Kindle News: Amazon announces more on the eBook pricing settlements. What it means, what's next with Apple's part?

Amazon announcement about "eBooks Settlements"

An announcement came in our emails today and in Amazon's Kindle Forum late last night (Friday, Aug 30, by David A., Forum Moderator), but some don't always see their emails and most don't know about the Kindle Forum, so I'm quoting the info, as written, here (emphases via italics are mine), as their announcements are meant for wider circulation.

' Last fall we notified eligible Kindle customers that they may be entitled to a credit for some of their past Kindle book purchases as a result of legal settlements between several major book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories.  Since then, two more publishers have settled and these new settlements have increased the amount of the credits customers will receive.

Eligible customers will not need to do anything to receive this credit. If the Court approves the settlements in December 2013 and there is no appeal, a credit will appear automatically in eligible customers' Amazon.com accounts that can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books.

  We will notify eligible customers when the credit is applied to these accounts. While we will not know the amount of each customer's credit until the Court approves the settlements, it is estimated that it will range from $0.73 to $3.82 for every eligible Kindle book that was purchased. To be eligible, customers must have a U.S. billing address and must have purchased a Kindle book published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin or Macmillan between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.

These publishers will provide the funds for the settlement. You can learn more about the settlements at http://www.amazon.com/help/agencyebooksettlements.

We think these settlements are a big win for readers because they will return over $165 million directly to customers and they also impose limitations on publishers' ability to raise eBook prices.

Thanks for being a Kindle customer. '

And this is before any settlement related to the DoJ-Apple case and Judge Denise Cote's 'remedies' to be announced this coming week, as well as whatever happens in connection with Apple's responsibilities with regard to the several antitrust lawsuits brought by a coalition of state Attorneys General and by a Plaintiff Class.

  The July 10, 2013 Wall Street Journal article (written by Chad Bray, Joe Palazzolo and Ian Sherr, with contributions from Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Jacob Gershman) reported on federal judge Denise Cote's ruling that Apple had colluded with five major U.S. publishers to drive up the prices of e-books.

  The WSJ report explains that, "As a result of the ruling, Apple is exposed to "as-yet undetermined damages and opens the door for the Justice Department to take a closer look at its other business lines."

  The DOJ's proposed remedies, including their revised proposal about a week ago, are likely to be met by a somewhat softer approach by the judge, who would prefer to not interfere with Apple's day-to-day business dealings as much as the DoJ proposes.

  Apple's response to the ruling is that they've "done nothing wrong" and they're appealing the ruling.  While the Big5 publishers and Apple have 'explained' that they were working against a monopoly power (Amazon) to make the e-book market more competitive, the WSJ team writes, "... the ruling raises questions about the leverage Apple may have when negotiating future content deals" since they are known to drive hard bargains.  What's important:

' "Under antitrust law, you can not only prevent the unlawful conduct, but also prevent other conduct that can lead to a similar result," said David Balto, former policy director at the Federal Trade Commission.

Because Apple was found liable for violating U.S. antitrust laws, a separate trial on damages will take place in a lawsuit against the company brought by 33 state attorneys general, who are seeking to recover money on behalf of consumers who paid higher prices for e-books.
  Apple also faces a private class-action suit alleging price-fixing.   The private plaintiffs could recover damages from Apple, provided their legal claims are distinct from the states'. '

At any rate, the credits for individual books appear larger than most had been expecting.

REMINDER These are the last two days -- 11:59 pm on September 1 is the ending date -- for the large Kindle Fire tablet discounts available for college students who have, or who join, the Prime membership program for $39/yr, with free access to something like 18,000 instant videos and the ability to borrow one book a month from the 400,000+ Kindle books Prime Lending Library (Link is (http://amzn.to/kprimebooks ), with no waiting times or due dates.


Image credit: readingebooks.net


Related articles
TIMELINE:  Ebook Pricing Wars - what DOJ would have seen.
Also, History of the e-book pricing wars
  and some recent articles:
  DOJ, Apple, and Judge Cote -- status, as of August 27
  Links to the latest stories that were written after the blog article here on August 12 about DOJ recommendations and Judge Cote's consideration of proposals for remedies in the e-book pricing case.
  1. Citing Steve Jobs email, DOJ claims Apple changed in-app purchase to retaliate against Amazon - by Laura Hazard Owen for GIGAOM
  2. E-Books Judge Pledges to Avoid Unnecessary Intrusion Into Apple's Business - by Julie Clover for MacRumors
  3. Apple E-Books Judge Cote Says She’ll Limit Antitrust Remedies - by Bob Van Voris for BloombergBusinessweek
  4. Apple says tempered e-book penalties still go too far - by Joan E. Solsman for CNET.

Judge Cote said that she'll sign a final order spelling out the remedies next week.

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 (Yes)

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199 Kindle Fire HD 7" - 214.00 KFire HD 7" $214,  8.9" $284

*OTHER Int'l pages* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 KFire HD 7" $214,  8.9" $284 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon BrazilRp China - Amazon China [?] Japan - Amazon Japan

[College students with Prime membership: discounts of up to $70 off Kindle Fire tablets until just before midnight Sept 1.]

---

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

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Kindle News: Apple/DoJ Lawsuit Judge mulls proposals for remedies in e-book pricing case - Updated

DoJ/Apple case: Judge Cote proposes ways to prevent further collusion and high e-book prices in near future

Judge Cote, to no one's surprise, denied Apple a stay of all proceedings pending its Appeal.

  She further denied "Apple’s proposed schedule for its damages trial, and ordered the parties to finish discovery by the end of December, 2013 with summary judgment motions to be fully briefed by February 28, 2014."

  Apple's lead counsel Orin Snyder received no sympathy from the judge about the "excessively aggressive" schedule.  Andrew Albanese's report in Publishers Weekly is very detailed, and trial watchers will want to read this one.

  The Christian Science Monitor's Molly Driscoll also writes in some detail about all this.

