Tag: Amazon

eBay To Compete With Amazon With GSI Commerce Acquisition

I had always wondered when someone would buy GSI Commerce (GSIC). eBay made the announcement that they have decided to purchase them in a very interesting move. Like many people, you may be wondering who is GSI Commerce? Well, they are one of the biggest ecommerce powerhouses that you have never heard of. Their client list is enough of an explanation. Now, this is not your typical list of clients they have simply created a marketing campaign or some short term engagement. GSI Commerce hosts ecommerce sites, including the development of the sites themselves. They have big name brands like Polo, Adidas and Timberland, almost every major sporting goods site and one of the most popular ecommerce sites in the world, Toys R Us.

Why is this such a big deal? Part of the answer is in the eBay announcement itself:

Combined with eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, we believe GSI will enhance our position as the leading strategic global commerce partner of choice for retailers and brands of all sizes.

This is the easiest way for eBay to get into ecommerce for larger brands without affecting their auction business. They get a known name in ecommerce and an excellent client list. In addition, they also get the warehouses and distribution facilities that GSI manages for some of their clients. Yes, they have warehouses which contain either merchandise for their clients or merchandise that they own and sell through their clients stores.

This combination of things could make a huge business for eBay. In order to see why this is a good idea, you have to think of the possibilities. There is the obvious ability to start hosting major ecommerce brands. However, the other parts of the deal really make it interesting. eBay has its own auction site. Match auctions with “discount” items from the merchandise their clients sell and warehouses to distribute from. Very quickly, eBay could become an even larger player in the discount and used merchandise niche because they would own some of the product. Or they could enable the client stores to hook into the eBay auctions so that they can have their own outlet store and auctions.

There is another route that eBay could take as well. They could start moving into hosting smaller stores for small businesses. Granted, the GSI Commerce platform is built to host Toys R Us, but the same technology could be slimmed down to start hosting small business ecommerce sites. This gives eBay a very nice premium option that could put them in even greater competition with Amazon.

Based on the information in the press release, it also looks like the marketing and consulting services companies are also part of the deal. The companies involved are eDialog and TrueAction. These companies really round out the abilities of an ecommerce provider by offering various internet marketing services and a full service agency complete with a photo studio. Yes, there are a lot of pieces to GSI Commerce and eBay will soon own most of them.

Overall, this looks like an excellent deal for eBay as long as they take advantage of the assets they are buying.

Originally published at Regular Geek

March 29, 2011
Amazon Cloud Drive Launched for Music Storage, Player for Web and Android

Amazon announced the launch of a new set of cloud music services in Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web, and Amazon Cloud Player for Android. As you may have guessed, these let users store music in the cloud and play it from the web or an Android device.

Users can upload any song to the Cloud Drive, and Amazon gives those who purchase their music from the company the ability to instantly add it to the Cloud Drive for free.

The service is free for 5GB. For 20GB, it’s free for one year with the purchase of an MP3 album. There are additional storage plans starting at $20 a year. Users can store music, videos, photos, and documents. Here are the storage plans:

“We’re excited to take this leap forward in the digital experience,” said Bill Carr, vice president of Movies and Music at Amazon. “The launch of Cloud Drive, Cloud Player for Web and Cloud Player for Android eliminates the need for constant software updates as well as the use of thumb drives and cables to move and manage music.”

“Our customers have told us they don’t want to download music to their work computers or phones because they find it hard to move music around to different devices,” he added. “Now, whether at work, home, or on the go, customers can buy music from Amazon MP3, store it in the cloud and play it anywhere.”

Amazon’s news come ahead of an expected service from Google. As previously discussed, Google Music, which should come with Android Honeycomb, could be of great significance to Google’s overall strategy in social, mobile, and in some ways even search. Amazon will certainly factor into the equation, already with a strong lead in terms of selling digital music. Many Android users are already accustomed to downloading songs through Amazon’s simple MP3 Store Android app.

It’s quite interesting how Amazon appears to be using Google’s own Android platform to compete with Google, and not only with music. Last week, Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore for Android apps.

It goes without saying that Amazon’s new offering will also help it compete with iTunes. Being the web’s largest retailer doesn’t hurt either.

