011
    Net income $ 7 $ 191 $ 137 $ 391
    Other comprehensive income (loss):
    Foreign currency translation adjustments, net of tax of $17, $9, $(21) and $1 (151 ) 31 (14 ) 166
    Change in unrealized gains on available-for-sale securities, net of tax of $1, $(2), $(2) and $3 (3 ) 5 2 (6 )
    Total other comprehensive income (loss) (154 ) 36 (12 ) 160
    Comprehensive income (loss) $ (147 ) $ 227 $ 125 $ 551
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Segment Information
    (in millions)
    (unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
    June 30, June 30,
    2012 2011 2012 2011
    North America
    Net sales $ 7,326 $ 5,406 $ 14,754 $ 10,871
    Segment operating expenses (1) 6,982 5,192 14,061 10,367
    Segment operating income $ 344 $ 214 $ 693 $ 504
    International
    Net sales $ 5,508 $ 4,507 $ 11,265 $ 8,899
    Segment operating expenses (1) 5,492 4,335 11,200 8,552
    Segment operating income $ 16 $ 172 $ 65 $ 347
    Consolidated
    Net sales $ 12,834 $ 9,913 $ 26,019 $ 19,770
    Segment operating expenses (1) 12,474 9,527 25,261 18,919
    Segment operating income 360 386 758 851
    Stock-based compensation (221 ) (144 ) (381 ) (254 )
    Other operating income (expense), net (32 ) (41 ) (79 ) (74 )
    Income from operations 107 201 298 523
    Total non-operating income (expense) 39 24 (69 ) 8
    Provision for income taxes (109 ) (49 ) (151 ) (138 )
    Equity-method investment activity, net of tax (30 ) 15 59 (2 )
    Net income $ 7 $ 191 $ 137 $ 391
    Segment Highlights:
    Y/Y net sales growth:
    North America 36 % 51 % 36 % 48 %
    International 22 51 27 41
    Consolidated 29 51 32 44
    Y/Y segment operating income growth (decline):
    North America 61 % 7 % 37 % 7 %
    International (91 ) (16 ) (81 ) (21 )
    Consolidated (7 ) (5 ) (11 ) (7 )
    Net sales mix:
    North America 57 % 55 % 57 % 55 %
    International 43 45 43 45
    100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %
    (1) Represents operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation and “Other operating expense (income), net,” which are not allocated to segments.
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Supplemental Net Sales Information
    (in millions)
    (unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
    June 30, June 30,
    2012 2011 2012 2011
    North America
    Media $ 1,874 $ 1,585 $ 4,070 $ 3,470
    Electronics and other general merchandise 4,937 3,496 9,710 6,799
    Other (1) 515 325 974 602
    Total North America $ 7,326 $ 5,406 $ 14,754 $ 10,871
    International
    Media $ 2,245 $ 2,075 $ 4,758 $ 4,147
    Electronics and other general merchandise 3,224 2,398 6,426 4,684
    Other (1) 39 34 81 68
    Total International $ 5,508 $ 4,507 $ 11,265 $ 8,899
    Consolidated
    Media $ 4,119 $ 3,660 $ 8,828 $ 7,617
    Electronics and other general merchandise 8,161 5,894 16,136 11,483
    Other (1) 554 359 1,055 670
    Total Consolidated $ 12,834 $ 9,913 $ 26,019 $ 19,770
    Y/Y Net Sales Growth:
    North America:
    Media 18 % 20 % 17 % 19 %
    Electronics and other general merchandise 41 67 43 65
    Other 58 85 62 80
    Total North America 36 51 36 48
    International:
    Media 8 % 34 % 15 % 23 %
    Electronics and other general merchandise 34 71 37 62
    Other 14 25 19 20
    Total International 22 51 27 41
    Consolidated:
    Media 13 % 27 % 16 % 21 %
    Electronics and other general merchandise 38 69 41 64
    Other 54 77 57 71
    Total Consolidated 29 51 32 44
    Y/Y Net Sales Growth Excluding Effect of Exchange Rates:
    International:
    Media 12 % 20 % 17 % 14 %
    Electronics and other general merchandise 42 53 42 51
    Other 20 13 23 12
    Total International 28 36 30 31
    Consolidated:
    Media 15 % 20 % 17 % 16 %
    Electronics and other general merchandise 42 62 42 59
    Other 55 75 58 70
    Total Consolidated 32 44 33 40
    Consolidated Net Sales Mix:
    Media 32 % 37 % 34 % 39 %
    Electronics and other general merchandise 64 59 62 58
    Other 4 4 4 3
    100 % 100 % 100 % 100 %
    (1) Includes non-retail activities, such as AWS in the North America segment, and miscellaneous marketing and promotional activities, our co-branded credit card agreements, and other seller sites in both segments.
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Consolidated Balance Sheets
    (in millions, except per share data)
    June 30, December 31,
    2012 2011
    ASSETS (unaudited)
    Current assets:
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 2,335 $ 5,269
