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Tag: Amazon

  • Amazon: 2011 Best Kindle Holiday Ever

    Amazon announced that it’s been the best holiday ever for the Kindle. Not much of a surprise really, but the numbers are pretty impressive. Keep in mind, they include the Kindle Fire.

    Some highlights Amazon points to:

    • Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.
    • The new Kindle family held the top three spots on the Amazon.com best seller charts – #1: Kindle Fire, #2: Kindle Touch, #3: Kindle.
    • Kindle Fire is the #1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available onAmazon.com since its introduction 13 weeks ago.
    • Kindle is also the best-selling product on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es and Amazon.it this holiday season.
    • Gifting of Kindle books was up 175 percent between this Black Friday and Christmas Day compared to the same period in 2010.
    • Christmas Day was the biggest day ever for Kindle book downloads.
    • Kindle Fire is the best-selling product on Amazon.com’s mobile website and across all of Amazon.com’s mobile applications.

    “We are grateful to our customers worldwide for making this the best holiday ever for Kindle,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “And in a huge milestone for independent publishing, we’d also like to congratulate Darcie Chan, the author of ‘The Mill River Recluse,’ and Chris Culver, the author of ‘The Abbey,’ for writing two of the best-selling Kindle books of the year.”

    Amazon also laid out some significant successes for Kindle Direct Publishing. For one, The month’s top selling direct-publishing book was “Wife by Wednesday,” which was also the number 5 overall best-selling Kindle book for the month. Author Catherin Bybee has been able to leave her day job to become a full-time writer.

    Also this year, Kindle Direct Publishing author CJ Lyons reached number 2 on Amazon’s Best Seller list, as well as number 2 on the NY Times Best Seller list . She also was able to quit her day job.

  • Amazon Wins at Online Customer Service, Everyone Piles On Netflix

    Which company has the best online customer service? What about the worst? While the names will not surprise you, the level of satisfaction provided may very well.

    Findings from a recent study conducted by ForeSee, a “customer experience analytics firm,” aimed to measure which retailer offered the best and worst in regards to customer satisfaction during the 2011 holiday shopping season. Termed the “Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index,” the results within offer a clear picture about which company gets customer service right and which ones get it wrong.

    The data contained in the results is revealing in the sense of discovering which retailers take care of their customers and vice versa. ForeSee’s results show Amazon as the leader in customer satisfaction, and Overstock.com as the worst, which does not demonstrate a large amount of change from 2010’s results. Amazon was also the first place company in 2010, while Overstock.com ranked near the bottom.

    Nothing new here, so far; however, once you take a look at the way Netflix was singled out, it’s almost as if the desire to see Netflix fail exists in reporting of these results.

    First off, it should be noted that Netflix took the biggest hit in regards to customer satisfaction, dropping seven spots to the 19th ranked company — out of 40 retailers. That, apparently, was all that was needed to open the floodgates towards Netflix and let all the negativity out. Even ForeSee’s CEO jumped in on the fun:

    “Netflix totally misread its customer base and is paying the price, damaging its brand among both consumers and investors,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee. “Raising prices by 60% and splitting the baby into separate DVD and streaming services totally undermines Netflix’s cost and convenience advantages. Customer satisfaction is predictive, which means that Netflix’s financial woes may be just beginning.”

    That’s all fine and good. The problem lies in the fact the results were supposed to be dealing with holiday retail, not Netflix’s year in review. Now, Freed does make valid points about why satisfaction concerning Netflix dropped, but I doubt the results were based on a holiday retail interaction with Netflix.

    Instead, the points come across as simple backlash against Netflix’s business model alterations.

    Considering the study was supposed to be focusing on the just-passed holiday season, Netflix’s overall performance during their tumultuous 2011 should be immaterial to the results. Instead, it appears as if respondents took the opportunity to once again air their grievances with Netflix’s policy changes. It wasn’t just in ForeSee’s press release, either. Various publications took the opportunity to single the movie rental company out.

    Meanwhile, Blockbuster.com ranks far, far below Netflix, coming in just a few spots above Overstock.com, but yet, where are the articles blasting Blockbuster? Or OfficeMax.com and OfficeDepot.com? What about Sears.com and ToysRUs.com? All of these entities also rank below Netflix in terms of customer satisfaction, but yet, Netflix is being made out to be the worst offender. The largest decrease from last year to this? Yes, but the worst in regards to customer service?

    Not even close.

    The fact is, it appears as if Netflix is at least weathering the storm and the customer satisfaction rates are improving, at least according to a different survey. Considering the fact the holiday season satisfaction was being measured, does Netflix even fit in that category? How many of you gave the gift of Netflix this year?

    Let us know what you think.

  • Amazon Reportedly Acquires Quorus For Talent

    It’s looking like Amazon has acquired Quorus (not to be confused with Q&A site Quora). Quorus was responsible for social shopping software, so it’s not too hard to see where such an acquisition would fit into Amazon’s plan.

    On Twitter, Quorus descibed itself as follows:

    We are a social commerce software company in Seattle focused on delivering compelling social shopping and marketing solutions for retailers and brands.

    While no official announcements have been made, GeekWire is reporting that Quorus co-founder Logan Bowers left to become a software engineer at Amazon a few weeks ago, and that other members of the Quorus team (including co-founder and CEO Michael Dougherty) have also joined in “what appears to be a ‘talent acquisition’.”

    Currently, all you get when you go to Quorus.com is a placeholder site from directNIC:

    Quorus placeholder

    When it was live, Quorus offered a toolbar that you could use on a site like Zappos to easily connect with your friends via social networks and email. Lauren Dugan at SocialTimes walks readers through a demo/interview with Dougherty in this piece from last year. The product allowed users to live chat from the toolbar.

    Is this the kind of functionality we’re going to see coming to Amazon?

    It’s still unclear whether Amazon is even interested in the software itself. Again, no official announcements, and they’re not talking about the details.

