New Kindles coming to 16,000+ retail locations, US-wide

WELL, I am still on my WORDY coming post on the Nook Tablet and Kindle File skirmish!  Stock up on Murine.

  But it's not finished yet, and now Amazon has put out another press release, and it's one you probably should know about.

So, I'll just post it, mostly AS IS (except for the usual description of Amazon at the bottom and a couple of shortcuts) since it is information Amazon does want distributed.

  Essentially, The new Kindles are going to be popping up at over 16,000 stores across the U.S., where you'll be able to try them out to see which one might best suit you and yours, so here are the details, from Amazon (boldfacing mine):

' All-New Kindle Family - Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G and Kindle Fire - Coming to Over 16,000 Retail Locations Across the U.S.

In addition to Amazon.com, customers will be able to find, discover and purchase the $79 Kindle, $99 Kindle Touch, $149 Kindle Touch 3G, and $199 Kindle Fire at Best Buy, Target, Walmart and more
SEATTLE, Nov 08, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
(NASDAQ:AMZN) - Amazon.com today announced that over 16,000 stores across the U.S. will be selling the new Kindle family starting November 15. Customers will be able to visit any Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Staples, Sam's Club, RadioShack, Office Depot, as well as several other retailers, to experience and purchase the $79 Kindle, the $99 Kindle Touch, the $149 Kindle 3G and the $199 Kindle Fire. The all-new $79 Kindle has been available in stores around the world since shortly after it was introduced.

"Kindle Fire is a fully integrated, end-to-end service that gives customers access to over 18 million movies, TV shows, books, magazines, apps and games," said Mike McKenna, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "We're excited to be working with popular retailers across the country to offer their customers Kindle Fire as well as Kindle, Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G this holiday. Customers can order our new Kindles on Amazon.com or simply go to a store in their neighborhood to pick one up starting next Tuesday."

"We are excited to work with Amazon to provide consumers the opportunity to touch, test, try and buy the Kindle Fire in all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores nationwide," said Wendy Fritz, senior vice president of Computing at Best Buy. "The Kindle Fire and other new products in the Kindle family will be some of the hottest gifts this holiday season and we are delighted to offer these devices as part of our ever-expanding tablet and e-reader selection at Best Buy."

"Target is offering the new family of Kindle devices, including the Kindle Fire, to ensure Target is a convenient one-stop-shop for all of the season's must-have gifts," said Nik Nayar, vice president merchandising, Target.

The new $79 Kindle is for readers who want the lightest, most compact Kindle at an incredible price. The latest generation Kindle features a new design that is 30 percent lighter at just 5.98 ounces, 18 percent smaller, and turns pages 10 percent faster, yet it still features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight. 

Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes - still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch is just $99. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G, all for just $149.

[I must add here that "free 3G" in connection with Kindle Touch models is for use only at the Kindle store and for access to Wikipedia articles.  Other websites can be accessed via WiFi.

This differs from the Kindle Keyboard 3G model, which still has (slow)  "free 3G" for other web sites also, as well as WiFi.]

Kindle Fire is a fully-integrated, end-to-end service that gives customers access to more than 18,000,000 movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, as well as free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, vibrant color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor, and Amazon Silk - Amazon's new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud.

They add that the all-new:
  . Kindle (amzn.to/kindlebasic) is currently available and ships today at Amazon.com and retail locations across the U.S.;
  . Kindle Fire (amzn.com/kindle_fire) is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be available from retail locations starting November 15;
  . Kindle Touch (amzn.to/kindletouch-wifi) and Kindle Touch 3G (amzn.to/kindletouch_3g) are also currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com.  (Spaces in the links are actually underscores ( _ ), not typed spaces.)

Now it's a 7" tablet that's due first and already being shipped to Amazon?

QUANTA SHIPPING 7" TABLETS TO AMAZON AND FOXCONN RECEIVING AMAZON ORDERS FOR A 10.1" SOMEWHAT LATER?

That's what everyone's favorite source these days (though it sometimes produces conflicting information) said yesterday.
  Digitimes reported that "Quanta Computer has begun shipping a 7-inch model to Amazon" and that Foxconn "has reportedly landed orders for 10.1-inch tablet PCs from Amazon with shipments to begin in 2012."

