Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
Monday, June 29, 2009
Amazon’s plans to roll out the Kindle ebook reader range in Europe has hit a snag, after talks with German carriers broke down over pricing disagreement. According to German WirtschaftsWoche, Amazon were unable to reach what they believed to be a fair price with local carriers such as Vodafone and T-Mobile.
One unnamed Amazon manager described the carriers’ price demands as “excessive”, according to the paper. Apparently Amazon’s German partners have confirmed that no deal has been made.
The nature of the Kindle/carrier partnership is unusual, because Amazon include lifetime wireless access for their ebook reader with the original purchase price of the device. Rather than requiring users to sign up to a data contract, Amazon negotiate access for the Kindle with the carriers themselves; in the US, that agreement is with Sprint. Only actions which might have significant cost – such as converting and wirelessly-delivering a user’s own documents over the network – are billable.
One unnamed Amazon manager described the carriers’ price demands as “excessive”, according to the paper. Apparently Amazon’s German partners have confirmed that no deal has been made.The nature of the Kindle/carrier partnership is unusual, because Amazon include lifetime wireless access for their ebook reader with the original purchase price of the device. Rather than requiring users to sign up to a data contract, Amazon negotiate access for the Kindle with the carriers themselves; in the US, that agreement is with Sprint. Only actions which might have significant cost – such as converting and wirelessly-delivering a user’s own documents over the network – are billable.
Monday, June 22, 2009
The plus side to Amazon’s attempts to differentiate ebook hardware and content is being able to read content on more than one device. However, when one arm of the company is pushing customers to buy more Kindle hardware, and the other has cautious publishers insisting on layers of DRM, confusion is bound to happen. According to Gear Diary’s Dan Cohen, that confusion is already upon us: he’s spent his weekend and several long calls with Amazon customer care trying to figure out how many times he can download ebooks he’s purchased, and being told different things by different employees.
The problem arose when Dan attempted to download ebooks he’d already purchased through Amazon onto his iPod touch, which had just been upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0. While some of the titles would cooperate, others refused; customer services first told him that each book has a limit to the number of times it can be downloaded, and that this limit was both undisclosed (sometimes even to Amazon customer care themselves) and arbitrarily set by publishers.
In trying to corroborate this, and find out how to track the download limits, Dan was then told several different versions of this, until reaching what’s believed to be the bottom line. Apparently, books can be downloaded an unlimited number of times, though only active on a limited number of devices (e.g. Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX or the Kindle Reader app on an iPhone or iPod touch). That number is usually five or six, but the publisher can apparently change it to as little as one. Swapping an older device for a new one doesn’t automatically release the license, so you’ll need to contact customer services to have them do it for you.
Complicated enough, but at least one Amazon ebook publisher has spoken up claiming that nowhere in their distribution agreement or control panel is there the ability to change download settings in the way the retailer describes.
The problem arose when Dan attempted to download ebooks he’d already purchased through Amazon onto his iPod touch, which had just been upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0. While some of the titles would cooperate, others refused; customer services first told him that each book has a limit to the number of times it can be downloaded, and that this limit was both undisclosed (sometimes even to Amazon customer care themselves) and arbitrarily set by publishers.In trying to corroborate this, and find out how to track the download limits, Dan was then told several different versions of this, until reaching what’s believed to be the bottom line. Apparently, books can be downloaded an unlimited number of times, though only active on a limited number of devices (e.g. Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX or the Kindle Reader app on an iPhone or iPod touch). That number is usually five or six, but the publisher can apparently change it to as little as one. Swapping an older device for a new one doesn’t automatically release the license, so you’ll need to contact customer services to have them do it for you.
Complicated enough, but at least one Amazon ebook publisher has spoken up claiming that nowhere in their distribution agreement or control panel is there the ability to change download settings in the way the retailer describes.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Kindle to get broader file support; Amazon ebook access to spread
0 comments Posted by luna at 2:11 AMAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos has reconfirmed his intention to put the retailers ebook titles on more devices, together with opening up the Kindle ebook reader range to more formats. The recently launched Kindle DX, which we reviewed last week, adds native PDF support; Bezos did not name specific file types, but it seems possible that future updates or new devices may be able to read other types of ebook file.
The move would be part of Bezos’ plan to treat the ebook and Kindle businesses as separate entities, rather than than have one subsidize the other as is the case with Apple’s iPod and iTunes store relationship. It would also see more flexibility in how users could read Amazon ebooks; currently there is a client for the iPhone and iPod touch, but that looks set to spread to other mobile devices.
Bezos also obliquely commented on one of our Kindle DX criticisms, the high sticker price. Talking about subsidized devices tied into a certain number of downloads or a monthly tariff, he said that he wasn’t opposed to such a scheme if enough customers requested it; however he prefers the “cognitive simplicity” of people buying a Kindle and then choosing to use it or not.
The move would be part of Bezos’ plan to treat the ebook and Kindle businesses as separate entities, rather than than have one subsidize the other as is the case with Apple’s iPod and iTunes store relationship. It would also see more flexibility in how users could read Amazon ebooks; currently there is a client for the iPhone and iPod touch, but that looks set to spread to other mobile devices.
Bezos also obliquely commented on one of our Kindle DX criticisms, the high sticker price. Talking about subsidized devices tied into a certain number of downloads or a monthly tariff, he said that he wasn’t opposed to such a scheme if enough customers requested it; however he prefers the “cognitive simplicity” of people buying a Kindle and then choosing to use it or not.
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