  While the DoJ would like to see the publishers and Apple not just return to the Agency Model and its restrictions on lower pricing in only two years and would prefer that Apple, who did not settle, not be allowed, in the next 5 years, to use the Agency model in that same way (rather than be restricted to only two years).

  Judge Denise Cote doesn't think that latter interval would be necessary but would want separate agreements with individual publishers staggered by months (maybe 6-8 months between) to avoid the kind of collusion noted.

  She added that a monitor appointed by the court that would work with Apple, might not be needed as long as Apple set up a program within the company focusing on antitrust efforts.

' The judge, however, was also unimpressed with the publishers, calling them “unrepentant.”

“None of the publisher defendants have expressed any remorse,” Cote said.

Representatives for Apple and the DOJ will now have meetings to discuss the measures, and Cote has asked for an outline from the two companies on proposed restrictions for Apple sometime this week. '

The Wall Street Journal's Joe Palazzolo explains that Judge Cote made these proposals "during a hearing Friday in federal court in Manhattan, roughly a month after finding that Apple provided five of the largest publishers 'with the vision, the format, the timetable and the coordination that they needed to raise e-book prices' in violation of federal antitrust laws when the company entered the market in 2010."  He adds:

' Judge Cote said she was seeking to impose conditions on Apple that would ensure price competition for e-books without disrupting innovation at the second-most valuable company in the world.

"I have no desire to regulate the App Store," Judge Cote said. '

  A Reminder - The traditional wholesaler arrangement was that the publisher set the Retail or Suggested List Price, and booksellers would pay (guarantee) the publisher 50% of that.
  Now, some of those e-books were set at $26 retail and therefore Amazon paid the publisher $13 while charging $10 for the e-books, taking a loss on those (while taking much better margins on some older e-books).

  Other booksellers could not afford to do the same, but the basic reality is that publishers have no need to charge $26 (!) for an e-book as a retail price. If they set it at even $15 booksellers would pay the publisher $7.50 per e-book sold and take a profit of $2.50 -- no one has to take a loss.

  But this has always been about keeping hardcover, printed books at the higher cost.
 In fact, the publishers had more revenue from the wholesaler method from which to pay their authors but they often obfuscated this, even though at least one publishing house told its authors that with the Agency model the authors would have to take 20% of net profit rather than 25% on e-books.

  The idea has been to keep the hardcover or printbook prices at a higher price level and not to 'devalue' them by allowing e-books to be sold so inexpensively despite the lower cost of producing the the digital versions.  This has been stated often, by the publishers (out loud), but at the same time they also worked to paint Amazon as pricing e-books so low that no other booksellers could do that.  Obviously, that never had to be.  But it's all about traditional printed book pricing and protecting that.

  As with any transition in technology, methods change and pricing along with that.  It's one of those changes in the world order and inevitable battles for survival of older ways.

  Support for the government's case made in the form of Amicus briefs by Kobo (affected badly by Apple's restrictions on in-app links to their store) and by The Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

  Publishers Weekly's Andrew Albanese described the situation.  Publishers Weekly is unusual in that while they are part of the publishing industry, normally aligned against Amazon's pricing mode and their fear that Amazon may eventually be able to set terms less favorable to the larger publishers, their articles are very balanced.  The American Booksellers Association, on the other hand, paints Amazon as the Devil on his worst day and Apple as protective Angel.

  Kobo's retail partner is, ironically, The American Booksellers Association, which is adamantly for the Agency Agreement as it was structured from the start, with its focus on keeping e-book prices high.
  Kobo, though, lost 75% of its new-customer conversions when Apple, in the summer of 2011, suddenly imposed a large fee on the store-linking function in its apps by e-book sellers.  The 30% commission on an in-app book sale would have taken all of Kobo's 30% profit on that sale price.

  The DoJ has proposed that Apple allow the in-app links for the next two years.  Amazon and Barnes & Noble e-book apps would be affected also if Judge Cote decides to go with this.

  The CFA's noted antitrust lawyer David Balto explains why, Albanese adds, the proposed remedy is "not unusual" and is "appropriate" (the details are in the linked article).  The Consumer organization stresses:

'...“the underlying conduct was willful and [Apple] remains unrepentant.” The brief also notes that the DoJ proved “conduct of a sort often prosecuted criminally, that was knowingly orchestrated by defendant’s highest management.”

Failure to take “strong remedial steps” in a case involving such egregious conduct, the brief concludes, would send a message that “antitrust compliance can be an afterthought and that antitrust penalties are merely a cost of doing business.” '

Believe it not, I wrote this blog entry as the 3rd topic for my blog article for today, as I had not posted over the weekend.  As you can see, that would have been an impossibly long entry, but then, so is this one.  I put together bits and pieces of reports I saw but it's not exactly coherent.  If there's anything you'd like clarified a bit more, let me know in the Comments area. Thanks.


Related articles
TIMELINE:  Ebook Pricing Wars - what DOJ would have seen.
Also, History of the e-book pricing wars



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Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

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DOJ-APPLE LAWSUIT: Clues, on the last day of the trial, that Apple had lost the lawsuit after Eddy Cue had resorted to saying Steve Jobs was "confused" and a key e-mail piece was passed off as an early draft though the judge wasn't fooled

Why Apple's loss of this lawsuit was inevitable

As anyone interested in the e-book pricing wars and the US/DOJ vs Apple lawsuit will have heard on Monday, Apple lost the lawsuit.  Here's Judge Cote's decision ("Opinion & Order").  It's written very clearly for a legal document and she answers each of Apple's points.

  Bear in mind that the DOJ just went for a civil case rather than a criminal one.

Apple took a chance on the trial because, most agree, it didn't want the government oversight (over the type of negotiations with content companies) that the five settling publishers had to accept, some concern over private lawsuits, and because Apple management has a strong faith in their ability to market, even to a judge who, in her denial of Apple's Motion to Dismiss the case, had already explained why the main arguments they would use during the ensuing trial would not be successful.


