Amazon has confirmed they sell their devices at cost!
Amazon has today confirmed that they sell their tablet and eReader hardware at cost. Their CEO, Jeff Bezos said to the BBC ""We sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break-even on the hardware."
It leaves it to device owners to buy content through Amazon's various app and books store to allow the company to see some profit! Mr. Bezos said "We want to make money when people use our devices, not when people buy our devices."
This is the same system Google has employed with their recent collaboration with Asus on the Nexus 7, which sells for £159. The two companies have employed a totally different system to Apple who make a huge profit on the sale of their hardware and operate their app store 'slightly above' the break even point! Something many other Android manufacturers have employed with limited success.
If you've pre-ordered or are interested in a shiny new Kindle Paperwhite shipments will begin in Europe on the 25th of October,the same day as the release of the fanatstic new Kindle Fire HD's!
Via The BBC.
In other news:
- It's been reported that Microsoft has a mammoth advertising budget for their upcoming Windows 8! The figures we've heard rumoured today range from $1billion to $1.5billion. Any ad campaign with that sort of money should be turning lots of heads!
- The US mobile company, Sprint, is reportedly being considered as the target of a $23billion take over bid from Japanese wireless service provider, SoftBank!
- It's come to light today that only weeks after the launch of Apple's iPhone 5, the device is already a bigger consumer of mobile data than Samsung's hugely popular Galaxy S3. When the pair were compared head to head the iPhone 5 users used 56% of the pairs internet usage, leaving Galaxy S3 users sucking down 44%! It's interesting to see just how much iPhone users tax mobile networks!
- If you're an iOS6 user you should probably be aware that Apple has flicked a little switch that enables a new mobile ad tracking system, the update will automatically allow data tracking! It allows Apple to track unique devices and provide their advertisers with hugely detailed information. Depending on your preferences you might want to head to your settings menu to turn it off!
- Apple also agreed to pay the SBB for their iconic clock design which was incorporated into iOS without permission initially! Neither company would comment on the price of the licensing!
- You can now pre-order Windows 8!
- EA has commemorated the 30th anniversary of the film ET with a new game for iOS devices called ET: The Green Planet and is based on ET's home planet!
- Google has released Gmail version 4.2 for their Android devices. The update brings pinch to zoom, swipe to archive or delete and a few other pretty features to your emails!
- Samsung's Galaxy S3 Mini has gone up for pre-order for about £300! It's worth considering the Galaxy S2 which is currently only £306 Sim-free on Amazon at the moment!
- Microsoft has released their Office 13 software to manufacturers today!