While saying that Foxconn declined to comment, they write that "sources at the tablet supply chain" explain that they were able to "land tablet PC orders" because they've been producing the Kindles.

They go on to say that Foxconn "is also likely to produce 12 million units of Kindles for Amazon, and 38-40 million units of iPads as well as 80-85 million iPhones for Apple a year, the sources indicated."

' Amazon is outsourcing the production of touch sensors to Wintek, with total purchasing volume to top 1.8-2 million units before the end of September. Amazon also purchases touch modules from J Touch and Young Fast Optoelectronics, with industry sources indicating that Amazon may also add touch panel makers TPK Holding and Cando to its supply chain later. '

They conclude the report with "there is a possibility that Amazon may launch the 10.1-inch model in advance in late 2011 to meet the year-end holiday demand in the US and Europe. "


See the ongoing List of stronger Amazon tablet rumors with dates, titles and links to the Kindleworld blog articles and sources.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite

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

WSJ expands article considerably. WashPo-Techcrunch comments on it.

WALL STREET JOURNAL ADDS INFO TO SAME ARTICLE (LINK) NOW DATED JULY 14

The link to the WSJ article July 13 now leads to a largely-rewritten one putting even more emphasis on Amazon challenging the iPad (a dramatic angle), when, as the Washington Post/Bloomberg/Techcrunch article points out, the Amazon tablet is more of a 'threat' to Google for the reasons they give in their article.

Word changes are interesting.  Yesterday, it was that the tablet would be 'introduced before October' and today it's that it'll be "released by October."

The article now goes extensively into the battlefield aspect of it all, and you can read that at the same link, as I'm not including much of the iPad angle here.

  Newly worded paragraphs of more interest:

' Amazon's tablet will have a roughly nine-inch screen and will run on Google's Android platform, said people familiar with the device.  Unlike the iPad, it won't have a camera, one of these people said.  While the pricing and distribution of the device is unclear, the online retailer won't design the initial tablet itself.  It also is outsourcing production to an Asian manufacturer, the people said.

  One of the people said the company is working on another model, of its own design, that could be released next year. '

  I actually mentioned yesterday that a more advanced model was said to be expected in 2012.

  Then they mention (and the Washington Post does also) that an Amazon tablet might cannibalize sales of its Kindle.   Despite all the current news stories that e-reader sales have been going through the roof while tablet sales have slowed, the idea of a Kindle killer persists.

  More new material:

' A person familiar with Amazon's thinking said it [is] still figuring out how to market the tablet computer.  One issue is whether customers will want to buy both the tablet and Kindle, which is viewed as a dedicated-reading device for bookworms. '

' Amazon spokespersons have said that surveys show that many who value reading books have chosen an e-ink reader AFTER buying a tablet.  Some will want one or the other and some will want both.  I have a Kindle and a NookColor (more of a tablet), as they complement each other.

WSJ writers Stu Woo and Yukari Iwatani Kane, with contributor Amir Efrati, mention that Sony unveiled, yesterday, prototypes of a tablet and a wallet-shaped dual-screen portable device to be available later this year.  That should be interesting.

New wording re the two updated versions of its e-Ink Kindles now omits yesterday's description of an "improved and cheaper adaptation of the current Kindle," which has me hoping again that the second 'improved' Kindle is the 9.7" e-Ink Kindle DX Graphite rather than what they termed "the Kindle" yesterday, which is a term usually used by Amazon, since August, for the WiFi Kindle 3.

 Here's the rewrite:

' Amazon plans to introduce two updated versions of its black-and-white Kindle in this year's third quarter, people familiar with the matter said. One of the new Kindles will have a touch screen, which current models don't have. '

The word "cheaper" for "the Kindle" is gone.

Forrester's "Ms. Epps" mentions that "Amazon is also in a position to offer a cheaper alternative to the iPad" and "could sell the tablet at a loss while hoping to make money on sales of movies, music and books" but says that Amazon lacks a natural brick-and-mortar outlet and that the tablet "may be less refined than the iPad."