One general point:
  Apple's defense team pushed the point that they were trying to ensure a healthier, free market atmosphere against a company (Amazon) that dominated it and which would possibly eventually cause competitors to have to leave the arena -- but the Wall St Journal (a fairly conservative site that is itself a publisher with some colorfully-expressed enmity toward Amazon from its owner Robert Murdoch) quoted Herbert Hovenkamp, a law professor at the University of Iowa, who explained, as others have, that:
  "The goal of antitrust policy is to protect consumer prices ... It’s not to protect inefficient firms from having to exit the market."

  and again, from PaidContent's Matthew Ingram on the same point, which Apple lawyers should have known:

' ...antitrust law in the U.S. isn’t designed to help prevent competitors from being squashed by a large player in an industry — even if that player has what amounts to a monopoly position.  The key point is whether that particular company’s behavior alters or damages the marketplace in a way that harms consumers.  And when it comes to that, the DoJ is on rock-solid ground. '

  and Monday, Judge Cote wrote:

'...it is essential to remember that the antitrust laws were enacted for "the protection of competition, not competitors." '

Apple's response yesterday was to restate their role of white knight saving the e-book world from Amazon and "We've done nothing wrong and we will appeal the judge's decision."


Background:
Those new to the case and curious about it can see original news sources in a Timeline and a set of articles that are a news history of the e-mail pricing wars

  The page of articles also provides links to the primary court documents, some of which are fascinating reading, as they consist of private mails between several companies' executives and give insight into the thinking and atmosphere of higher management in those companies.

  They even come with some admonitions from the writers to delete the email received (and most of us know this doesn't mean they are truly deleted).

  So, anyone interested in the nitty gritty of the lawsuit, after being puzzled by news summaries, can get some original-source reading of intrigue-ridden moments.


COURT MOMENTS

1. Apple insisted it was no "ringleader" of the publishers' effort and that Apple was just going along with the publishers who were driving the price hikes.  Well, there is a lot of data there -- but for those not interested in too much detail, there was a whiff of gunsmoke from Simon and Schuster's chief executive, Carolyn Reidy, when the DOJ introduced an email from Reidy to Apple's Eddy Cue (the negotiator) in which she said she "looked forward" to his progress in "herding us cats."

2. Especially for sleuths.  Apple's SVP of Internet Services, apparently tried to mislead the judge after a key DOJ document indicated that Steve Jobs sent an email to Apple's Eddy Cue January 14, 2010, Subject title "Re: Book Prices Thoughts" saying:

' I can live with this, as long as they move Amazon to the agent model too for new releases for the first year.  If they don't, I'm not sure we can be competitive...'

  Does this even matter?  Two Apple execs (Keith Moerer and Kevin Saul) had both testified that Apple was "indifferent" to what kind of agreement the publishers signed with Amazon.  Steve Jobs's email posed a conflict with Moerer and Saul's testimony.

  When Eddy Cue didn't want the email to be evidence that Apple had planned to require that the publishers move Amazon to the agent model too, for new releases, Orin Snyder, Apple's Chief Counsel, came back by asking Moerer:

  "Are you aware that the e-mail was never sent?"

  Judge Cote ordered Snyder's question removed from the record.

  Apple's Snyder came back the next day to introduce a longer version of the email, stamped with the same date, suggesting that the email introduced had been a discarded draft.

  This led to Apple siders in the blogosphere arguing even after the trial ended, that the DOJ had introduced an early, discarded draft, but the people writing this in commenter areas probably never followed up on that story to find out what actually happened when the judge decided to analyze the pieces that were part of an odd sequence.

  The DOJ returned to ask Eddy Cue, on the stand, what the longer email meant and if he'd ever received it, and Cue said he hadn't.
  It's interesting that each email version has a timestamp header line: "Received(Date):" ... with the time filled in.

  Not leaving well-enough alone, Apple Counsel Snyder came back to this on a later date, introducing FIVE different versions of Jobs's email.  The key wording about Amazon did not appear in the other four versions.  CNN Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt wrote that Snyder seemed to be implying that Jobs's thinking had evolved over the first four email versions drafts.

  The problem for Snyder was that the version that the government had introduced was time-stamped LATER than the other four versions.

 Apple's Snyder explains this by saying that's the timestamp that's applied when a computer window is closed. (?)

  DOJ lawyer Buterman pointed out, furthermore, that the DOJ-introduced version not only had the latest time stamp, but it was the ONLY one that was signed in Jobs's usual manner, "Steve"...

Then the sleuthy judge put her analytical ways to work on this -- and noted that the first version's wording appeared on the 2nd version but part of the text was moved down and replaced in the paragraph by other wording, while the original words were left dangling below the body of the message (probably meant for deletion but forgotten) in all subsequent copies.

' Anyway, so it's like hanging down there just sort of riding at the bottom of the e-mail for the rest of the chain, which, to me, is additional confirmation that this is the last in the series. '

That's when Cue tried to explain it all away by saying about Steve Jobs, "He's writing that first one, he's confused about it... This was before the iPad launch, which most of us watched.

(NOTE: See another story, by CNet's Shara Tibken, showing how often Cue had to say Jobs was 'confused' to get away from any idea that they ever thought about insisting that publishers require all retailers to go the Agency Agreement route.

  Tibken writes:
  "Apple's initial proposal sent to publishers on January 4 and 5 of 2010 said publishers working with Apple had to move all retailers to agency..."

 The judge thanked him.  But she has shown a tendency to analyze thoroughly everything submitted to her (not taking at face value declarations from either side) and this was not a good moment for Apple's defense, as it showed clearly a desire on Snyder's part to get this clearly weak set and the idea of the last one as an early draft past the judge (or, even worse, the Defense team had not even taken the time to take a logical look at the 5 versions they submitted).

  At the weakest, it showed some definite intent by Steve Jobs at that time and it contradicted what Moerer and Saul had testified.  While Eddy Cue testified that he changed his mind on this and that explicit language did not make it into the final contract language, the publishers did in fact coincidentally insist that Amazon agree to use the Agency model.

  Judge Cote's Decision describes this in Footnote 24 connected with her statement on Page 50 that "there is no evidence...that Apple ever rescinded its demand that each of [the e-book retailers] move to an agency arrangement with all resellers."

Random House refused to sign up for the change to higher book prices, explaining that they felt retailers best understood selling; their e-books were not allowed in the Apple iBookstore for a year (imagine the media uproar if Amazon had banned Random House from the Amazon store for not agreeing to their wholesaler model with lower pricing for bestsellers), until Random House waved the white flag when Apple withheld permission for an app important to Random House.


Things that stood out, in the Decision - as cited by the PublishersWeekly article by Andrew Albanese
  1. "In the final analysis, the case wasn’t even close.  In its defense, Apple had argued on three main points, and lost soundly on all three." (Details in the article)

  2. "Throughout the opinion Cote made numerous observations on the proceedings in her court. She criticized the publishers and Apple executives not only for what she clearly views as their participation in a conspiracy, but also for their lack of credibility on the stand, calling out Macmillan CEO John Sargent and S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy by name as among the most 'unreliable' witnesses...
...
"The poor performances on the stand helped doom Apple.  Indeed, given the vast amount of documentary evidence, Apple needed its witnesses to strongly rebut the facts, but they did not...
...
"Jobs’s statements offered 'powerful evidence of conspiratorial knowledge and intent...'
...
" 'Apple has struggled mightily to reinterpret Jobs’s statements in a way that will eliminate their bite.  Its efforts have proven fruitless.'


Judge Cote's Decision itself has this interesting footnote in connection with publishers insisting they never talked with the other publishers about their contract talks with Apple.

' On December 15, Hachette’s Young spoke to S&S’s Reidy by telephone prior to his meeting with Cue. On December 16, Reidy called Young just minutes after her meeting with Cue had ended. The next day, the two exchanged three calls. '

What's next? - From the same PublishersWeekly article
Albanese quotes Christopher Sagers, a law professor at Cleveland State University "who has followed the case closely." Apple is appealing to the Second Circuit, and Sagers says "I think it's extremely unlikely, however, that the Second Circuit would do anything except resoundingly affirm in all respects."

  Sagers adds that the judge's "fact rulings" are "essentially unassailable on appeal...it will be exceedingly hard because you’ve got a 160-page opinion that is extraordinarily, meticulously detailed as to the findings of fact.”

  While there are a few ways to handle this, he expects a damages trial but they can put that off until after the appeal, which should take about a year..."

  More at the PW article.


Here's an especially good article by Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin on the history of this e-book-pricing battle and a thorough explanation of the differences between the traditional wholesaler arrangement and the agency model
  "How Apple led an e-book price conspiracy—in the judge’s words"
  and a very good summary by Brian X. Chen and Julie Bosman, for the New York Times.


For side interest: Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt and AllThingsD's Peter Kafka detailed Eddy Cue's day spent talking about Steve Jobs and his loving care to the iPad and its content.  Neither writer understood how any of that had any bearing on the case, but the Judge did allow it all in.  The MacObserver's Bryan Chaffin mentions both these articles asking and himself asking "Why?":
  "Long-term Apple watchers and fans of Steve Jobs will enjoy the added context of knowing some of these things.  The question, however, is why did Apple's attorneys spend its time with Eddy Cue talking about them."

  Re the 'marketing' tactic I mentioned earlier, Chaffin mentions "heartstrings" but then points out that "This isn't a jury trial, though; it's a bench trial...[the Judge]..will be deciding the case on law, not emotion."
  Elmer-Dewitt for Fortune, a business-conservative site, wrote, "Orin Snyder, Apple's chief counsel, did his best to exploit the pathos."  These words are from hardnosed business writers.

  I liked the link to Elizabeth Williams' courtroom drawings, drawn for Bloomberg TV.


Downloadable
Judge Cote's decision - the best read of all on this, and no more difficult to understand than a mystery novel.  The intrigue detailed just before (and because of) the launch of the iPad and iBookstore is fascinating stuff.

---

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

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More

Amazon still working on 1-day Grocery deliveries. TV pilots chosen by Amazon. Big Library Read pilot program. Fed'l Judge's preliminary view on DOJ vs Apple, trial June3. Apple's extreme but legal tax avoidance.

Amazon apparently still working on the 1-day grocery delivery program

Geekwire's Todd Bishop report that at the annual meeting of shareholders, Jeff Bezos assured shareholders that "They have made progress on the economics over the last year" and are "making good progress" in this area.

  Bishop writes that there have been a series of clues - most recently the report that Amazon has been installing refrigeration systems at more of its distribution centers across the nation, presumably to support a wider grocery rollout.

  I wonder about the demand for that.  I have Safeway delivery available but used it just twice, preferring to pick out items, lazy as I am.


Catching up on some news
Amazon's TV pilots program
Verge's Chris Welch reports that for Amazon's pilot TV programs tested with Amazon customer reviewers, their final picks included "Alpha House (starring John Goodman) and Betas (centered around a Silicon Valley startup)," the latter "easily our favorite."

  Zombieland won't be among those to be greenlit.   What was interesting was the reaction by Writer/producer Rhett Reese who went on Twitter (@RhettReese) to tweet,

  "I'll never understand the vehement hate the pilot received from die-hard Zombieland fans. You guys successfully hated it out of existence."

  Browsers is another one that didn't make the cut.


Have you heard of Big Library Read?
It's almost over, but Overdrive explains it this way:

' Big Library Read is a pilot program in which libraries worldwide offer a single eBook to their patrons. In addition to creating a global “library book club,” Big Library Read is designed to demonstrate the positive exposure and sales influence library eBook catalogs provide to authors and publishers. It will spotlight one title for a set time period for library patrons around the world to read simultaneously. The program is sponsored by OverDrive, with initial support and participation from Sourcebooks, Inc., a leading US independent publisher. '

  The first one is by Michael Malone and is available on OverDrive Read, Kindle (US only), EPub, and PDF.

  Library partners were invited to participate in the pilot program beginning May 15 - June 1, 2013 and, according to a column by Wright Stat U's libraries, 7,500 libraries around the world were participating on opening day.
  They say their "Lending Model" is "Simultaneous Use for May 15–June 1, 2013 and then one copy/one user following the pilot program" and for the pilot period, "the eBook will be simultaneously available for any and all readers with a library card to browse, sample, and borrow."

  You can read more about how it works at Overdrive's page.  This is a late report I'm adding but there are a (very) few more days, for anyone interested, to try it.  And look toward the next one.


US DOJ lawsuit against Apple (Big 5 Publishers settled) doesn't look promising for Apple
Reader Edward Boyhan alerted us to a Reuters report that U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, the federal judge who is set to oversee the trial beginning June 3, gave her tentative, preliminary view on the case during a pretrial hearing Thursday but 'stressed that the view was not final and that she had only so far read some of the evidence,' per Reuters' writeup.  A quote:

' I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books, and that circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that '

An Apple's attorney said, "We strongly disagree with the court's preliminary statements about the case today."

  I imagine Apple will use its plentiful funds to appeal, to the highest court who will hear it, any adverse ebook-pricing lawsuit judgment, since Apple has apparently gone to amazing lengths to avoid what many consider its fair share of U.S. taxes to support what is available in this country to companies and individuals.


  "The Corrosive Effect of Apple's "Tax Avoidance" -
  That's the headline for The New York Times's article by Floyd Norris on May 23, adding another loud voice to reactions country-wide.  His commentary is on the fact that corporations can now choose how much tax they will pay (which loopholes to use), an accepted strategy.

' The news was that Apple had found a way to move a large part of its income to subsidiaries that claimed to not exist anywhere, at least when it came to paying taxes.

Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, had good reason to call that the holy grail of tax avoidance.

Senator Levin, and the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, John McCain, tried to make the point, again and again, about how unfair the current system is to domestic companies, which cannot hide profits overseas, and to ordinary taxpayers, whose income is derived from salaries and investments that are automatically reported to the Internal Revenue Service. '

  You can read a lot more at the NY Times article

  Boston Herald's Marie Szaniszio reports on the assertion by Citizens for Tax Justice's that in shipping "$102 billion in profits offshore into non-existent companies in Ireland," Apple has avoided paying $35 billion in taxes.

 We understand the use of loopholes -- but using "non-existent companies" in another country to avoid paying taxes to your home country that provides the opportunity to make that income?  The main problems are in the tax code and the reality that most individuals cannot access these benefits and as a result will wind up paying more of the taxes lost to those loopholes.

  The Guardian writes that "Apple chief executive Tim Cook warned Congress that he would refuse to repatriate a total of $100bn stashed offshore unless it acted to slash the 35% US rate." The report added that

' Cook's testimony to a Senate sub-committee investigating multinational tax practices largely confirmed its findings that Apple had taken tax avoidance to a new extreme by structuring these companies so they did not incur tax liabilities anywhere. '

  There are over 800 comments to the article.

If interested, see more available stories and general reaction.

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Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi , UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199 Kindle Fire HD 7" - 214.00 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" - 284.00

*OTHER Int'l pages* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 KFire HD - 7" $214,  8.9" $284 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China [?] Japan - Amazon Japan

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

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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Kindle news: U.S. Justice Dept calls Apple "Ringmaster" in e-book price-fixing. Why Android is Winning the Tablet Wars. New NBC-Universal PRIME video deals. The Big Deal (500 books) is back.

Apple being seen as instigator of eBook price-fixing attempts

In addition to the TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) report, which sources the NY Times article which may not be accessible to some near the end of any month, here are the recent articles on the e-book pricing wars going back a year and through 'today' for those interested in any details of the last year's results from federal, state, and UK lawsuits that have left Apple, alone, fighting the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit still.
  The publishers have bailed.  The trial begins June 3 in New York.

  I stopped detailing the situation after all the settlements were happening, one after another, but kept a chronological list of linked news stories on how it all began and what was discovered during the several investigations, as a lot was being misrepresented throughout the PR wars.  The items are all sourced.

  It was especially difficult to sort out when the largest media sites were also large publishers with a bit at stake so that the reports were too often not exactly illuminating but I collected the more informative ones.

  I also put together a TIMELINE, which shows more clearly what kinds of things the Department of Justice (DOJ) would have seen that had not made it into most news reports.

  The New York Times article opens with the e-mail from Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation: "Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99."

  That e-mail is part of the evidence in the DOJ's stance explained by TUAW as, "Apple was the 'ringmaster' in a price-fixing conspiracy in the market for e-books, a more direct leadership role than originally portrayed in the department’s April 2012 antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishing companies."

  Two days after that email, HarperCollins, owned by News Corporation, "signed an agreement with Apple to force all sellers of electronic books to adopt the new pricing model, the government said."

  Apple does its usual in describing all this as not conspiring to fix prices on ebooks, of course, but instead 'explaining' that “We helped transform the e-book market with the introduction of the iBookstore in 2010, bringing consumers an expanded selection of e-books and delivering innovative new features ... The market has been thriving and innovating since Apple’s entry, and we look forward to going to trial to defend ourselves and move forward.”

  If you can access it, read the rest of the NYT article on how Apple itself described its strong-arming of Random House during this, which is why the lawsuit did not include Random House.  In fact, for about a year, Random House books were not found in Apple's iBook store due to some disagreement about the Agency Agreement.

 Now, when Amazon removed buy-tags for awhile when Macmillan insisted on using the Agency Agreement (rather than the long-time traditional wholesaler bookstore agreement which guaranteed publishers a bit more, so this was about control) and when Macmillan, furthermore, also insisted on the higher pricing that they would set and which Amazon and other book stores were not allowed to lower even for Sales promos, Amazon received a shellacking from the larger publishing houses and newspapers for being a dangerous "monopolist" out to destroy the publishing industry.

  Imagine if Amazon had just not allowed Random House (said to be the largest U.S. publisher of novels) into the Amazon Kindle store for a year due to a contract dispute over a pricing agreement.  Apple did, though, paint itself as sort of a road-side shop (its book store) relative to big, bad Amazon.
  At the time, Random House said, at a press conference, that it felt that Amazon knew a bit more about book-selling and pricing than Random House did.  The following year, Random House did join in the Agency Agreement, but they were not part of the group that formed the higher-price restrictions for booksellers.

  On the other hand, Amazon's lowering the price on all books would be a danger to smaller stores, and there is an understandable restriction on what it is allowed to do with the lowering of prices on its Kindle books.

  In settling, the publishers agreed:

' to lift restrictions imposed on discounting and other promotions by e-book retailers.  The companies are also prohibited from entering into new agreements with similar restrictions until December 2014.

  The publishers must also notify the government in advance about any e-book ventures they plan with each other, and they are prohibited for five years from agreeing to any kind of so-called most-favored-nation clause with any retailer, which establishes that no other retailer is allowed to sell e-books for a lower price. '

I suppose that after five years they WOULD be allowed to agree to a clause with any retailer that "no other retailer is allowed to sell e-books for a lower price."  Until then, enjoy the kind of flexible pricing we grew up with, on printed books in bookstores.

The NY Times report was from Edward Wyatt in Washington and Nick Wingfield in Seattle.
For more details on how Apple dealt with Random House when they resisted all this, see the NYT article.


Other, QUICK News, mainly links and excerpts that may be of interest
"Why Android is Winning the Tablet Wars -- Forbes, Todd Hixon, Contributor.
  Includes: "The five most popular tablets on Amazon today (May 14, 2013) are four 7 inch Kindle and Samsung tablets selling for $179 – $229, and an 8.9 inch Kindle selling for $269.

  Apple held on to over 70% market share in iPods throughout the life cycle. The iPod is a media consumption device, and the link to the iTunes content access/management platform was unbeatable. It’s clear that tablets will be a different story, more like PCs. They are becoming a diverse market with several strong brands (Samsung, Asus/Google, Amazon/Kindle), a large number of popular-price offerings, and multiple content access platforms."


  More PRIME video news: "AMAZON CONFIRMS GRIMM, HANNIBAL, SUITS AND DEFIANCE COMING TO AMAZON PRIME." The Slanted:

'... the Amazon Instant Video that is included in Amazon Prime is one of the services major selling points.

Now with the NBC Universal deal customers can watch earlier seasons of “Grimm,” and “Suits” from USA starting today. “Hannibal” will launch later this year on the service and the hit series “Defiance,” will be made available in early 2014.
  Prime Instant Video will also add past seasons of NBC’s “Smash” and “Alphas”.  The deal also includes “Eureka” and “Warehouse 13″. For the parents out there, “Curious George” and “Land efore Time,” will both be made available in the Kindle FreeTime Unlimited content service. '

Added detail at CNET.


THE BIG DEAL is Back [again]: Shop Popular Books by Category
"Save up to 85% on more than 500 Kindle books through May 27.  Shop for yourself or give Kindle books as gifts to anyone with any e-mail address." [Note the expiration date.]

---

Current Kindle Models, worldwide for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$229 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $269/$299 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $399/$499 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $99 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi , UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $129 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China [?] Japan - Amazon Japan

---

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

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More

Kindle Fire News: Why a Kindle Fire HD? Why price reductions - why not free? Real questions as headlined. UPDATED

Kindle-related news over the last few days

Apologies to Kindle-Edition blog subscribers, as I needed to be away the last few days.  I used my tablet to look at the news and, as far as the Kindle world goes, not much was happening except tons of reactions to the reduction in prices on the Kindle Fire 8.9" HD and what it all means, including the expansion of the tablets to Europe and Japan.

  The reviews of the 8.9" model were similar to what we've read before but far less detailed.  They were actually more restatements of the product page information, so those past reviews, linked, are a bit more informative.  At the end, in response to people in the forums asking whether to get a Kindle Fire HD 7" or 8.9" (if wanting a Kindle Fire HD at all), I'll add links to a couple of earlier blog articles and the earlier basic comparison chart of Kindle Fire HD, Google Nexus, and Apple iPad mini, so those are the most popular 7" to 9" models.

BUT, a reaction column that most struck me was one that didn't wonder why the prices are now lower but asks instead when will Kindles (the topic being tablets) become free, and the writer, Beth Bacon, for Digital Book World, asks further why one would get one when the Apple iPad is available, which she considers more fully featured.
  She seems sincere in thinking most wanting a tablet would prefer a pure Android tablet or a Microsoft OS or spend $230+ more for the most basic iPad because, as she explains, Kindle owners would mainly want to read books and Kindle books can be read on an Apple while Apple books can't be read on any other system.

?  Hasn't the general complaint by general gadget writers and news-site commenters been that Amazon's attitude is wholly proprietary and you HAVE to buy a Kindle to read their books?  Yet it's Apple, she points out, that keeps other devices unable to read Apple iStore books.  And this is written as a Plus!

  As many know, you can read a Kindle book on almost every operating system under the sun, which can make words on an LCD screen somewhat hard to read.  You don't need a Kindle at all, to read a Kindle book.

  But what many general gadget reporters aren't familiar with are the many convenient features the Kindle Team has given their devices, and just a few of these are;
  1. Syncing of the reading of a book among all your devices (Apple doesn't even try);
  2. a free, private, password-protected personal webpage for your annotations on all your books;
  3. features that tell you which actors are in the current streaming Instant Video scene you're watching;
  4. the quickly-findable X-Ray'd info on any character or event name in a book you're reading, and
  5. if you choose a Prime Shipping program feature for free 2-day shipments of physical purchases, you also get the now 16,300+ no-fee Prime Eligible instant videos to watch at any time.

  On Friday, before leaving, I did respond to The Digital Books World article, and Bacon was good enough to print it (this is not always the case when a commenter adds some conflicting information).  Here's what I wrote -- not even mentioning the 5 points above! -- plus a correction I'm making:

' Andrys on March 15, 2013 at 8:42 pm said: [to]
Why would anyone buy a Kindle when there are full-featured tablets like Apple’s $500 one or the $900 Microsoft Surface Pro?

Factors include what features people are looking for.  David makes good points about ease of accessibility to the media mentioned.

Others:
1. A microHDMI port out to an HDTV (the Apple doesn’t have this) and people have used it to watch their Kindle tablet videos (even Prime Instant) on hotel HDTVs that way. **

2. A stereo set of speakers that are placed on on each end when watching movies or TV show videos and with Dolby Stereo for unusual spatial qualities and automated frequency emphasis depending on whether it’s speech or music.
  The iPad has two small speakers almost side by side on one short end – no stereo effect during movies unless you put on headphones or use external speakers

3. Amazon allows apps from "unknown sources" (Non-Amazon app stores) and Kindle Fire users can download, direct to the tablet, the popular Dolphin browser which supports the older Adobe Flash Reader still available that can be used easily, despite Adobe’s dropped support for mobile devices using the later Android 4.x systems.

  Because of this, Kindle Fire users can watch free network TV full-episodes like ABC’s entire primetime programs (and some daytime shows) when they missed an episode, as the network TV websites still use Flash for that, and Apple's Steve Jobs disdained running Flash on iOS, depending on sites to use HTML5. ***

4. The 7" size is proving very popular and Amazon’s has Retina-type high resolution while Apple’s iPad mini has lower, standard resolution but costs more.

5. It's like deciding not to bill for purchase of an economy car (giving them away instead) when an advertised-full-featured car is available (and when the fuller-featured car does not have some high-valued features that the less-expensive car does have).

6. There are now many Android app stores, including 1mobile.com, which carries over 200,000 apps, which are directly downloadable and usable for Kindle Fire devices. '

Here's the blog article on how to install non-Amazon appstore apps, which is done with Amazon's own settings option (an option which Barnes and Noble kept off the Nook system so that people have to find risky 'rooted' solutions to get the same features, which is one reason the Nook tablets haven't done as well in market share, in addition to having far less of an ecosystem for tablet entertainment).

In-depth Reviews comparing the Kindle Fire HDs, the Google Nexus and the Apple
Here are what reviews-in-depth reported in comparisons of similar-sized tablets, which found aspects not touched upon by the more superficial reviews citing pure speed or direct access to Google Play (and I would recommend that those who love games most get a Nexus and those who want apps that are compatible with their iPhones get the iPad models)

  1. Reviews of Kindle Fire HD 7 vs Nexus

  2. More on iPad mini vs Kindle Fire HD


Also, I'm placing below, the basic comparison table I put together in September, which has been updated for changing prices (please let me know if I've missed anything in that).

QUICK table of differences in features for price, with Google Nexus and IPad mini

Kindle Fire HD 7" $199 7-inch display 1280 x 800 resolution 216 ppi 16GB storage 1GB RAM Dual stereo speakers   w/ Dolby Plus HDMI-Out to HDTV Front-facing camera, 1.2MP Dual core TI OMAP 4470 w/ Imagination PowerVR 3D graphics core Dual band, 2 antenna WiFi Battery-life claim: 11 hrs Customized Android, does Amazon store w/setting that allows apps from other app stores 50,000 apps + access to getjar.com, 1mobile.com, etc for google-play apps $10 more for a charger if you need one  Older Kindle & smart phone chargers work $15 add'l: no lockscreen ad $229 for 32GB model ($269 for 16GB 8.9" 1920x1200 resolution, 254 ppi) ($299 for 32GB 8.9" 1920x1200 resolution, 254 ppi)

Google Nexus 7" $199 7-inch display 1280 x 800 resolution 216 ppi 8GB storage (up'd to 16GB) 1GB RAM One mono speaker * No HDMI-out to HDTV Front-facing camera < 1 MP Quad core Tegra 3 Basic WiFi Battery-life claim: 9-10 hrs Pure Android and can do direct Google Play store ~600,000 apps $249 for 32GB model

Apple iPad mini 7.9 inch/ $329 7.9-inch display 1024 x 768 resolution 163 ppi 16GB storage 512MB? Per A5 chip specs. TBC. Built-in speakers *   Nov. 2, Apple finally added an 's' to 'speaker' * No HDMI out to HDTV ** Front (HD) & Back (to 1080p) cameras Dual-core A5 Dual-Band WiFi Battery-life claim: 10 hrs iOS 6 275,000 heavily-curated tablet-optimized apps  (Can also run small iPhone apps - any w/ Retina resources can scale w/o pixelating. 450,000 add'l.) 23% & 53% lighter than iPad. Lighter than the other tablets. $429 for 32GB model

  * iPad mini: See Speaker discussion - to be changed when Apple changes its iPad mini specs page.
    Update - On Nov. 2, Apple finally updated their iPad-Mini specs page to show "Built-in speakers" instead of "Built-in speaker" -- something I requested they do since Specs pages are official reference pages.  The speaker grilles are about an inch or two apart, on one short side, and maybe that's why they don't mention 'stereo' after the correction.  The whole thing has been bizarre.  This might be the first iPad w/ two speakers with separate baffles but they can do nothing for movies or videos viewed the usual way, as they are close together on just one side.

    Google Nexus: See Nexus owner forum thread about the speaker.

** Those w/ Apple TV's can do AirPlay Mirroring to them.
   Contributor Tom Semple adds: Apple's new $49 "Lightning" adapter can provide HDMI out.

***Tom Semple adds he uses Puffin app to access Flash video on his iPad.

**** 7" HD Kindle Fire pricing was changed from $249 to $229 on April 11, 2013.

Table updated March 19, 2013, April 11, 2013

For the initial comparison article, I didn't include the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet HD,
which has higher display resolution - but it has no cameras, not even one for Skype (important for family & friends who like to communicate via video chat), and B&N will not allow owners to enable installation of apps from non-B&N sources.  I may do an additional table later though.