    Marketable securities 2,635 4,307
    Inventories 4,380 4,992
    Accounts receivable, net and other 2,035 2,571
    Deferred tax assets 408 351
    Total current assets 11,793 17,490
    Fixed assets, net 5,097 4,417
    Deferred tax assets 26 28
    Goodwill 2,521 1,955
    Other assets 1,585 1,388
    Total assets $ 21,022 $ 25,278
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
    Current liabilities:
    Accounts payable $ 7,072 $ 11,145
    Accrued expenses and other 3,892 3,751
    Total current liabilities 10,964 14,896
    Long-term liabilities 2,553 2,625
    Commitments and contingencies
    Stockholders’ equity:
    Preferred stock, $0.01 par value:
    Authorized shares — 500
    Issued and outstanding shares — none – –
    Common stock, $0.01 par value:
    Authorized shares — 5,000
    Issued shares — 476 and 473
    Outstanding shares — 452 and 455 5 5
    Treasury stock, at cost (1,837 ) (877 )
    Additional paid-in capital 7,573 6,990
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss (328 ) (316 )
    Retained earnings 2,092 1,955
    Total stockholders’ equity 7,505 7,757
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 21,022 $ 25,278
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Supplemental Financial Information and Business Metrics
    (in millions, except per share data)
    (unaudited)
    Y/Y %
    Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Change
    Cash Flows and Shares
    Operating cash flow — trailing twelve months (TTM) $ 3,205 $ 3,114 $ 3,903 $ 3,051 $ 3,222 1%
    Purchases of fixed assets (incl. internal-use software & website development) — TTM $ 1,374 $ 1,589 $ 1,811 $ 1,899 $ 2,123 54%
    Free cash flow (operating cash flow less purchases of fixed assets) — TTM $ 1,831 $ 1,525 $ 2,092 $ 1,152 $ 1,099 (40%)
    Free cash flow — TTM Y/Y growth (8%) (17%) (17%) (39%) (40%) N/A
    Invested capital (1) $ 8,551 $ 9,147 $ 9,680 $ 10,006 $ 10,250 N/A
    Return on invested capital (2) 21% 17% 22% 12% 11% N/A
    Common shares and stock-based awards outstanding 468 469 468 464 468 0%
    Common shares outstanding 454 455 455 450 452 0%
    Stock-based awards outstanding 15 14 14 13 16 10%
    Stock-based awards outstanding — % of common shares outstanding 3.2% 3.2% 3.0% 2.9% 3.6% N/A
    Results of Operations
    Worldwide (WW) net sales $ 9,913 $ 10,876 $ 17,431 $ 13,185 $ 12,834 29%
    WW net sales — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 44% 39% 34% 34% 32% N/A
    WW net sales — TTM $ 40,278 $ 43,594 $ 48,077 $ 51,404 $ 54,325 35%
    WW net sales — TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 39% 39% 37% 37% 35% N/A
    Operating income $ 201 $ 79 $ 260 $ 192 $ 107 (47%)
    Operating income — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X (36%) (77%) (48%) (38%) (34%) N/A
    Operating margin — % of WW net sales 2.0% 0.7% 1.5% 1.5% 0.8% N/A
    Operating income — TTM $ 1,265 $ 1,076 $ 862 $ 732 $ 637 (50%)
    Operating income — TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X (7%) (25%) (44%) (50%) (50%) N/A
    Operating margin — TTM % of WW net sales 3.1% 2.5% 1.8% 1.4% 1.2% N/A
    Net income $ 191 $ 63 $ 177 $ 130 $ 7 (96%)
    Net income per diluted share $ 0.41 $ 0.14 $ 0.38 $ 0.28 $ 0.01 (96%)
    Net income — TTM $ 1,038 $ 871 $ 631 $ 561 $ 377 (64%)
    Net income per diluted share — TTM $ 2.26 $ 1.89 $ 1.37 $ 1.22 $ 0.82 (64%)
    Segments
    North America Segment:
    Net sales $ 5,406 $ 5,932 $ 9,902 $ 7,427 $ 7,326 36%
    Net sales — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 50% 44% 37% 36% 36% N/A
    Net sales — TTM $ 22,208 $ 24,014 $ 26,705 $ 28,667 $ 30,587 38%
    Operating income $ 214 $ 144 $ 285 $ 349 $ 344 61%
    Operating margin — % of North America net sales 4.0% 2.4% 2.9% 4.7% 4.7% N/A
    Operating income — TTM $ 986 $ 943 $ 933 $ 991 $ 1,120 14%
    Operating income — TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 9% 1% (2%) 2% 14% N/A
    Operating margin — TTM % of North America net sales 4.4% 3.9% 3.5% 3.5% 3.7% N/A
    International Segment:
    Net sales $ 4,507 $ 4,944 $ 7,529 $ 5,758 $ 5,508 22%
    Net sales — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 36% 33% 29% 32% 28% N/A
    Net sales — TTM $ 18,070 $ 19,580 $ 21,372 $ 22,737 $ 23,738 31%
    Net sales — TTM % of WW net sales 45% 45% 44% 44% 44% N/A
    Operating income $ 172 $ 116 $ 177 $ 49 $ 16 (91%)
    Operating margin — % of International net sales 3.8% 2.4% 2.4% 0.9% 0.3% N/A
    Operating income — TTM $ 888 $ 790 $ 640 $ 515 $ 359 (60%)