The Washington Post/Bloomberg's Techcrunch.com article explains how the tablet could be very successful for Amazon.  They consider the coming tablet a "sort of placeholder until Amazon's own version is ready."

When describing the threat of an Amazon tablet to Google, they point out that the Android appstore is complicated (Amazon's target crowd is one that doesn't want to depend on computers). Their take on this:

' Amazon needs devices they can ship with the store pre-installed.  And more importantly, their stores pre-installed.  As in, any device they ship is going to be filled with Amazon to the brim.  That includes the ability to sign in to your Amazon Prime account [to] buy things with one click...When that happens, Amazon will have an Android tablet that is more compelling than any other Android tablet on the market on day one '

They also say that Amazon will be less dependent on Google 'carrots' (Google branding, Google apps) offered to partners and this will be interesting to watch.  For sure.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

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

WSJ says Amazon tablet and 2 e-ink readers by October

WALL STREET JOURNAL WROTE:
AMAZON PLANS "TABLETS" BY OCTOBER.

That was the headline when I started writing this.  It's been changed to: AMAZON PLANS IPAD RIVAL.

(Thanks to the ever-alert and connected Edward Boyhan for the heads-up.)

They also changed the opening paragraphs (while I was typing), the first one now saying, "Amazon.com Inc. plans to introduce a tablet computer before October, said people familiar with the matter, in a move that will heighten the online retailer's rivalry with Apple Inc." [Always make it mainly about an arch rival...sells better.]

  Well, "before October" is what everyone else has been saying although it was more on the order of "August or September," but WSJ writers Stu Woo and Yukari Iwatani Kane have more info, from sources AKA leakers, probably with some permission.

They add that the sources said that Amazon will also release "two updated versions" of its Kindle e-readers "in the 3rd quarter," which leaves us with July-Sept also.

' One will be a touch-screen device.  The other won't have a touch screen, but will be an improved and cheaper adaptation of the current Kindle, said people who have seen the device. '

It's mentioned that Amazon spokesman didn't return requests for comment, but they almost never do on future releases.  However, Jeff Bezos' "Stay tuned." a couple of months ago said quite a bit with two words.

Woo and Kane add:

' The Amazon tablet will have a roughly nine-inch screen, people familiar with the product said, and will run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system.  The online retailer isn't designing the device itself, but is outsourcing production to an Asian manufacturer, these people said.

 The device will not have a camera, said one person familiar with it. '

These folks are very ...'familiar' with it. at least.  :-)  I'll refer to them now as PF's

The one surprise would be a 9" screen, as speculation had focused on 7", 8.9" and 10" choices, and the 8.9" seems a good compromise, EXCEPT that even the 9.7" Kindle DX has not seemed quite large enough for PDFs although it's FAR better than the 6" e-readers for those.  Maybe the DXG will get the long-due PDF enhancements that the Kindle 3 has had since last August, with the same type of display technology.

I had written, before the later WSJ-changes, that the piece started out with "tablets" by October and ended up talking about only "The Amazon tablet."  Someone else, in-house, noticed and they've changed the piece.  It's been rumored Amazon has been planning a second, more advanced one in early 2012, so that may have been the mixup when the PFs described the Amazon plans.

On the two Kindle e-readers, they'll use the same e-Ink technology as before, the sources said.

  MY guess? Spell that 'h-o-p-e'... The 'improved and cheaper' Kindle might be a new Kindle DX Graphite with WiFi, LONG awaited.  Fingers crossed for enhanced PDF capabilities, at least.  But they still have two versions, of the 6" model to think about, one of them with WiFi only.
  And their wording was "the Kindle" which Amazon has used mainly for the 6" WiFi-Only model.

  Note that their announcement about the AT&T-supported, lowered pricing of the Kindle 3G SO today emphasized, more heavily than they have before, the benefits of 3G.

WSJ probably is one of the news organization trusted most by Amazon, so this one is more credible than some.  But there are so many possibilities.  What do you think?


See the ongoing List of stronger Amazon tablet rumors with dates, titles and links to the Kindleworld blog articles, with linked sources.  [This won't be one of them.]

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Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite