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August 2008
- Re-Kindling May Not Be Enough
  
  BusinessWeek | Aug 26, 08 9:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Amazon plans to launch the next generation of its Kindle e-book player in the coming months, but an iPod-sized hit may still be out of the company's grasp, Peter Burrows writes in BusinessWeek . Much-needed improvements are on the way, but the real future for Kindle could be in using its player technology in other devices, Burrows suggests. More »
- EBay Slashes Listing Fees 75% to Lure Back Sellers
  
  BusinessWeek | Aug 20, 08 9:18 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Looking to compete more aggressively with Amazon for users who want to sell items at a fixed cost, eBay is changing its pricing model, lowering listing fees by up to 75% and increasing its final sales commission, BusinessWeek reports. The goal is to increase inventory of items listed at a "buy-it-now" price, increasingly popular with buyers weary of waiting for auctions to play out. More »
- Retail Politics Entangle Book on Obama
  
  Wall Street Journal | Aug 19, 08 2:00 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barnes and Noble says its stores will not stock Obama’s Challenge , a new book outlining a progressive economic agenda for the Democratic candidate, because the publisher cut an exclusive deal with Amazon.com, the Wall Street Journal reports. Amazon’s print-on-demand service will offer the title beginning Monday, while the official printing will be available everywhere Sept. 14. More »
- Irked EBay Sellers: Going, Going, Gone
  
  Wall Street Journal | Aug 12, 08 5:24 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Still soured by February's jacked-up fees and changed feedback policy, some sellers have left eBay for greener—and in many cases, smaller—online pastures, reports the Wall Street Journal . Alternative e-commerce sites such as Wigix, Silkfair, Etsy, and Oodle have wooed disgruntled merchants with lower fees, free how-to's and, in some cases, a niche market. More »
- Kindle Is King of the Market —But It's a Small Market
  
  Portfolio | Aug 5, 08 9:14 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - After about 9 months on the market, how goes the Kindle? No official sales figures are out for Amazon's electronic reader, but Liz Gunnison of Portfolio tries to get a sense of things. If you were expecting it to ignite a revolution in reading, keep dreaming. Amazon has likely sold about 240,000—that puts revenue at about $100 million, a "rounding error" by Amazon standards—and Gunnison doesn't see a huge market beyond that because of a host of demographic and market factors. More »
July 2008
- For Albom's Latest, You'll Need a Kindle
  
  Associated Press | Jul 18, 08 10:38 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mitch Albom's newest work is less than 4,000 words long and available for 99 cents—but only if you have a Kindle e-book reader to view it on. The exclusive deal for the text—a speech Albom delivered to his nephew's graduating class in May—could reveal some of the mysteries about the Kindle's place in the publishing market, reports the AP. More »
- Amazon's New Video Service Part Netflix, Part YouTube
  
  Ars Technica | Jul 17, 08 5:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Amazon entered the streaming video tangle today with Amazon Video on Demand, a service that resembles Netflix and Hulu far more than the company’s Unbox service, Ars Technica notes. While Unbox functioned on a principle similar to the iTunes Store, Amazon Video will stream movies and TV shows directly to customers' computers (and, later, TVs), cutting long download times. More »
June 2008
- Amazon Kept Laughing After Dot-Com Bust
  
  Economist | Jun 20, 08 4:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon emerged from the dot-com bust as a mighty triumvirate, but only Amazon has kept its mojo in the decade's latter stages, the Economist reports. Yahoo, the oldest of the lot at 14, shooed away Microsoft, surrendered part of its business to Google, and failed to stay current. It survives, “but on the web’s equivalent of life support." More »
- Video Service Could Be Behind Amazon Glitches
  
  New York Times | Jun 10, 08 2:44 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Amazon's new digital video service could be behind the glitches that have been plaguing the site, reports the New York Times . The online retailer was knocked offline for two hours last week and suffered sporadic problems yesterday. Analysts believe the company may be rejigging its distribution system ahead of the relaunch of its Amazon Unbox movie and TV download service. Outages were mostly limited to the US, where the service is expected to debut. More »
May 2008
- Amazon to Launch On-Demand Video Streaming
  
  Reuters | May 29, 08 9:41 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Amazon plans to open the sluices for pay-per-view video streaming within weeks, Reuters reports. The Internet retail giant already rents videos for download via the Web but is enhancing its digital media service to better compete with rivals like Apple and Netflix. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos told a conference yesterday the service will be "a new version of video on demand." More »
- Cockfight Mag Forced Off Amazon.com
  