    Operating income — TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X (7%) (23%) (41%) (49%) (57%) N/A
    Operating margin — TTM % of International net sales 4.9% 4.0% 3.0% 2.3% 1.5% N/A
    Consolidated Segments:
    Operating expenses (3) $ 9,527 $ 10,616 $ 16,969 $ 12,787 $ 12,474 31%
    Operating expenses — TTM (3) $ 38,404 $ 41,860 $ 46,504 $ 49,899 $ 52,846 38%
    Operating income $ 386 $ 260 $ 462 $ 398 $ 360 (7%)
    Operating margin — % of Consolidated sales 3.9% 2.4% 2.7% 3.0% 2.8% N/A
    Operating income — TTM $ 1,874 $ 1,734 $ 1,573 $ 1,505 $ 1,480 (21%)
    Operating income — TTM Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 1% (11%) (21%) (22%) (21%) N/A
    Operating margin — TTM % of Consolidated net sales 4.7% 4.0% 3.3% 2.9% 2.7% N/A
    AMAZON.COM, INC.
    Supplemental Financial Information and Business Metrics
    (in millions, except inventory turnover, accounts payable days and employee data)
    (unaudited)
    Y/Y %
    Q2 2011 Q3 2011 Q4 2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Change
    Supplemental
    Supplemental North America Segment Net Sales:
    Media $ 1,585 $ 1,927 $ 2,562 $ 2,197 $ 1,874 18%
    Media — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 19% 21% 8% 17% 18% N/A
    Media — TTM $ 7,430 $ 7,767 $ 7,959 $ 8,270 $ 8,559 15%
    Electronics and other general merchandise $ 3,496 $ 3,635 $ 6,881 $ 4,772 $ 4,937 41%
    Electronics and other general merchandise — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 67% 56% 51% 44% 41% N/A
    Electronics and other general merchandise — TTM $ 13,683 $ 14,992 $ 17,315 $ 18,784 $ 20,226 48%
    Electronics and other general merchandise — TTM % of North America net sales 62% 62% 65% 66% 66% N/A
    Other $ 325 $ 370 $ 459 $ 458 $ 515 58%
    Other — TTM $ 1,095 $ 1,255 $ 1,431 $ 1,613 $ 1,802 65%
    Supplemental International Segment Net Sales:
    Media $ 2,075 $ 2,226 $ 3,447 $ 2,513 $ 2,245 8%
    Media — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 20% 17% 18% 22% 12% N/A
    Media — TTM $ 8,772 $ 9,238 $ 9,820 $ 10,261 $ 10,431 19%
    Electronics and other general merchandise $ 2,398 $ 2,681 $ 4,032 $ 3,203 $ 3,224 34%
    Electronics and other general merchandise — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 53% 51% 41% 42% 42% N/A
    Electronics and other general merchandise — TTM $ 9,162 $ 10,199 $ 11,397 $ 12,314 $ 13,139 43%
    Electronics and other general merchandise — TTM % of International net sales 51% 52% 53% 54% 55% N/A
    Other $ 34 $ 37 $ 50 $ 42 $ 39 14%
    Other — TTM $ 136 $ 143 $ 155 $ 162 $ 168 23%
    Supplemental Worldwide Net Sales:
    Media $ 3,660 $ 4,153 $ 6,009 $ 4,710 $ 4,119 13%
    Media — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 20% 19% 14% 19% 15% N/A
    Media — TTM $ 16,202 $ 17,005 $ 17,779 $ 18,531 $ 18,990 17%
    Electronics and other general merchandise $ 5,894 $ 6,316 $ 10,913 $ 7,975 $ 8,161 38%
    Electronics and other general merchandise — Y/Y growth, excluding F/X 62% 54% 47% 43% 42% N/A
    Electronics and other general merchandise — TTM $ 22,845 $ 25,191 $ 28,712 $ 31,098 $ 33,365 46%
    Electronics and other general merchandise — TTM % of WW net sales 57% 58% 60% 60% 61% N/A
    Other $ 359 $ 407 $ 509 $ 500 $ 554 54%
    Other — TTM $ 1,231 $ 1,398 $ 1,586 $ 1,775 $ 1,970 60%
    Balance Sheet
    Cash and marketable securities $ 6,355 $ 6,326 $ 9,576 $ 5,715 $ 4,970 (22%)
    Inventory, net — ending $ 3,229 $ 3,770 $ 4,992 $ 4,255 $ 4,380 36%
    Inventory turnover, average — TTM 11.3 10.8 10.3 10.4 10.1 (11%)
    Fixed assets, net $ 3,470 $ 3,999 $ 4,417 $ 4,653 $ 5,097 47%
    Accounts payable — ending $ 5,721 $ 6,552 $ 11,145 $ 6,886 $ 7,072 24%
    Accounts payable days — ending 69 72 74 62 68 (2%)
    Other
    WW shipping revenue $ 331 $ 360 $ 531 $ 461 $ 469 42%
    WW shipping costs $ 820 $ 918 $ 1,466 $ 1,129 $ 1,054 29%
    WW net shipping costs $ 489 $ 558 $ 935 $ 668 $ 585 20%
    WW net shipping costs — % of WW net sales 4.9% 5.1% 5.4% 5.1% 4.6% N/A
    Employees (full-time and part-time; excludes contractors & temporary personnel) 43,200 51,300 56,200 65,600 69,100 60%
    (1) Average Total Assets minus Current Liabilities (excluding current portion of Long Term Debt) over five quarter ends.
    (2) TTM Free Cash Flow divided by Invested Capital.
    (3) Represents cost of sales, fulfillment, marketing, technology and content, and general and administrative operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation.

