kindle

Amazon plans to double down on the 7-inch tablet market with two new Kindle Fire models, CNET has learned.

Despite speculation that Amazon was preparing a larger 8.9 or 10-inch version, the company will only unveil a new 7-inch Kindle Fire and a slightly revamped version of the original tablet in an event scheduled for next week, according to a person who has seen the products.

The new Kindle Fire tablets are crucial in keeping Amazon competitive in the tablet business, which already faces tougher competition from Google's own Nexus 7 and the prospects of a lower-priced, smaller … Read more

Nokia has a new mapping partner in Amazon, a new report claims.

The companies recently inked a deal that will see Nokia power the built-in mapping services in the Amazon Kindle Fire 2, Reuters is reporting today, citing sources. The move is seen as a snub to Google, which powers the Android platform likely to be running on the next Kindle Fire. Google's mapping service comes built-in with Android.

The Google snub, if true, is the second the search giant has faced this year. Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June that it was removing Google Maps … Read more

Amazon may have sold close to 5 million Kindle Fire tablet since the device debuted late last year.

At least, that's the number estimated by Asymco analyst Horace Dediu based on Amazon's own claims.

The retail company said yesterday that the Fire accounted for 22 percent of all tablet sales in the United States over the past nine months. Assuming that number is accurate, here's how Dediu arrived at total sales of 5 million.

Based on testimony from Apple and Samsung at their recent patent trial, the iPad racked up unit sales of 16.14 million from … Read more

Amazon is widely expected to unveil new Kindles next week, and it looks like we have been treated to an early peek at the new e-readers.

Images obtained by The Verge show a device whose shape is largely unchanged from the previous generation of Kindles, although the button below the display has vanished and the bezel has darkened significantly. According to the images, though, the device promises "higher contrast, high resolution, integrated lighting, and eight weeks of battery life."

The images, apparently part of a promotional package aimed at French-speaking people, refer to "Kindle Paperwhite," although … Read more

iOS users who own the Kindle book-reading app will notice a few helpful enhancements in the latest version.

Released yesterday, version 3.2 of the app adds three new layouts, each offering different margins so you can better replicate the experience of reading a physical book.

A new brightness control is more responsive to your touch and keeps the text readable even at the lowest setting.

Highlighting has also been enhanced. You can more quickly highlight entire paragraphs and other passages. You can also now highlight photos, drawings, charts, and other pictures.

Finally, Amazon has bumped up support for print … Read more

Consumers aiming to buy Amazon's current Kindle Fire are out of luck, but a new model may be just around the corner.

The retail giant said today that its popular tablet is officially sold out after becoming the top-selling product since its debut almost a year ago. Amazon wasn't shy in bragging about the Fire, calling it the "most successful product launch in the history" of the company, one that has garnered more than 10,000 5-star customer reviews.

"Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead," Amazon CEO Jeff … Read more

An Amazon publishing division has inked a partnership with a book distributor that could help ease some of the tension in the e-book industry.

Amazon's New York-based book publishing imprint signed a deal with book distributor Ingram Content Group that will allow Amazon competitors such as Apple and Barnes & Noble to sell Amazon titles, PaidContent reported today.

"We welcome Amazon Publishing's New York adult group to the growing list of publishers who use our service," Phil Ollila, Ingram Content Group's chief content officer, told PaidContent. The partnership does not include Amazon's West Coast … Read more

Google really wants people to take a look at its Nexus 7 tablet.

The $199 tablet started popping up on Google's home page today, a rare instance in which Google is actively promoting one of its own products. It's similar to the way Amazon's front page is often dominated by Kindle advertising.

That Google would go to such lengths underscores the company's desire to make a bigger dent in the burgeoning tablet market, one still dominated by Apple's iPad. Given the traffic that goes through Google, the home page would be one of the most … Read more