  Associated Press | May 21, 08 6:32 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In a victory for the Humane Society, the publisher of The Gamecock has agreed to stop selling its publication on Amazon.com. The anti-animal cruelty group had sued Amazon to remove the magazine—which it says promote cockfighting—from its site, charging the online retailer with violating federal law, the AP reports. The publisher says it settled to remove itself from the suit and promised “to be more vigilant in its content.” More »
April 2008
- Amazon Q1 Profit Spikes
  
  Wall Street Journal | Apr 23, 08 5:35 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Amazon posted a 30% profit jump in the first quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports, defying the sluggish economy. Net income was $143 million (34 cents a share) compared with $111 million (26 cents a share) in last year's first quarter. The company’s operating income guidance for the fiscal year fell, however—pushing shares sharply downward after hours. More »
- Amazon MP3 Sales Aren’t Hurting iTunes
  
  Apple Insider | Apr 15, 08 9:54 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Amazon.com’s digital music download store isn’t stealing iTunes customers—the six-month-old service is attracting a new consumer demographic, analysts say. A market research firm found that only 10 percent of Amazon MP3 customers surveyed in February previously bought iTunes music, AppleInsider reports. That’s a “healthy indication that the digital music customer pool can expand into new consumer groups,” an analyst says. More »
- Amazon Keeps Building on Digital Transformation
  
  New York Times | Apr 7, 08 3:16 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Sales of downloadable digital media continue to gain ground on conventional formats—last week, Apple’s iTunes passed Wal-Mart as top US music seller. Not to be outdone, Amazon.com is rapidly expanding its venues for digital Web delivery, the New York Times reports. This year, the company debuted a music download store, its Unbox video service and the recent download-capable Kindle e-book reader. More »
- OMG, Txt Msg Shopping!
  
  Associated Press | Apr 2, 08 12:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Ruling the computer shopping world wasn’t enough for Amazon. Thanks to its new TextBuyIt service, customers can search the retail giant from anywhere… including, just as an example mind you, brick-and-mortar stores. Is Amazon specifically hoping to pluck price-comparing shoppers out of real world aisles? “We think they’ll use the product…wherever they happen to be,” said Amazon’s director of mobile payments. More »
March 2008
- Amazon Squeezes Publishers
  
  Wall Street Journal | Mar 28, 08 12:42 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Publishers who print books on demand will have to use Amazon’s printing service if they want to sell their books on the leading online bookseller's site. Amazon's new policy means print-on-demand publishers will have little choice but to accept Amazon’s prices if they want to sell via the site. It also threatens to steal business from competing on-demand printers, reports the Wall Street Journal . More »
February 2008
- States Look to Collect Tax on Internet Sales
  
  Forbes | Feb 28, 08 10:26 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - As tax time draws near, more Americans may be stumbling upon an extra line on their state returns, Forbes reports. About half of state governments—including New York, Michigan, California, North Carolina, and Ohio—are trying to collect their fare share of sales taxes from Internet sales. Chances remain slim, though, that most buyers will admit—or pay—anything. More »
- Amazon 'S3' Server Offline for Hours
  
  PC World | Feb 16, 08 8:42 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Part of Amazon.com’s 2-year-old Simple Storage Service went down for several hours Friday, leaving some customers in the dark and unable to access their own files, reports PC World . The pay-as-you-go “S3” service is used by companies to run websites and warehouse large amounts of data. The outage was resolved by 7am Pacific Time for most users. More »
January 2008
- Amazon Gets Late Christmas Present
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jan 30, 08 5:47 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Amazon's net income more than doubled in the fourth quarter, in part because of the retailer's sales gimmicks for the holidays, reports the Wall Street Journal . In addition, Amazon released a cheerier than expected forecast for this year's first quarter. The good news could help soothe Wall Street's nervousness over decreasing consumer spending. More »
- Do New eBay Rules Sell Out Sellers?
  
  New York Times | Jan 30, 08 4:24 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Newly announced changes to eBay sellers’ fees do not always benefit auctioneers—and the backlash among them has already begun. “This is clearly not a straight fee decrease,” says the editor of AuctionBytes. Indeed, in some cases, sellers wind up paying as much s 33% more. More »