    Amazon.com, Inc.

    Certain Definitions

    Customer Accounts

    • References to customers mean customer accounts, which are unique e-mail addresses, established either when a customer places an order or when a customer orders from other sellers on our websites. Customer accounts exclude certain customers, including customers associated with certain of our acquisitions, Amazon Enterprise Solutions program customers, Amazon.com Payments customers, Amazon Web Services customers, and the customers of select companies with whom we have a technology alliance or marketing and promotional relationship. Customers are considered active when they have placed an order during the preceding twelve-month period.

    Seller Accounts

    • References to sellers means seller accounts, which are established when a seller receives an order from a customer account. Seller accounts exclude Amazon Enterprise Solutions sellers. Sellers are considered active when they have received an order from a customer during the preceding twelve-month period.

    Registered Developers

    • References to registered developers mean cumulative registered developer accounts, which are established when potential developers enroll with Amazon Web Services and receive a developer access key.

    Units

     

    Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

  • Amazon Has More Than Just The Kindle Fire 2 In Store [Rumor]

    Amazon is making the Kindle Fire 2. It’s not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when at this point in time. All signs are pointing to a late July reveal with a launch in August for the new tablet that will be taking on Google’s Nexus 7 head-on. Unsurprisingly, the Kindle Fire 2 is not the only tablet the company has in store for consumers according to Staples’ president of U.S. retail.

    Speaking to Reuters, Staples President of U.S. Retail Demos Parneros said that Amazon will be introducing five or six new tablet SKUs for this year. One of those tablets is even rumored to be a 10-inch model that would directly take on the iPad 2 and new iPad.

    There also appears to be potential for an Amazon smartphone in the near future. Founder of Ammunition, Robert Brunner, points to the recent explosion of employee growth at Amazon’s Lab126 research and design center as evidence that the company is making more than just tablets.

    Amazon is better poised than any other company to take on Apple at their own game. They have the install base and the technology to compete directly with the Cupertino giant. That’s why it makes perfect sense for Amazon to start releasing more than just one mobile device a year. A Kindle Fire 2 alongside a 10-inch Fire and a smartphone have the potential to eat away from Apple’s market share and the market share of other large Android incumbents like Samsung.

    Google is also rumored to be making a 10-inch version of their already popular Nexus 7. Amazon will obviously want to beat them to the punch while making a better 7-inch tablet to compete directly with the Nexus 7. Now that Google has entered the ring, Amazon has to fight a war on multiple fronts. The Kindle brand is definitely strong enough to fight said war.

    It’s also worth noting the humor of these companies now pushing a 10-inch tablet to catch up with Apple while Apple is rumored to be pushing a 7-inch tablet to capture the market held by Amazon and Google. It’s a game of cat and mouse that will never end as these companies try to one up each other. That kind of competition can only be good for the consumer as long as Apple prices the iPad Mini competitively.