March 29, 2011
Kindle Upgrades to Wi-fi Downloading of Audiobooks

The old corded method of getting audiobooks onto your Kindle is now a thing of the past. Today on the Kindle blog, Amazon announced that readers (and listeners) can now directly downloaded audiobooks from Audible.com via wi-fi connection.

Audible.com, bought by Amazon in 2008, is a leading provider in audiobooks for your Kindle, tablet or smartphone. Before now, in order to get their audiobooks onto your Kindle you had to download the file and transfer is by USB cable from your computer to your kindle. The new Kindle now allows you to download the files straight to your device. You can of course use the old method if you please. Luddite.

If you don’t know how it works, Audible.com runs on plans either paid monthly or yearly. Gold plans give you one credit for an audiobook per month and platinum plans give you two credits. Additional books are 30% off. Right now, the Kindle blog reports that they are having a promotional 30-day trial with two free audiobooks included.

According to the blog over 50,000 titles are available for download, including:

Hear Donald Sutherland breathe life into The Old Man and the Sea; Listen to Frank Brady recount the remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer’s life in Endgame; Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is illuminated by three different narrators who portray the maids and the white families they toil for in 1960s Mississippi.

Makes sense, as Donald Sutherland is looking more and more like Hemingway every day. Does this sound good, guys? Or would you rather keep your audiobooks on devices that are small enough to fit into your pocket?

March 25, 2011
Amazon Reinstates Lendle’s API Access

Oh what a rollercoaster ride for little ol’ Lendle. Yesterday we told you that Amazon had revoked the book-lending app’s API access, shutting the service down completely. This news came merely 6 weeks after the service took flight. It didn’t take long for Lendle to get up and running again, however, as Amazon has restored their API Access.

@lendleapp
LendleWe’re back!

http://t.co/AJRmXNe 17 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

Late last night, Lendle reports they received an email from an account specialist at Amazon. In his statement Monday, co-founder Jeff Croft lamented Amazon’s lack of clarity and Lendle’s lack of options for recourse; but this email detailed the specific issue Amazon had with the app. The culprit was the Book Sync tool, which synced a user’s Kindle library with his/her Lendle account. Amazon proposed a very simple proposition: remove Book Sync and you get your API access back. Lendle obliged, saying,

We appreciate Amazon’s willingness to modify the position stated in the original access revocation email and work with us to get Lendle back on line. We have complied with the request to disable the Book Sync tool (which was a very useful, but non-essential, feature of Lendle).

Furthermore:

We’ve learned a lot through this process, and have come to realize we need to work towards a Lendle product that does not rely on APIs provided by Amazon or any other third party. To that end, we’ve already begun brainstorming the next version of Lendle. Suffice it to say, we’ll continue to make good on our promise to keep Lendle the easiest, fastest, fairest, and best way to lend and borrow Kindle books.

Translation – we’ll (hope to) not be needing you anymore, Amazon! It still seems to me, however, that Book Sync would benefit Amazon in the end. Oh well, don’t worry about it now…go read a book or something.

March 23, 2011
Amazon Shuts Down Lendle

Have you had a chance to try Lendle yet? If not, you may never get the chance. Today Amazon revoked the application’s API access. Lendle, a program that allowed Kindle users to lend books from their libraries to friends for a couple week period, was only in operation for around 6 weeks.

If you go to the Lendle website, this is what you will see:

Jeff Croft, co-founder of Lendle, wrote a statement explaining how they feel about Amazon’s decision. From the statement:

Earlier today, Amazon revoked our API access. Lendle relies heavily on Amazon’s API, so this effectively shut the site down. The letter we received from Amazon states that the reason our API and Amazon Associates accounts have been revoked is that Lendle does not “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site.”

Croft disputes that last bit from Amazon, saying that Lendle’s philosophy is: “You can’t borrow if you don’t lend, and you can’t lend if you don’t buy.” Lendle requires a user to be willing to lend from his own Kindle collection before they can borrow from a friend’s collection. When users synced Lendle with their Kindle accounts, it made sure that lendable books purchased through Amazon were being traded.

A win-win for all involved, right?

At least that’s what Croft thought, as he explains in the statement. He expresses shock, saying “I know many people at Amazon, and everything I’d heard was that most inside Amazon were big fans of Lendle-even up to higher-ranking managers.”

As such, three options remain: Either Lendle gets its API access restored, they find a way to run the service without relying on Amazon’s APIs or the lending service is finished. Croft doesn’t believe the latter is an option:

“It may take us a bit of time to rebuild, but one way or another, we’ll continue lending eBooks.”

Is this a bad business decision for Amazon, as lending apps promote book sales? Tell us what you think.

March 22, 2011
Amazon Appstore for Android Opens

Amazon announced the launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android today. It’s been open to developers since January, and now it’s open for business.

You don’t actually have to be on an Android device to shop in the store (though you can be if you want). It’s available at amazon.com/appstore. When an app is purchased, it can be used on any of the user’s Android devices. The store includes personalized recommendations, customer reviews, and 1-Click payment options, which anyone who uses the Amazon MP3 store from their Android device already appreciates.

Amazon’s Appstore also comes with a “Test Drive” feature that lets you test apps through a computer (using your mouse) before purchasing the app.

“Test Drive lets customers truly experience an app before they commit to buying. It is a unique, new way to shop for apps,” says Amazon VP of Electronics, Paul Ryder. “Our customers have told us that the sheer number of apps available can make it hard to find apps that are high quality and relevant to them.”

“We’ve spent years developing innovative features that help customers discover relevant products,” he adds. “By applying these features – plus new ones like Test Drive – we’re aiming to give customers a refreshing app shopping experience.”

The Appstore also comes with an exclusive offering of the game Angry Birds Rio for Android – sure to be quite popular among Android users, as Angry Birds has been with iPhone users.

“The Android platform’s openness provides a great opportunity to reach new customers,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio, which makes Angry Birds. “We are thrilled to offer the Angry Birds suite of Android games using the easy and trusted shopping experience that Amazon is known for.”

Apple is suing Amazon over the “Appstore” name. Bloomberg quotes a complaint from the Cupertino-based technology giant, which says, “Amazon has begun improperly using Apple’s App Store mark in connection with Amazon’s mobile-software developer program.” Amazon would not comment.

Amazon’s Appstore did got down temporarily this morning, but was quickly recovered.

March 22, 2011
Amazon Web Services Launches In Japan

Amazon Web Services (AWS) said today it has launched data centers in Japan for its cloud computing platform.

Japan is the fifth region where Amazon has introduced its cloud computing platform. Amazon said it is offering support in Japanese for any users who have a Japanese language preference. In addition, AWS plans to provide in the coming months the option for billing in Japanese Yen.

“Today, AWS powers hundreds of thousands of customers in over 190 countries around the world, including individual developers, startups, government agencies and enterprises,” said Andy Jassy, Senior Vice President, Amazon Web Services.

“More and more, companies are realizing that they can use AWS to save significant capital, innovate faster, accelerate their pace of technology delivery, and focus their scarce engineering resources on what differentiates their business rather than on infrastructure.”

AWS Basic Support is free to all users and offers access to the AWS Resource Center, Service Health Dashboard, Technical FAQs, and Developer Forums.

March 2, 2011
AT&T To Start Selling Kindle 3G

AT&T said people will be able to test the Kindle in its 2,200 U.S. stores before making a purchase. The Kindle is also available at Staples, Best Buy and Target.

"Amazon has without question pioneered the eReader space with Kindle, and it’s exciting to not only connect this device through our network, but now offer it in our stores to readers around the country," said Glenn Lurie, president, emerging devices, AT&T.

"As the first dedicated eReader offered in our stores, we are confident the Kindle will be an attractive addition to our in store connected devices lineup."

Kindle 3G, which connects over Wi-Fi as well as AT&T’s mobile broadband network, wirelessly downloads books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a 6-inch, high-resolution electronic paper display.

"Customers tell us they love Kindle 3G because of its light weight, battery life of up to one month, and advanced paper e-ink display that works in direct sunlight,” said Mike McKenna, Vice President, Amazon Kindle.

“Customers love being able to think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds thanks to AT&T’s wireless network."

February 28, 2011
iPad Dominates Tablet Shipments

In the third quarter of 2010 4.5 million media tablets shipped, according to a new report from ABI Research.

Among those, 93 percent were Apple iPads. “Over time, Apple’s first-to-market iPad advantage will inevitably erode to some extent,” said Jeff Orr, Senior practice director, ABI Research.

“ABI Research has been tracking media tablets since December 2009; future quarterly editions of this Market Data product will include market share tracking of all the major media tablet vendors.”

eBook reader vendors continued to do well in their market, bringing new products to people in time for the 2010 holiday shopping season. “The US continues to be the leading market for eBook readers,” said Orr, “and the three top vendors, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sony, are comfortably maintaining their top positions in it.”

Barnes & Noble introduced a color version of its Nook reader – the first color model from a major vendor – while Amazon introduced a third-generation Kindle. Along with their new capabilities, these products also had lower prices than previous versions of devices.

February 23, 2011
Amazon Launches New Netflix Competitor

Amazon has announced the launch of an unlimited, commercial-free instant streaming movie and TV show service for Amazon Prime members. The service will give subscribers access to 5,000 movies and shows.

Prime members will not be charged any extra. The price will remain $79 per year for the membership. The service also provides members with "all-you-can-eat" free 2-day shipping, which the company says has already attracted millions.

"Millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy the convenience of free Two-Day Shipping," said Amazon Prime VP Robbie Schwietzer. "Adding unlimited instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows at no additional cost is a great way to give members even more value for their $79 annual Amazon Prime membership."

"In addition to now offering unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows to Amazon Prime members, we continue to offer all customers more than 90,000 movies and TV shows through Amazon Instant Video," noted Cameron Janes, director of Amazon Instant Video. "With Amazon Instant Video customers can rent or purchase hit movies, such as ‘The Social Network’ as well as purchase the latest TV shows available the day-after they broadcast."

Obviously the service will go head to head with Netflix, with each providing different benefits to users. Amazon has the additional services described above, and Netflix charges by the month, and offers various plans that include DVD mailings for titles that aren’t included in the streaming service.

February 22, 2011
Amazon And Netflix Tops In Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction with ecommerce websites is down 2.6 percent to 79.3 on a 100-point scale, it lowest score since 2004, according to a new report from The American customer satisfaction Index (ACSI) and ForeSee Results.

“Satisfaction with e-commerce and retail is off from a year ago overall, but the individual company results are mixed, and some organizations manage to find ways and resources to improve the customer experience,” said ACSI Founder Claes Fornell, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

“Still, any downward pressure on satisfaction does not bode well for sustained spending growth at a time when the economy could use it.”

Online retail fell 3.6 percent to 80, as customer satisfaction with smaller e-retailers dropped significantly. Some of the well known names in ecommerce continue to do well. Amazon (+1% to 87) and Netflix (-1% to 86) switch places at the top of the industry, and eBay gains 3% to 81. Amazon may have had smaller profits than predicted, but it grew its market share and is in position to continue to lead the industry in sales. Netflix may prove to be ahead of the online entertainment curve by offering less expensive streaming-only accounts.

“In any economic downturn, both businesses and consumers look to improve their bottom line, but the largest companies with the flexibility to offer the discounts and promotions that will satisfy a thrifty consumer and engender long term loyalty,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.

Customer satisfaction with online brokerage remains flat at 78, but Charles Schwab overtakes Fidelity at the top for the first time ever. Charles Schwab gains a point to 80, while Fidelity moves in the opposite direction, slipping one point to tie the industry aggregate of 78. But the biggest mover is E*TRADE, which gains 3% to 76 and has improved 10 points since it was first measured in 2000.

“Charles Schwab and Fidelity know their customers better and are beating the Internet pure-play e-brokerages, which is impressive for the oldest and most traditional names in the game,” said Freed.

“But E*TRADE is carving itself a niche by targeting a different kind of customer and has made big strides over the last ten years in terms of satisfaction, which is a proven predictor of financial results.”

Customer satisfaction with online travel is up 1.3% to a new all-time high of 78 and an increase of 4% since 2008. Expedia scores 79 to lead the industry, and it has led or held a share of the industry lead since 2000. The “all others” aggregate of smaller online travel sites like Kayak.com gains a point to 79. Travelocity climbs 3% to 77 and Orbitz slips 1% to 75. Priceline drops 4% to 73, losing most of what it had gained last year.

February 15, 2011
Barnes & Noble Works To Attract Amazon Affiliates

Barnes & Noble has issued an open letter to Amazon.com affiliates trying to convince them to join its network.

The letter comes after Amazon’s decision to stop its affiliate program in some states that require the online retailer to collect sales tax on purchases.

In the letter, Barnes & Noble President, John Foley, says Amazon would rather “ threaten small businesses’ livelihood than comply with state law.”

“Barnes & Noble wants Amazon.com affiliates who have been terminated to know that you are welcome to join the Barnes & Noble affiliate family,” wrote Foley.

“If Amazon doesn’t want you, we do! And, we will take care of collecting and remitting all sales taxes due on BN.com sales to its customers so you and our customers don’t have to worry about being hassled or prosecuted by state tax auditors.”

February 14, 2011
Amazon Releases Windows Phone 7 App

Amazon has introduced a new free mobile shopping app for Windows Phone 7.

Amazon says the app is specifically designed for Windows Phone 7 and displays all of a product’s details in a single view, allowing users to scroll horizontally to search and buy without have to load new screens or leave the app.

“We’ve combined the unique attributes of Windows Phone 7 with the popular Amazon shopping features customers have come to know and trust, to create an app that’s customized for Windows Phone 7 devices,” said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile.

The Amazon App for Windows Phone 7 uses the new panoramic-style layout of the Windows user interface, where people can swipe left and right to view details of a product, read customer reviews, browse related items and make a purchase.

“With its panoramic layout and user-friendly design, Amazon for Windows Phone 7 is a prime example of the rich applications that will let Windows Phone 7 users get the most out of their phone,” said Todd Brix, senior director, Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft Corp.

February 10, 2011
Amazon To Launch Kindle App For HP TouchPad

Amazon said today it is launching a free Kindle app for the new HP TouchPad coming out this summer.

Amazon said its Kindle app for the TouchPad will gives users access to more than 810,000 titles from its Kindle store.

“When you buy a Kindle book, you can already read it on Kindle and our free ‘Buy Once, Read Everywhere’ apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and Android-based devices, so you never have to worry about what to do with your books if you change devices or platforms,” said Dorothy Nicholls, Director, Amazon Kindle.

“We’re very excited to add webOS to this list. As with our other Kindle apps, the webOS app will be free and will incorporate our Whispersync technology so you can seamlessly switch between devices and platforms and never be without your reading.”

February 9, 2011
Google Reportedly Recycles Amazon Algorithm for YouTube

Google blasted Bing in an official Google blog post for tapping into its search results. We covered that here.

In that post, Google’s Amit Singhal said, "At Google we strongly believe in innovation and are proud of our search quality. We’ve invested thousands of person-years into developing our search algorithms because we want our users to get the right answer every time they search, and that’s not easy. We look forward to competing with genuinely new search algorithms out there—algorithms built on core innovation, and not on recycled search results from a competitor."

Apparently recycling is ok when it comes to recommendations, however. An interesting post from Amazon recommendation engine creator Greg Linden has come out claiming that Google-owned YouTube is using an old Amazon recommendation algorithm for video recommendation. Linden reports:

In a paper at the recent RecSys 2010 conference, "The YouTube Video Recommendation System" (ACM), eleven Googlers describe the system behind YouTube’s recommendations and personalization in detail.

The most interesting disclosure in the paper is that YouTube has switched from their old recommendation algorithm based on random walks to a new one based on item-to-item collaborative filtering. Item-to-item collaborative filtering is the algorithm Amazon developed back in 1998. Over a decade later, it appears YouTube found a variation of Amazon’s algorithm to be the best for their video recommendations.

Google is toying around a lot with recommendations in its regular Google search results. They just started incorporating Hotpot results into the main search results. It’s unclear, however, just how many people are actually using Hotpot. As I referenced earlier, Google also recently acquired fflick, which offers opinions from users’ Twitter friends on movies (and was reportedly set to expand to more verticals). The fflick team went to YouTube, and according to a recent report from Bloomberg Business week, the upcoming "Google+1" social layer "is designed to cull data about relationships among users from current services such as Gmail and YouTube."

"Google will then let users share material through those connections, while using the information to make other products more social," the report said. "Search results may be skewed toward pages that your friends found useful."

Whether or not the Amazon-style recommendations will enter Google’s search equation is a mystery, but we thought the timing of Linden’s post was interesting, considering Google’s words about algorithmic innovation. To be clear, Linden tells WebProNews that the timing of the report was coincidental.

February 3, 2011
Kindle E-Books Turn Amazon’s Page

The Amazon brand was given a serious boost with the launch of their Kindle e-reader, and they are still reaping the rewards as the digital book formats are outselling the more traditional reading medium, paperback books.

According to their fourth quarter report, for every 100 paperback books sold, Amazon sold 115 books in Kindle’s format. Furthermore, the e-book format is also outselling hardback books — normally, the most expensive of the three formats — by a factor of three.

In their own words:

Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the Company has sold 115 Kindle books. Additionally, during this same time period the Company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books. This is across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher.

Image courtesy

Considering how much Amazon pushes the Kindle device, the news probably isn’t all that surprising, but as a reader, the news is greeted with some melancholy. Considering e-book buyers are missing the tactile sensation of page-turning, as well as the feel of the cover surface and the weight of the book in one’s hands is a little disappointing.

But then again, think of all the trees being saved — provided the physical books being outsold were never put into print.

Nevertheless, Amazon’s profit increase shows just how well the Kindle/e-book format does for them. In 2010, their net income rose 28% to $1.15 billion. It’s safe to say the explosion of the Kindle and its e-books has much to do with Amazon’s increasing profits.

January 28, 2011
Jeff Bezos Cut Amazon Stake By 8 Percent

Amazon shareholders who were already on edge over the company’s disappointing earnings report and forecast now have one more thing to fret about. A new SEC document indicates that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos cut his stake in the company by a significant amount at the end of last year.

The Schedule 13G, which Amazon filed today, shows that Bezos reduced his stake to 19.5 percent on December 31st, 2010. That’s down from 21.2 percent beforehand, which works out to a cut of 8.0 percent.

Of course, in fairness to the CEO and his company, Bezos still owns a whole lot of Amazon stock, and it’s his business if he wants to build another house or purchase a selection of exotic cars. Many people in his position would have already sold everything, bought an island, and retired.

Also, as reported by Reuters, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note, "Owning the stock here requires trust and patience. We have seen Amazon go through investment cycles before and believe investment in growth is the right long-term strategy for the Internet."

The timing of this announcement is just less than opportune. Amazon’s stock plummeted in after-hours trading yesterday evening, heading from $184.45 to $164.65, and although things are looking a little better this morning, it’s still down 8.09 percent (at $169.53).

On a semi-related note, Eric Schmidt announced last week that he’d be selling 534,000 shares of Google’s stock.

January 28, 2011
Amazon Q4 Earnings: Sales Up 36% to Nearly $13 Billion

Amazon has announced its financial results for its fourth quarter, including an increase in sales of 36% to $12.95 Billion.

"Thanks to our customers, we achieved two big milestones," said CEO Jeff Bezos. "We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com. Last July we announced that Kindle books had passed hardcovers and predicted that Kindle would surpass paperbacks in the second quarter of this year, so this milestone has come even sooner than we expected – and it’s on top of continued growth in paperback sales."

The company is selling more Kindle bokos than paperbacks, and it sold millions of third-generation Kindles. More highlights here.

For the first quarter, net sales are expected to be between $9.1 billion and $9.9 billion, or to grow between 28% and 39% compared with first quarter 2010, according to the company.

Shares didn’t do too well.

From the release:

Operating cash flow increased 6% to $3.50 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $3.29billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2009. Free cash flow decreased 14% to $2.52 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $2.92 billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2009.

Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totaled 465 million on December 31, 2010, compared with 461 million a year ago.

Net sales increased 36% to $12.95 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $9.52 billion in fourth quarter 2009. Excluding the $139 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 37% compared with fourth quarter 2009.

Operating income was $474 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $476 million in fourth quarter 2009. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $18 million.

Net income increased 8% to $416 million in the fourth quarter, or $0.91 per diluted share, compared with net income of $384 million, or $0.85 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2009.

…

Full Year 2010

Net sales increased 40% to $34.20 billion, compared with $24.51 billion in 2009. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year on net sales was $86 million.

Operating income increased 25% to $1.41 billion, compared with $1.13 billion in 2009. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year on operating income was $28 million. In 2009, operating income was negatively impacted by a $51 million legal settlement.

Net income increased 28% to $1.15 billion in 2010, or $2.53 per diluted share, compared with net income of $902 million, or $2.04 per diluted share, in 2009.

January 27, 2011
Amazon Launches Kindle Singles

Amazon has officially introduced its Kindle Singles, short format ebooks that it announced plans for back in October.

Kindle Singles are between 5,000 and 30,000 words and are available in the Kindle Store for between $0.99 and $4.99. Amazon said it plans to frequently introduce many more Kindle Singles over time.

“The response to our announcement of Singles has been great," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content.

"This first set of Singles was selected by our team of editors, and includes works by Rich Cohen, Darin Strauss, Ian Ayres, and the first-ever books published by TED. We think customers will be riveted by these stories that can take them to a Swedish bank heist or to the Mexican border town of Juarez, or to consider a new way to think about happiness."

At launch Kindle Singles features 22 titles including:

The Real Lebowski by Rich Cohen

Leaving Home: Short Pieces by Jodi Picoult

Beware Dangerism! by Gever Tulley

January 26, 2011
Amazon Launches Bulk Email-Sending Service

Amazon said today it is launching a bulk email-sending service for businesses and developers as part of its web services.

The new service called Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) integrates with other Amazon Web Services (AWS), to send email from other apps being hosted on services such as Amazon EC2.

Through a simple API call, businesses can now access a scalable email infrastructure to communicate to their customers. For high email deliverability, Amazon SES uses content filtering technologies to scan a business’s outgoing email messages to help ensure that the content meets ISP standards. The email message is then either queued for sending or routed back to the sender for corrective action. Amazon SES provides a built-in feedback loop, which includes notifications of bounce backs, failed and successful delivery attempts, and spam complaints.

Pricing for Amazon SES is $0.10 per thousand email messages sent. Additionally, a customer can send 2,000 email messages for free each day when these emails originate from Amazon EC2 or AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

“Customers have consistently asked us for the ability to send large quantities of high-quality email from Amazon EC2. Amazon SES makes it very easy for businesses to send email from applications running on Amazon EC2 and other AWS services,” said Adam Selipsky, Vice President, Amazon Web Services.

“With Amazon SES, businesses no longer have to worry about the details of building and maintaining their own email-sending solution.”

January 25, 2011
Amazon Buys European Netflix-Like Company, LoveFilm

Amazon is acquiring the remaining shares in LoveFilm, which is often referred to around the web as the "Netflix of Europe". Amazon already owned a 42% stake in the company.

The move makes tons of sense considering that Amazon already had such a stake, and the fact that Amazon doesn’t already operate a similar business in Europe. Netflix has not expanded globally on a large scale yet either, though it seemingly plans to soon.

"LOVEFiLM has been innovating on behalf of movie rental customers across Europe for many years and with the advent of the LOVEFiLM player, they are further delighting customers by streaming digital movies for their immediate enjoyment," said Greg Greeley, Amazon’s Vice President of European Retail. "LOVEFiLM and Amazon have enjoyed a strong working relationship since LOVEFiLM acquired Amazon Europe’s DVD rental business in 2008, and we look forward to a productive and innovative future."

"The deal is a winner for the members who love LOVEFiLM because of its value, choice, convenience and innovation in home entertainment," said LoveFilm CEO Simon Calver. "With Amazon’s unequivocal support we can significantly enhance our members’ experience across Europe."

Competition could one day get interesting between Netflix and Amazon on the European front. Both companies earned top customer satisfaction scores in ForeSee Results’ E-Retail Satisfaction Index. For now, Amazon will have a pretty big advantage, however. LoveFilm currently operates in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, and it is subject to customary closing conditions, but the companies expect it to close in the first quarter.

According to a Reuters report back in September, Amazon had offered to buy LoveFilm for about $312 million, but this was never confirmed, and could certainly have changed greatly since then.

January 20, 2011