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Kindle Fire News: Kindle Fire's fast-growing popularity: 2nd most popular tablet vendor...Gets Green Throttle gaming system before Google Play

"Amazon: The Second Most Desirable Tablet Vendor" - per BGR

BGR's Tero Kuittinen wrote that headline yesterday, when they took a look at a survey by Yankee Group that showed the Kindle Fire as the "second most desirable vendor among consumers planning to buy a tablet" per BGR, while the graph showed survey responses to "What brand tablet do you intend to buy?"

Of course, Apple, at 47% of US Consumers citing that brand, leads the pack with its iPad, the first one released almost 3 years ago.  Yankee Group's report focuses on Samsung's plans to double their tablet sales in 2013, but while they've been in that business for awhile, the graph shows a somewhat higher percentage of consumers intending to buy an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.  Now, the 7% vs 6% number isn't statistically meaningful, but what stands out is it came from virtually nowhere to "squeeze ahead" of both Samsung and Hewlett-Packard, not to mention the other biggies such as Dell, Motorola and HTC.  As BGR puts it:

' The jumped-up bookshop has managed to seriously challenge leading hardware companies. '

They point out that the Nook's continuing inability to make its mark in consumer mindshare (and not mentioned in the survey) will continue to be a factor in Kindle tablet's momentum.

  In fact, Yankee Group doesn't mention Amazon's survey results, and its own story about the Nook's problems had some interesting wording in it:

About Barnes & Noble Board chairman Leonard Riggio's plans to buy all the assets of the bookseller's retail business while excluding the Nook business, CEO William Lynch put it this way:

  “We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our Nook business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value.”

  "Unlock" is the new "Dump."

  In my blog article (Feb. 14) detailing three big reasons that B&N's tablet, with good hardware, could not succeed in B&N's closed-off view of the world, it should be clearly seen how difficult it will be for another company to make it work.  I didn't even mention the well-known problem of a non-competitive ecosystem for that tablet.

  In fact, in the same Yankee Group article, Yankee Group Research VP Carl Howe doesn't mention the long-range planning that has been Amazon's basic mode nor that store's ability to profit from the presence of desktop- and tablet-using consumers exploring all that is retailed at Amazon, not all of it with smallest margins.

  He looks at it from a more limited point of view:

“Barnes & Noble is experiencing the pain that comes from competing with an irrational market competitor, Amazon.  Amazon doesn’t try to make money from its Kindle e-readers, while Barnes & Noble thinks making money on hardware would be a good idea..."

  Um...

  Back to BGR's Tero Kuittinen. "...if the tablet market continues shifting towards the sub-$200 price bracket, Amazon is now best-positioned to benefit from the trend."

  Yes.  And would the auto industry offer only more expensive cars and ignore those whose priorities would lean toward economy autos?  Would Sony make TVs only in the most expensive range?  It's not so much about shifting but scaling.


Green Throttle launches Kindle Fire HD gaming system with local multiplayer support
In line with the above, TechSpot's Jose Vilches writes that "Led by Guitar Hero co-creator Charles Huang, Green Throttle aims to turn any Android device into a gaming platform by pairing it with a dual-stick gamepad and what they call a multitiered gaming system housed on an Android app."

Surprisingly, the Green Throttle Arena app is available for the Kindle Fire HD (both the 7" and 8.9" models) before it rolls out to the Google Play Store by the end of the month, for other Android-based tablets and smartphones, "starting with the Samsung Galaxy S3 (which means my Kindle Fire gets it well before my Samsung Galaxy S2).

  The Atlas controller

' connects via Bluetooth to the Kindle Fire HD, which itself pipes out video and audio from the Arena app to an HDTV via a micro HDMI cable.  Fire everything up and you can start gaming on your living room TV. '

(Some of us already have an HDMI cable to show Kindle Fire videos and web browsing on an HDTV.)

Of course, one would have to buy the hardware first.  Amazon carries both the Single Controller and 2-Player Bundle and they're eligible for Prime shipping.
  The free app itself already has two reviews, but although they are Amazon Verified Purchases, both are from reviewers who started reviewing at the time this product was released.  There are no hardware reviews yet for either controller product.

  AFTER I wrote this, I saw that TechSpot wrote this from Venture Beat's article by Rus McLaughlin.  There's more detail in that article.  McLaughlin writes:

' The Arena app leverages existing mobile hardware and creates a central hub for finding, buying, and playing games.  Connect your device to a television using a Micro HDMI cable, and those games automatically scale to the HD picture.  I watched a simple twin-stick shooter go from a 7-inch tablet screen to a 55-inch LCD with absolutely no loss in image quality. '

  As for the reason the Kindle Fire was chosen for the first release of Arena:

' “It’s a way to promote different game developers and different games that work with our controllers,” says Matt Crowley, an alumnus of Nokia, Palm, and Philips Electronics now serving as Green Throttle’s chief operating officer.  “We decided to do our commercial release on the Kindle Fire — it’s marketed as a $199 e-book, but it’s actually a pretty good gaming system.” '

  McLaughlin adds:

' Priority goes to the devices that make the games look good. The hardware itself handles the negotiation for scaling up to an HDTV...
...
...the powerhouse game consoles set to release this fall could find themselves at a severe disadvantage. Green Throttle’s hardcore gaming system will run on hundreds of popular devices that iterate on a yearly basis, and with a (perceived) entry cost of $40, it will easily run consumers 1/10th or less the likely purchase price of a PlayStation 4. '

The display resolution of the Kindle Fire HD 7" is 1280 x 800 pixels, suitable for a 720p HDTV.
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" is 1920 x 1200 and would more likely fill a very large HDTV screen better.

VIDEO: VentureBeat's GamesBeat has an exclusive video on how this new gaming hub works (setup, mostly), presented by Jason Woodward, the low-key designer of the Arena software, though they don't actually show a game being played.  They should issue follow-up, higher-energy video though.
  NOTE: Kindle-Edition subscribers of the blog won't be able to get the video on their e-Ink Kindles.

Update - The Sacramento Bee has a PR release that details existing and upcoming games.

---

Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $299/$369 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $499/$599 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon Japan

---

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

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More