Two Guys on Gaming, Tech, and the World
Netflix has dominated the video streaming space for several years. It seems that everyone in this generation is coughing up the $7.99 per month membership fee for what now has become, for many, more essential than cable. But Netflix is no longer the only streaming service fighting to get into your living room. Let’s consider the possibility that Amazon Prime is better than Netflix (and cheaper, too). [Read more…]
Whenever you break some bad news, it always helps to soften the blow with something good. I got an email from Amazon recently about how their Amazon Cloud Player Upgrade was going to be good for me. Or so I thought. Who would have expected bad news to follow an email opening like this? [Read more…]
Are you in the market to sell some old video games? Glyde (aff) wants to help, but at a price.
The concept is simple. Like any Web 2.0 marketplace, sellers list their products, and shoppers buy them. But Glyde gives this old model a unique twist. [Read more…]
Even before I started getting a cut for referring you to Amazon
Last week, Amazon announced its very own tablet to the market: the Kindle Fire
Though it is arguably less powerful or functional than its main competitor — Apple’s iPad
Of course Amazon is doing everything it can to get its tablet into as many hands as possible. As a late-comer on the tablet scene, Amazon has some ground to cover if it hopes to gain some of the market share, and one part of this goal necessarily includes the price.
But selling units is just the beginning. Losing money on the device itself is not a winning business model if that’s all Amazon were trying to do. Certainly, this is not Amazon’s end goal.
I’m not privy to any insider information, but it seems apparent from the outside what Amazon is up to. Similar to the strategy of console video gaming businesses — such as Microsoft’s Xbox
For years console video game businesses have been selling their consoles — very expensive, high-tech pieces of equipment — at cost or cheaper and then making up their loss in the game sales (the price for a new release for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 is currently $59.99). These business minimize the barrier to entry with drastically discounted hardware, creating a highly targeted group of customers who will buy the games for these consoles for years after.
Amazon is clever to realize the potential of this model in the tablet market. In its marketing copy, Amazon emphasizes the ease of accessing movies, TV shows, music, magazines, and books from the Kindle Fire — additional services that are all offered from Amazon. With an Android-powered OS, there are tons of apps available for the Kindle Fire, also available for purchase through Amazon. By ushering customers into “Amazon Land,” the Kindle Fire practically creates a captive audience for more Amazon products.
Moving beyond the basics of the console video game model, Amazon has the ability to increase the precision of its marketing with its proprietary web browser: Amazon Silk. For consumers, Amazon Silk is supposed to create a faster, more powerful web browsing experience; but for Amazon, users of the Silk browser stoke the marketing fire with the fuel of browsing data, which (despite any promises of anonymization) will surely be used by Amazon to refine their marketing strategies.
Though this model isn’t new, this is the first time that it’s been used in the tablet industry. And if it’s successful for Amazon Kindle Fire, I wonder how long it will be before others start to follow suit. Will we start seeing Apple tablets priced below cost? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
On Wednesday, 9/28/11, Amazon announced their new Kindle device, an Android-powered tablet named the Kindle Fire
Despite earlier speculation of a higher price tag, Amazon is charging only $199 for the device, compared to Apple’s iPad which starts at $499.
Similar to other tablets on the market, the Amazon Kindle Fire offers:
Amazon will use its powerful cloud technology to power the proprietary “Silk” web browser and offer free cloud storage for all Amazon content.
The Kindle Fire will allow users to quickly access Amazon’s shop of over 100,000 movies and shows, 17+ million MP3’s, and the millions of books in the Kindle Store.
In addition to the price, the Amazon Kindle Fire is also smaller and lighter than the iPad. It has a 7″ display, compared to the iPad’s 9 inches, and it weighs only 0.91 pounds while the iPad comes in at a heavier 1.33 pounds.
While Amazon is promoting these smaller specs as a feature–making the Kindle Fire easier to hold and carry–the Fire lacks some features that have made the iPad so popular, specifically a camera, microphone, and cellular data connection.
Though early analysts are saying that this isn’t quite the “iPad killer” that they expected from Amazon, it will be a huge competitor to the Barnes & Noble Nook.
For more information on the Kindle Fire and the option to pre-order, click here
In addition to the Kindle Fire, Amazon also announced a new Kindle for $79 and a Kindle Touch for $99.
Amazon Web Services announced improved features for the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) today. Here are the three improved features in the new S3 release.
Prior to the update, users had to upload files individually. Now, if you have an entire folder that you want to add to your S3 bucket, you can add the entire folder at once
Amazon enhances navigation speed in the S3 interface with its new “Jump” feature. When moving to a new object or folder, the new S3 update will narrow the possible results as you are typing — only objects or folders that start with the letters you type will be displayed, helping you find what you are looking for faster.
With previous versions, access to S3 was limited to platforms with Adobe Flash. Now platforms without Flash can access the service, creating an added security benefit: the only open port required for connection is port 443 — the standard port for secure connections.
These features in the new S3 release are live and ready to go. Access your S3 buckets here to take advantage of these improvements. If you are not using AWS S3 yet, you can learn more about it here.
Though Amazon.com is the world’s largest online retailer, it also provides opportunities for others (i.e. you) to get in on the action. Here are four simple ways you can get a piece of the Amazon pie. [Read more…]
After my last post on the Amazon Cloud Drive, I realized that it might not be entirely clear from my description how to download files to your EVO from the Amazon Cloud Drive. Here is how to do it. [Read more…]