  • Amazon Finally Allows Competing E-book Apps On Kindle Fire

    Yesterday we reported that Amazon had updated its popular Kindle Fire tablet’s operating system to version 6.2.1. The update promised users considerable improvements in device performance and touchscreen responsiveness (things that appear to have also been improved in the previous 6.2 update late last month).

    In addition to device performance enhancements, however, the new update also addresses some complaints people had about the device. With previous versions of the software users who attempted to access the Android App Market’s website from the Kindle Fire’s browser were automatically redirected to the on-device Amazon Appstore. Even more alarmingly, certain e-book reader apps that are available in the web version of Amazon’s Appstore did not show up in the on-device Appstore. Yesterday’s update finally allows users to visit the Android App Market, and allows them to see (and download) e-reader apps from the Amazon Appstore.

    The makers of these apps, which are, of course, direct competitors to the core functionality of the whole Kindle line, had previously been forced to post side-loading instructions for those who wanted to put the apps on their Kindle Fire. With the latest update, however, the apps appear to be back, which must come as a relief to users, and certainly represents a step forward for Amazon.

    Kindle Fire

    Despite mixed critical reviews, the Kindle Fire has proven enormously popular since its launch just a few months ago. The original Amazon Kindle, which released in 2007, represented a major step forward in e-books and set in motion a major shake-up for the publishing industry, the effects of which are still being felt today. Unfortunately for Amazon, however, their amazing device was upstaged by Apple’s iPad. The iPad allowed users to surf the web, play games, and do a whole host of things in addition to reading their e-books (including their Kindle books, thanks to Amazon’s handy Kindle iOS app). Sales of the Kindle (and Barnes & Noble’s competing NOOK tablet) suffered. The Kindle Fire (and the NOOK Tablet) represents an attempt to re-assert itself in a market it helped found. Thus far it has proven successful. Thanks in large part to Black Friday sales, the tablet has quickly become Amazon’s best-selling product.

    Have you gotten the new Kindle Fire update? What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments.

  • Kindle Fire Bug Solutions, Courtesy Of Conan

    It’s always fun with Conan O’Brien takes on technology and gadgets. We previously shared a few of his bits, such as one on the iPad 2:

    The lost iPhone 5:

    Siri:

    On his show last night, he took on the Amazon Kindle Fire, and the complaints it has been receiving, complete with a fake Jeff Bezos, who starts it off as:

    “Hi, I’m Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. As far as you know. I’m here to reassure you that we here at Amazon have listened to all your complaints about our new Kindle Fire. Now, we’ve got it all well in hand. For example, some of you thought it was too easy to accidentally turn off. Well, not anymore.”

    You can just watch the clip for the rest:

    Amazon, in real life, has launched an update for the Kindle Fire to address some of people’s concerns.

  • Kindle Fire Update Version 6.2.1 Launched

    Kindle Fire Update Version 6.2.1 Launched

    Earlier this month, Amazon promised a forthcoming Kindle Fire update to fix some bugs amidst a plethora of complaints surrounding the user experience of the device. That update has now come.

    “We have a new, free over-the-air software update available for Kindle Fire,” the company says. “This update enhances fluidity and performance, improves touch navigation responsiveness, gives you the option to choose which items display on the carousel, and adds the ability to add a password lock on Wi-Fi access. The update will be automatically delivered to your Kindle Fire.”

    “If you are not sure what software version you’re running, tap the Quick Settings icon, tap ‘More,’ then tap ‘Device,” Amazon says. “If your System Version is ‘Current version: 6.2.1,’ you are running the latest software. If your System Version is ‘Current version: 6.0, 6.1, or 6.2’ follow the instructions below to take advantage of all of the features available for Kindle Fire.”

    Users must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to update their device, and it’s a good idea to make sure the battery is charge.

    Amazon instructs users to tap the Quick Settings icon in the upper right corner, then tap “Sync”. The update will automatically download in the background, and will be applied once it’s complete and the device goes to sleep.

    The update can also be manually downloaded from here.

  • Amazon Signs Multi-Year Agreement With Sony To Expand LoveFilm Catalog

    Earlier this year, Amazon acquired LoveFilm, a European Netflix-like company, which beat Netflix to this type of offering in Europe.

    Today, Amazon announced a new deal with Sony Pictures Television to expand the content for LoveFilm.

    “Our latest major content agreement means we’ll be able to exclusively offer our members world-class content from Sony Pictures,” said LoveFilm CEO Simon Calver. “The number of recent high-profile deals we have secured means we are able to keep expanding the service, offering our members high-quality films and TV and the ability to watch as much as they want for one low monthly price.”

    Other recent LoveFilm deals include those with Warner Bros., Entertainment One, StudioCanal, Disney, Momentum and Lionsgate.

    The Sony deal is a multi-year agreement that will give members exclusive streaming access to new and forthcoming Sony Pictures titles during the second subscription pay TV window, as well as catalog titles and TV series, from next June.

    LoveFilm members will get access to titles like The Social Network, Salt, Transformers, The Karate Kid, Wallace & Gromit, and more.

    Forthcoming Sony Pictures releases, catalog titles and TV series will be added to the LoveFilm instant service which is accessible via PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, ipad, and various Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players. DVDs are still being offered as well.

  • Groupon Counters Amazon’s Anti-Small Business Promotion

    Earlier this month Amazon enraged retailers everywhere by running a one-day deal to promote their new Price Check app. Shoppers who used the app to check prices in a brick-and-mortar store were offered a 5% discount to purchase the same item from Amazon. Everyone from retail advocacy groups to US legislators denounced the promotion as a dirty trick.

    Well, it appears that Groupon hopes to counteract Amazon’s move. Yesterday afternoon the company announced via blog post that they were launching their Buy Local program, designed to reward users who, well, buy local. Groupon users who register for the promotion and make a qualifying local purchase by Christmas Eve will be rewarded by having $10 in Groupon Bucks added to their accounts. Considering the normal going rate of Groupon’s offers, that’s a fairly substantial reward.

    Holiday Shopping

    The point of the promotion is to help shoppers who often feel forced to choose between supporting the local economy and getting good prices. It has proven to be quite popular: the deal launched yesterday afternoon, and sometime early this morning the 150,000 registration limit was reached. It remains to be seen whether Groupon will extend the promotion or launch similar deals later down the line.

  • Is Amazon Good or Bad For Small Businesses?

    Amazon has pissed off a lot of small businesses. I’m not even going to get into all of the Internet tax stuff, but earlier this month, the company launched an app. The app is called Price Check, and it allows users to go into a store, scan a product, find it for a cheaper price through Amazon, and purchase it immediately. Oh, and Amazon gave users discounts of up to 5% when using the app on some items last weekend.

    Brick and mortars were and continue to be furious, but Amazon maintains it actually helps small businesses.

    The categories available within Price Check include: Books, Textbooks, Movies, Music, Video Games, CDs, Electronics, Home & Garden, Automotive, Baby, Beauty, Camera & Photo, Cell Phone & Services, Clothing, Computers, Grocery, Health & Personal Care, Home Improvement, Industrial & Scientific, Jewelry, Kindle, Kitchen & Dining, Magazines, Music Instruments, Office Products, Patio & Garden, Shoes, Software, Sports & Outdoors, Video, & Watches.

    User reviews in the Android Market are pretty positive. The average rating is 4.3 out of 5. At the time of this writing, it has 120 5-star reviews, 32 4-star reviews, 15 3-star reviews, 9 2-star reviews and 8 1-star reviews.

    Here’s a sampling of what people who have rated it 5 stars had to say:

    Brilliant.

    A very simple and easy UI. Allows you to make quick comparisons, so you can make the best decisions when out shopping.

    Love this. Love Amazon! What more is there to say, it’s Amazon.

    Awesome app. Works great.

    Will definitely find a better price.

    Here’s a sampling from the 1-star and 2-star reviews:

    This doesn’t benefit the user any more than any barcode scanner. All it does is turn users into tools of amazon researchers.

    Everything it does, the original Amazon app does as well, including barcode & camera search, and wishlist & account management. Completely redundant.

    I hate the limited interface. I am used to reading reviews and comparing similar products. This app feels like a small prison. The bar code scanner is waaaaaay too finicky, unlike other android scanner apps. Overall 2 stars rating from me.

    Some other ones indicate there are bugs and crashes.

    Again, however, the majority seem to be pretty pleased with it. And why not? Really, what’s not to like from the user perspective? Especially in this economy. Consumers want to save a buck wherever they can.

    But that doesn’t mean small businesses are pleased. There has been outcry about this from businesses since it was introduced.

    Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, recently spoke out about the app in favor of small business’. She is quoted by Bloomberg BusinessWeek: “Amazon’s promotion — paying consumers to visit small businesses and leave empty-handed — is an attack on Main Street businesses that employ workers in our communities. Small businesses are fighting everyday to compete with giant retailers, such as Amazon, and incentivizing consumers to spy on local shops is a bridge too far.”

    As previously reported, the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s VP of public affairs, Katherine Lugar, said:

    “Retailers compete on price 365 days a year, and at no time is that competition hotter than during the make-or-break holiday shopping season. However, by continuing to evade collecting state sales taxes, Amazon’s exploitation of a pre-Internet tax loophole is resulting in a 6-10 percent perceived price advantage over their competitors on Main Street.”

    “Amazon’s aggressive promotion of its Price Check App shows the lengths they are willing to go to exploit this tax loophole, and is a stark reminder of why Congress needs to act to protect retailers on Main Street. A failure to act is an implicit endorsement of a subsidy of Amazon, a subsidy that distorts the free market and puts jobs on Main Street at risk.”

    “Main Street retailers have been forced to compete on an uneven playing field for too long. Retailers cannot afford another holiday season where they are forced to compete on an uneven playing field.”

    Obviously, Amazon doesn’t think it deserves all of this harsh criticism. The New York Times shared a statement from Amazon spokeswoman Sally Fouts this week, who said the controversial app was “primarily intended for customers who are comparing prices in major retail chain stores,” and that Amazon’s third-party sellers, which she says includes “more than two million individuals and businesses of all sizes that sell on Amazon” benefit from the app as well.

    The promotion in question may be old news at this point, but the app is still fresh, and has received a lot of attention. Clearly, based on the reviews above, users like it. Combine that with the brand power of Amazon, and one has to assume that this thing is going to be on a whole lot of smartphones, being used by a whole lot of consumers in a whole lot of stores.

    Just because the that promotion is over, doesn’t mean people won’t be tempted to look for cheaper prices on Amazon. Of course they could’ve been doing this already, but having an app specifically for this purpose makes it more convenient than ever. And it’s not as if Amazon can’t launch similar promotions in the future.

  • Does Kindle Fire Prove A Dissonance Between Consumers & Tech Community?

    If you’re Amazon, apparently bad news doesn’t really matter because the Kindle Fire continues to be the #1 best selling item from their website for the 11th straight week (since its debut). According to a press release from yesterday, not only are sales of the tablet increasing with each week but this is the third week in a row that they’ve sold over one million units from the general Kindle family.

    “Kindle Fire is the most successful product we’ve ever launched – it’s the bestselling product across all of Amazon for 11 straight weeks, we’ve already sold millions of units, and we’re building millions more to meet the high demand. In fact, demand is accelerating – Kindle Fire sales increased week over week for each of the past three weeks. People are buying Kindle Fire because it’s a simple, fully-integrated service that makes it easy to do the things they love – watch movies, read books and magazines, listen to music, download apps, play games, and surf the web,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Our family of Kindle e-ink readers are close behind Kindle Fire on the Amazon.com bestseller list. Customers continue to report preferring their Kindle e-reader for long-form reading, and in fact we’ve seen many customers buy two Kindles – both a Kindle Fire and a Kindle or Kindle Touch – this holiday season.”

    Not even a mention of a pitch of how Fire will only get better after updates to fix acknowledged problems start becoming available.

    So what of all that hubbub about the Fire being kind of a drag? A visit over to Amazon’s website reveals that the tablet has an average rating of 4 stars with over 6,000 reviews, which gives some pretty sound reliability to that high rating, and over half of those reviews give it the highest possible rating of 5 stars. Take this with a grain of salt given the source of this info, but even the “most helpful, critical review” still gave the Fire 3 stars.

    As you see, an overwhelming amount of people still found that review to be helpful. What’s more is that the author of that review posted an update fifteen days later to say that “a recent software update seems to have fixed several of the above problems” and praises the improved performance. Although the option isn’t available, that update might have pushed the worst constructive rating – a still better-than-decent 3 stars – up higher.

    Several technology sources, including this website, PC Mag, The New York Times, All Things D, and Jakob Nielsen (he disliked it so much he gets two links), have all given the Fire mediocre-to-punishing reviews and yet… people can’t seem to gobble up the Kindle Fire fast enough.

    Market analysts are predicting that Amazon will sell as many as 6 million Kindle Fires before the end of this year, which would trump the first-quarter debut sales of Apple’s iPad, the tablet by which all tablets are to be compared. There’s also speculation that the Kindle Fire will grab a sizable chunk of the tablet market next year – a market that, until now, has pretty much been the dominion of Apple.

    Maybe it’s the professedly easy usability of the Kindle Fire. Maybe it’s the much more affordable price tag. Maybe Amazon’s got some marketing warlocks on their payroll. Or maybe – just maybe – the tech community’s opinion is not representative of what the average person desires in a tablet. Regardless of how this discord can be explained, the Kindle Fire is not Amazon’s “most successful product” they’ve ever launched without some good reason.

    If you’re a Kindle Fire user, are you happy with it thus far? Do you find that the tech community is usually spot-on about all things technological, or are you often in disagreement with the technorati?

  • Despite Complaints, Amazon May Sell 6 Million Kindle Fires in 2011

    Despite a strong start, you may have heard that the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s latest entry into the tablet market, isn’t all that great after all. People weren’t that impressed with several aspects of the Kindle Fire and didn’t take kindly to being made to feel that they were suffering from “fat-finger problem.” In fact, Amazon even acknowledged the tablet’s flaws and has promised to provide an update that will improve the performance of the Kindle Fire and, perhaps more importantly, hopefully turn those frowns upside down.

    Who knows if this update will satiate the expectations of Kindle Fire owners, and I’m sure we’ll all hear about it if it doesn’t. Still, has the dissatisfied present and uncertain future discouraged shoppers from buying the Kindle Fire.

    In a word: No!

    With seemingly no regard to the first impressions of Kindle Fire, consumers appear undeterred and the unit sales of the tablet, according to a report from Goldman Sachs today, are on course to reach 6 million by the end of the year. What’s more, Goldman Sachs went on to project that Amazon could sell 15.5-20.5 million units in Kindle Fire’s first full year of availability. Details can be found in the bar graph below.

    From the above data, John Paczkowski of All Things D points out that “if Amazon does manage to sell six million Fires before the end of the year, it will surpass the iPad’s domestic sales in its first December quarter in 2010.”

    Really? Topping sales of something Apple? That’s quite a feat, but what’s going on with this surge of Kindle Fires? Do people not really seem to care that initial reviews of the Kindle Fire were, at best, disappointed?

    One report claims that people are still drawn towards the Kindle Fire because of its considerably lower cost than an iPad. Furthermore, the Goldman Sachs report suggests that the Kindle Fire still has appeal to consumers because, in spite of the many flaws, the tablet still gets the bare minimum of functions correct, which just happen to be the functions that tablet users utilize the most (I guess people are satisfied enough that the Kindle Fire powers on and displays different words – easy enough to meet those needs, sure).

    Whatever fix Amazon’s update to the Kindle Fire brings to users, the tablet is still expected to stake a healthy claim in the tablet market. It’s already expected to outpace Samsung’s top tablet and analysts are curious to see how much of a bite the Kindle Fire will take out of Apple’s market dominance.

    So is the Kindle Fire really the maxim “You get what you pay for” in action? Maybe, and it’s certainly not the only device to be met with milquetoast reviews upon its initial release. Do you think Amazon can damage control itself out of its lackluster start and make the Kindle Fire a true competitor to Apple’s iPad? Comment below to let us know.

  • Is It Time To Occupy Amazon Yet?

    Is It Time To Occupy Amazon Yet?

    People are very, very unhappy with Amazon right now. First there was the conniving endorsement of that new online tax bill. Now Amazon has thrown the first spear in what looks to be a looming battle with brick and mortar retailers by launching a Price Check app that encourages shoppers to walk out of stores and, instead, buy items from Amazon.

    Much to the chagrin of, well, everybody but Amazon, the app works like this: suppose you’re in a brick and mortar store and plan to purchase an item from the retailer. Instead of following through with that, Amazon would have you use the Price Check app to enter the barcode of the item and then purchase it from Amazon; in turn, Amazon will give you a discount of up to $5. You can use the app for 3 purchases, meaning a total savings of up to $15. The app can only be used starting at 9PM tonight through 11:59PM tomorrow night, December 10.

    It’s a shifty maneuver to snatch away money that would otherwise likely be spent at the brick and mortar store and essentially uses the retailer as a showroom for Amazon’s inventory. The Retailer Industry Leaders Association has already come out against the app in force and now the chorus of organizations and people decrying Amazon’s tactics are getting louder. Yesterday, the American Booksellers Association joined the protest against Amazon’s attempt to literally entice consumers to walk out of brick and mortar stores without spending a dime.

    In an open letter to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, ABA CEO Oren Teicher calls out the Amazon chief on his forked-tongue statements about fairness with regard to online commerce and accuses Amazon of knowingly exploiting the tax loophole to its advantage. Teicher goes on to shame Amazon for chipping away at the foundations of local communities by “stripping them of their unique character and the financial wherewithal to pay for essential needs like schools, fire and police departments, and libraries.”

    Despite books not being included in the selected items eligible for the discount that the Price Check app offers, that the booksellers should take up the charge against Amazon contains historical and poetic significance. After all, they’ve been the retailers struggling against the online company the longest (if you remember, Amazon started out proclaiming itself as “Earth’s Largest Bookstore” in the 1990s). They’ve probably lost the most revenue to Amazon over the years and therefore probably have the most authority to speak out against Amazon’s latest plot to take business away from brick and mortar retailers.

    In addition to the booksellers’ opposition to Amazon’s tactics, an online petition was created yesterday on change.org that denounces Amazon’s poaching of customers from brick-and-mortar stores. Within a day, the letter has already gathered over 20% of it’s signatures goal. Say what you want about the efficacy of online petitions because it’s not a matter of whether it works – it indicates that people are paying attention.

    The momentum of the anti-Amazon sentiment appears to be growing today. People have begun to marshall behind the Occupy movement to profess their anger and demand for change to Amazon’s predatory business strategy. There is an Occupy Amazon page on Facebook imploring consumers to boycott Amazon tomorrow – the time period in which the Price Check app will be live – and choose to shop locally instead. A steady stream of supporters are gathering on Twitter with the hashtag #occupyamazon. Here’s a sample of what people are saying:

    @dduane
    Diane Duane    Thinking #Amazon overstepped w/this one. Can’t be a good sign when you’ve suddenly got an #Occupy hashtag… http://t.co/2Luqg3fN 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @Season4Romance
    The Season    Love this topic from Kindleboards: Fellow Indies, It’s Time To Rise Up And Answer The Call. Occupy Amazon! 2 days ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @okletsjam
    Mary Akemon    #occupyamazon Don’t use the Amazon Price Check App! 17 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    @longestchapter
    Kassie Rose    I support Occupy Amazon protest. RT @PublishersWkly: Amazon Backlash Continues to Build http://t.co/11fsXWVE #occupyamazon 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @VoraciousReader
    TheVoraciousReader    This made me cry with pride at my amazing fellow indies http://t.co/ociY4AxX #occupyamazon #IndieLove #indiebooksellersrock 1 day ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto

    @SenKClark
    Katherine Clark    Let Amazon know with your credit card that you don’t support this nasty attack on local businesses #OccupyAmazon http://t.co/Cok6uTFR 1 day ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    What happens from here remains to be seen. Amazon doesn’t exactly have a physical space in which protesters can occupy, so how this unfolds tomorrow (and in the future) will be interesting. In a contrast to previous Occupy efforts, will consumers choose to benevolently occupy their local retailers tomorrow for the forces of communal good? Chime in with what you think about the latest development among people speaking out against Amazon in the comments below.

    Note: Credit to Jon Stitch at Diesel Bookstore for the creation of the above Occupy Amazon buttons.

  • Steve Jobs Bio Is Amazon’s Overall Best-Seller of 2011

    Amazon has just released their list of the top 10 best-selling books of 2011, and it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” is number one.

    It had previously been announced that the Steve Jobs biography was the top selling print book of 2011, but of course that list didn’t take into account Kindle sales. According to Amazon, even when you factor in e-books, Isaacson’s book still takes the top spot.

    “After the year of recommending books to our customers, it’s always fun to see what books really resonated with them,” said Chris Schluep, Senior Editor of Books, Amazon.com. “We chose ‘Steve Jobs’ as one of the Top 10 best books of the year, and even though it was published in October, the sales have been phenomenal in both formats. And we’re really excited that Kindle Direct Publishing authors have taken two of the top spots this year for book sales overall.”

    Those “Kindle Direct Publishing” books that he mentions are “The Mill River Recluse” and “The Abbey,” which were able to crack the top 10 overall bestseller list without any print sales – only Kindle sales.

    Here’s the complete list:

    1. “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson
    2. “Bossypants” by Tina Fey
    3. “A Stolen Life” by Jaycee Dugard
    4. “The Mill River Recluse” by Darcie Chan
    5. “In the Garden of the Beasts” by Erik Larson
    6. “A Dance with Dragons” by George R.R. Martin
    7. “The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain
    8. “The Litigators” by John Grisham
    9. “The Abbey” by Chris Culver
    10. “Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle)” by Christopher Paolini

    Amazon also has most in-depth best-of lists including the 100 best-selling print books of the year and the 100 best-selling Kindle books of the year.

    Amazon has also released an editorial list of the “best” books of the year. Topping that list in “The Art of Fielding” by Chad Harbach. They describe it as “confident, intimate, unpredictable, and wholly memorable.”

    “Steve Jobs” released on October 24th. It is currently the second best-selling print book and 14th best-selling Kindle book in the month of December. It has been in the Amazon top 100 for 94 days.

  • Amazon Kindle Fire Update Promised

    Amazon Kindle Fire Update Promised

    Disappointed with Amazon’s Kindle Fire? You’re not alone. The complaints are rampant. Though at the price of $199, you might say there is a little breathing room for flaws, when you consider that the iPad 2 starts at $499 (though that price will likely be coming down before too long as Apple is allegedly preparing its successor’s unveiling).

    Sure, Amazon risks loss of customer loyalty with a flawed product, but how often are the first incarnations of gadgets flawless anyway? There are always updates and room for improvement where future iterations can inspire appeal.

    According to the New York Times, an Amazon spokesperson has promised an over-the-air update for the Kindle Fire within two weeks time. This update will be aimed at improving performance and multitouch navigation, and according to the Times, will allow customers to edit the list of items that show what they’ve been doing recently. On top of that, the report says there will probably be an improved version of the device itself soon, suggesting a spring arrival.

    On the customer loyalty front, complaints about the Kindle Fire happen to coincide with some other issues the company faces with unhappy people – mainly businesses. This includes the whole Internet Tax thing and app that lets consumers scan barcodes from brick and mortar stores and buy them through Amazon at cheaper prices.

    Sales of the Kindle Fire have started off strong to be sure. They sold 2 million in 2 weeks. Again, that price tag certainly helps, as does the holiday buying rush. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the Kindle Fire line competes over the longer term, with not only the iPad but other tablets that will continue to emerge and improve upon what’s already out there. The general consensus so far, however, seems to be that the iPad is still the one to beat. At least for those who can afford it.

  • Amazon’s New App To Swipe Sales From Brick & Mortar Stores

    In what looks like an attempt to capitalize on shoppers’ use of their smartphones when buying Christmas gifts this season, the Grinch Amazon has introduced a free new app that will give consumers a 5% discount (but only up to $5) on certain electronics, toys, sports, music, and DVDs – in other words, some of the coolest, most popular gifts. All you have to do is go to a “brick and mortar” store, browse around until you find an item you’d like to purchase, and then enter its barcode into the app via scan, photo, text, or speech. Once the price is entered, you’ll receive the discount on the item when you buy it from Amazon.

    Did you see what Amazon just did there?

    When you see something you want in a store and instead of buying it in the store you are already in, Amazon wants you to use their app and buy it from them and, as a reward, Amazon will give you a discount. Understandably, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, an advocacy organization that watches out some of the top retailers in the U.S., is calling shenanigans on Amazon’s latest attempt to snatch up business from brick-and-mortar retailers with a press release they issued this afternoon:

    Arlington, VA –The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) reacted to a new smartphone App from Amazon.com that encourages holiday shoppers to use brick and mortar stores as showrooms to then purchase merchandise online from inside the store.   Central to this tactic is Amazon’s continued practice of using a pre-internet loophole to avoid state sales tax collection, a move that gives them an unfair competitive advantage over Main Street retailers.

    “Retailers compete on price 365 days a year, and at no time is that competition hotter than during the make-or-break holiday shopping season.  However, by continuing to evade collecting state sales taxes, Amazon’s exploitation of a pre-Internet tax loophole is resulting in a 6-10 percent perceived price advantage over their competitors on Main Street,” said Katherine Lugar, executive vice president of public affairs.

    “Amazon’s aggressive promotion of its Price Check App shows the lengths they are willing to go to exploit this tax loophole, and is a stark reminder of why Congress needs to act to protect retailers on Main Street.  A failure to act is an implicit endorsement of a subsidy of Amazon, a subsidy that distorts the free market and puts jobs on Main Street at risk,” said Lugar.

    RILA supports bipartisan legislation introduced in the House and in the Senate that would level the playing field and force all retailers to compete under the same rules. In a hearing last week before the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) summed up the need for Congressional action by saying:

    “I don’t think Congress should be in the business of picking winners and losers. Inaction by Congress today results in a system today that does pick winners and losers.”

    Gruenwald, Juliana, “Congress Urged to Close Online Sales-Tax Loophole,” National Journal, 11/30/11

    “Main Street retailers have been forced to compete on an uneven playing field for too long. Retailers cannot afford another holiday season where they are forced to compete on an uneven playing field,” added Lugar.
     

    Even if Amazon’s underhanded scheme should have some appeal with consumers, luckily for brick-and-mortar retailers the discount-offering app is only good from 9PM December 9th to 11:59PM December 10th and customers can only use the app up to three times. Still, it’s hard not to agree with the accusations RILA has stamped onto Amazon.

    Do you think the RILA’s on the right track here? Or should Amazon be permitted to do this? Chime in below with your comments.

  • Rap/Hip-Hop Gets No Love From Amazon’s Best Music Of 2011

    Amazon released its Best of 2011 selections for music today which, undoubtedly, will ignite a fury of Internet commenters to opine and whine about why certain albums are so high and why certain singles don’t even appear on the list. From Amazon’s press release:

    Each year the Amazon Music team digs deep into a handful of musical genres–editors listen to as much new music as possible and vote on the very best albums and songs. The goal of creating a thoughtful “best of the year” list is to help customers discover amazing new music and to make it easy for customers to explore new artists or bands. The Best of the Year Music Store is now live on Amazon.com and offers customers a large variety of music to browse, along with unique lists such as “50 Outstanding 2011 Albums You Might Have Missed.”

    “Our customers enjoy discovering new music and we hope there’s something for everyone’s taste in our Best of the Year for 2011,” said Craig Pape, Director of Amazon Music Content Acquisition. “Our editors love to listen to new music and highlight the best of the best such as Adele’s rich sophomore effort ‘21.’ ‘Rolling In The Deep’ has become an anthem for 2011 and is the top song in our Customer Picks.”

    The anthem of 2011? Really? Having never heard of it, I consulted with an insider at the Internet (i.e., the search engine called Google) and have confirmed that ‘Rolling In The Deep’ is in fact that song that has been playing in every car, mall, commercial, bar, bathroom, coffee shop, radio, and occasional earworm all year. An anthem it is, then. At any rate, Amazon’s editors have compiled multiple Best Of lists to accomodate for multiple tastes, such as Best Pop, Best Country Music, and Outstanding 2011 Albums You Might Have Missed.

    A noticeable genre missing from Amazon’s compilation of Best Of lists was a Best Rap/Hip-Hop category. In a year that saw album releases from top names like Drake, Jay-Z & Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, Wale, Rihanna, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, The Beastie Boys, and Raekwon as well as more recent breakouts like Tyler, The Creator, Yelawolf, and Wiz Khalifa (to name a few), no link or mention is found on Amazon’s Best of 2011 music site. Granted, lots of genres were not given their own list on Amazon, and that’s a fair argument, but with so many of Rap/Hip-Hop performers presently active in the mainstream it’s peculiar that Amazon would give Classical music more attention than Rap/Hip-Hop.

    What do you think of the lists Amazon compiled? Hate them? Agree with them? Comment below.

  • Is The Kindle Fire Experience Disappointing?

    The Kindle Fire represents yet another company’s attempt to break the stranglehold Apple’s iPad has over the tablet. In fact, the iPad’s market share is so much more than its competitors, and even though I know this to be false, there’s a distinct feeling iPads are the only tablet device on the market. We’re not the only ones to notice, either:

    It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn’t just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market.

    To put it another way, if you asked a regular Joe on the street to name a tablet device and they responded with something other than the iPad, the shock could cause catatonia.

    Granted, the previous statement is hyperbolic, but the fact remains, iPads are so much more popular than their competitors, it’s probably not that far from the truth. So when Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet hit the markets, and experienced some early success, it was hailed as the true, yet cheaper opponent to the iPad’s “king of the hill” position.

    But then, usability reviews from various users start hitting the web, and all of the positive buzz comes to screeching halt. While the early sales figures for the Kindle Fire have been strong, apparently, the thing’s not that fun to use, or at least according to the review that’s blowing up the trades this week, the “Kindle Fire offers a disappointingly poor user experience.”

    The review in question comes from Jakob Nielsen, and it starts in a complimentary manner, indicating the Kindle Fire’s smaller size is great for mobile web viewing, but then, it’s all down hill from there. In fact, the compliment is available in the review’s summary, which appears at the top of the page, and folks, aside from the making the mobile web look good, there isn’t much in the way of a ringing endorsement from Nielsen.

    Actually, it’s just the opposite. The big issue as far as Nielsen is concerned has to do with the touch interface, perhaps the most important aspect of tablet design. If your primary method of navigation is lacking in its execution, you’re fighting a losing battle. One of the key features being pushed by the Amazon concerns the Kindle Fire’s seven-inch touchscreen in regards to portability. From Amazon’s Kindle Fire page:

    Designed to travel with you wherever you go. Small enough to fit in your purse and light enough to hold in just one hand, Kindle Fire is perfect for browsing, playing, reading and shopping on-the-go.

    The smaller size, however, may be the Fire’s undoing, at least according to Nielsen’s experience:

    The most striking observation from testing the Fire is that everything is much too small on the screen, leading to frequent tap errors and accidental activation. You haven’t seen the fat-finger problem in its full glory until you’ve watched users struggle to touch things on the Fire. One poor guy spent several minutes trying to log in to Facebook, but was repeatedly foiled by accidentally touching the wrong field or button — this on a page with only 2 text fields and 1 button.

    Apparently, long, slender fingers are the key to tablet usability satisfaction. Apparently, the Fire’s weight is bothersome as well:

    The Fire is a heavy object. It’s unpleasant to hold for extended periods of time. Unless you have forearm muscles like Popeye, you can’t comfortably sit and read an engaging novel all evening. The lack of physical buttons for turning the page also impedes on the reading experience for fiction. On the older Kindles, it’s easy to keep a finger on the button when all you use it for is to turn the page. In contrast, tapping an area of the screen disrupts reading enjoyment, is slightly error-prone, and leaves smudges on the screen. The Fire screen also has more glare than the traditional Kindle.

    The Kindle Fire’s user interface did not escape scrutiny either, and the results here weren’t very positive, either, saying the UI design is simply “bad.” After expanding the point some, the basic idea is the Fire’s design makes browsing problematic, although, Nielsen has an idea why:

    If I were given to conspiracy theories, I’d say that Amazon deliberately designed a poor web browsing user experience to keep Fire users from shopping on competing sites. Amazon’s own built-in shopping app has great usability, so they clearly know how to design for the tablet [Emphasis added].

    While the 7-inch screen makes the mobile web look good, it appears to interfere with the usability of the device, at least according to one review. Does reading such criticism make give you pause about pursuing a Kindle Fire or was your mind made up as soon as Amazon launched it? The next question is, is anyone ever going to make a legitimate iPad killer or have the tablet wars already been decided before they even began?

  • Kindle Fire Off To A Hot Start: 2 Million Sold In 2 Weeks

    Amazon’s Kindle Fire: It’s so hot right now.

    According to one market researcher, the Amazon has already sold 850,000 Kindle Fires directly from Amazon.com. When you factor in sales from other retailers like Best Buy, he says that Amazon has likely sold 2 million or more units since its official launch on November 15th. Two million in two weeks is a pretty strong start for the new tablet.

    According to that analyst, Carter Nicholas of eDataSource, the swing in sales from the pre-sale period to the post-launch period has been substantial. “Trendwise, sales are picking up if you compare second half of November to second half of October, the rate of sales is up 63%.”

    Amazon has been unsurprisingly tight-lipped about the actual Kindle Fire sales figures. The only real information nugget that they’ve given us about the tablet is that it’s a top seller. Actually, the top seller across the whole site. As part of a press release concerning Black
    Friday sales, Amazon reported that all members of the Kindle family were off to a great start this holiday season – the Kindle Fire in particular.

    “Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we’d already sold millions of the new Kindle family and Kindle Fire was the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com,” they said. The Kindle Fire has been the top-selling item on the site since in was introduced way back in September.

    So it looks like the Kindle Fire, with its experimental Silk browser and super-affordable $199 price tag, is on its way to becoming a real holiday hit. And if these figures prove accurate, it’s well on its way to grabbing the number #2 tablet spot.

    Of course, it would still be behind the king – the iPad. Is it possible that the Kindle Fire could significantly cut into the iPad’s market this holiday season? That depends on your definition of the word significant.

    J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz is slightly reducing his iPad sales estimate this quarter. He is shaving them down to 13 million, from 13.3 million. This relatively small decrease is being attributed to not only production slowdowns – but the impact of the Kindle Fire. Apparently, the $199 price tag is the leading factor in people’s decision to go with the Amazon tablet.

    But price tag isn’t everything, and the Kindle Fire can’t fully compete with the the iPad on a lot of fronts – speed and features mainly. But there’s no doubt that the Kindle Fire is off to a hot start. Have you had the chance to try out Amazon’s new tablet? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

  • Google Prime? Google Jabs Amazon With Upcoming Quick Delivery Service

    With the success of Amazon Prime, it was only a matter of time before Google got into the fast-shipping business.

    According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is on the way to start a service that matches online shopping with fast (one-day) delivery – for a small fee. Basically, Amazon Prime for the rest of the internet retailers.

    And the comparison to Amazon’s Prime service is not only valid because the new initiative so closely resembles the service. According to the people familiar with the matter, the idea was directly motivated by the huge success of Amazon’s service.

    Apparently, Google realizes that people are finding goods by searching on Amazon directly, taking Google out of the equation. Retailers have also noticed this, realizing that they sometimes cannot compete with Amazon’s merchandise availability and quick shipping times.

    The sources say that Macy’s, Gap, and OfficeMax are some of the first retailers to be interested in partnering up with Google.

    It looks like the service may utilize Google Shopper:

    Under the initiative, Google plans to meld an existing product-search feature that directs shoppers to retail websites with a new quick-shipping service that the Internet giant will oversee. The quick-shipping service will be based on a Google behind-the-scenes system that allows shoppers to figure out whether stores have a product in stock and that allows them to find out whether they can get that product shipped to them within a day.

    When shoppers place an order on those retailers’ websites, Google’s system could kick in to offer them an option for same-day or possibly next-day delivery, said a person familiar with the matter.

    So Google won’t actually be selling anything, or shipping anything for that matter. Possible delivery partnerships include UPS and other local companies. Google reportedly plans to test the initiative in San Francisco and work its way up to a full launch in 2012.

    Do you think Amazon should be worried? Let us know what you think in the comments.

  • Amazon’s Santa App Launched for Kindle Fire, iPad (and maybe Android)

    When I was a kid, before I went to bed on Christmas Eve I would leave my wishlist of presents near the fireplace along with the awesome bribe of milk and cookies so that, hopefully, Santa Claus would leave me lots of loot. Although it always seemed to work for me, that holiday ritual probably sounds like a pastoral relic to kids today and the new Santa App that Amazon launched yesterday doesn’t really help me sound any less old.

    Kids and parents (or anybody in charge of kids, for that matter) can now compile Christmas wishlists with even greater ease thanks to Amazon’s new Santa App. The app is intended for children to be able to create a visual wishlist by browsing through thousands of products that have been deemed kid- and family-friendly. Amazon goes on to explain in their press release for the app:

    Sometimes Santa can use help sorting out what gifts to give everyone and this new app makes it easy and fun for kids to create their perfect Wish List,” said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile. “We’ve selected more than five-hundred thousand of the hottest kid-friendly holiday gifts and made it fun, easy and intuitive for kids to find exactly what they want. The Amazon Santa app is also a great way for parents to spend some quality time with their kids and help make certain there’s a smile Christmas morning.

    As you’ll see below, the design of this app will probably not be as exciting for teenagers as it will be for younger children (but who knows given how fast kids grow up these days):

    The press release states that the app is designed for the new Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad while it conspicuously omits any mention of Android devices. However, once you browse to Amazon’s Appstore to purchase the app – don’t worry, it’s free – you’ll immediately notice the bold text that claims, “Available instantly on your Android device.” It’s not really clear if the Android availability refers only to the Kindle Fire (since those are running their own version of the Android OS) or if it will work on all Android-running devices. Some comments in the reviews lament the lack of availability of the Santa App for “other devices” but no reviewer actually states which devices they’d like to see included.

    If you plan to or already have used this app, let us know what you think in the comments. Or, if you’ve tried to use the app on your Android device that isn’t a Kindle Fire, let us know what you found out.

  • Spanish Kindle Store Launches with 22,000+ Titles

    Amazon has just launched their Spanish language Kindle Store today, and it’s starting with over 22,000 titles. Over 1,000 of these titles are free e-books, as they are part of the public domain.

    The Spanish Kindle Store contains most of the bestsellers from Spain – both fiction and non-fiction. Amazon also boasts that the store has the most complete selection of Catalan, Basque, and Galician titles around.

    “We are excited to introduce the new Spanish Kindle Store which features the most best sellers in Spain, the leading selection of titles in Catalan, Basque and Galician and also includes unique and exclusive titles from Rosa Montero,” said Gordon Willoughby, Director, EU Kindle. “Kindle is already the best-selling e-reader in the world. It comes with an electronic ink display that reads like real paper, with no glare, even in bright daylight and it offers the convenience of downloading books in less than 60 seconds. Kindle is so small and light that it disappears in your hands, which is just what you want when you are reading a great story like ‘El puente de los asesinos,’ by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

    “El Puente de los asesinos,” one of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s Captain Alatriste novels, will run readers 9.49 Euros or about $13.

    The Spanish Kindle Store’s vast selection of content in a wide range of categories includes popular titles from best-selling authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Julia Navarro and Carlos Ruiz Zafón, as well as short form content from El País and La Vanguardia, uniquely available on Kindle. In addition, the store will launch with three exclusive self-published books from award-winning author and journalist Rosa Montero, using Kindle Direct Publishing.

    Amazon also unveiled the first Spanish language Kindle, which is available for 99EUR (about $133).

    ¡Lee!