Amazon is reportedly preparing to launch an updated 7-inch Kindle Fire alongside a brand new 9-inch tablet this summer. Pacific Crest analyst Chad Bartley on Thursday raised his full-year Kindle Fire shipment forecast to 14.9 million units, up from his earlier estimate of 12.7 million. “We believe there is an upward bias, particularly from the new 7- and 9-inch models, which we expect to launch in mid-2012,” Bartley wrote in a note to clients. BGR exclusively reported last May that Amazon was w...

With great power comes great responsibility — and a flurry of advertising campaigns that target your wares. Samsung tried to make its name a verb in a recent round of anti-Apple ads where senseless iPhone owners got “Samsunged,” and the South Korea-based vendor’s campaign culminated with a $10 million extravaganza that aired during the Super Bowl. Amazon is next up to the plate, and the company’s recent commercial takes aim at Apple’s iPad. A woman sunbathing and reading a boo...

Amazon on Wednesday announced that it has entered into a new agreement with Viacom to provide a larger selection of television content to its Kindle Fire and Amazon Prime customers. Under the deal, Amazon’s customers will have access to episodes of The Real World, Chapelle’s Show and the The Sarah Silverman Program from Comedy Central, as well as a number of hit shows from Nickelodeon. “This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids’ shows,...

Amazon announced the company’s fourth quarter results last week, which fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. The company reported $17.4 billion in revenue, with net sales up 35% from $12.95 billion in the same quarter of 2010. Despite falling short of analyst estimates of $18.26 billion, Amazon’s growth was more than twice the overall market’s growth according to data from comScore. At $49.6 million, U.S. retail spending was only up 14% in the fourth quarter of 2011. “The growth ...

Amazon is preparing to open a retail store in Seattle within the next few months, according to a report from Good eReader. Amazon is apparently looking to open a small boutique rather than a large shop in an effort to test the market. The store would feature the Amazon Exclusive book line and the company’s popular eReaders and tablets most prominently according to the rumor. Amazon’s headquarters is located in Seattle, which is known as being fairly tech savvy and may be the perfect location ...

Demand for Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet has started to cool off according to one study. ChangeWave published results of a survey on Thursday, which found that just 2% of customers in January were “very likely” to buy a Kindle Fire, down from 4% in December. Respondents who were “somewhat likely” to buy the tablet fell as well, from 13% in December to 10% in January, though demand following the holidays is expected to slow. Amazon’s tablet has better satisfaction ratings than...

Amazon on Tuesday reported its earnings for the fourth quarter, during which it took in $17.4 billion in revenue. While its net sales were up 35% from the $12.95 billion reported during the fourth quarter last year, the company missed analyst estimates of $18.26 billion in revenue for the quarter. Amazon’s net income decreased 58% to $177 million during the quarter, or $0.38 per diluted share, compared with the net income of $416 million it reported during the same quarter last year. Net sales for the y...

When it comes to tablets there is no denying the iPad’s dominance, selling more than 15 million units last quarter alone. Not everyone can afford nor do they want a high-end device, however, and that is where Amazon’s Kindle Fire comes into play. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan said on Monday that fourth-quarter Kindle Fire shipments likely reached 6 million units, placing the tablet on par with the original iPad. Rohan says it was “quite impressive” that the online retailer used...

Sling Media has been the go-to provider for video placeshifting solutions for nearly seven years now. The California-based company launched its first Slingbox in 2005, enabling users to watch live television exactly as it was being broadcast to their homes on any Internet-connected PC. The company rolled out its first SlingPlayer Mobile application the following year and it hasn’t looked back, continuing to expand its mobile offering to support a wide range of popular platforms and devices. Sling Media ...

The world’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphone is currently on sale at a huge discount from retail giant Amazon. The company’s wireless arm is currently offering Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone for as little as $99.99 with a new Verizon Wireless contract, and Amazon is even throwing in free two-day shipping for good measure. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for Samsung’s sleek pure Google phone, and it is only available while supplies last according to a...

Amazon’s Kindle Fire had a huge holiday season by all accounts, with fourth-quarter sales that may have exceeded 4 million units according to analyst estimates. While a number of analysts made predictions that Amazon’s $199 tablet would take a bite out of iPad sales — Morgan Keegan’s Travis McCourt thought the Kindle Fire could cost Apple as much as $1 billion in holiday sales — it looks as though Apple’s iPad business emerged unscathed. Read on for more. (more…)

Pew Research conducted a pre-holiday survey among people age 16 and older between November 16th and December 21st, and two additional surveys of adults age 18 and older in January. The data found that during the holiday gift giving season, sales of tablets and eBook readers nearly doubled from 10% to 19%. In the same time frame, the number of Americans owning at least one of these devices jumped from 18% to 29%. More than 33% of those living in households earning more than $75,000 a year own a tablet, with ...

Following what Amazon reported to have been a huge holiday season for the company’s debut tablet, demand for the Kindle Fire has slowed according to new claims. Citing unnamed sources from within Amazon’s component supply chain, DigiTimes on Friday stated that Amazon’s tablet orders with original device manufacturers have been cut in half from roughly 6 million tablets in the fourth quarter last year to 3 million units this quarter. The Kindle Fire had a hot holiday season so a drop-off in o...

Amazon received the highest customer service ratings of any retailer in 2011 according to the NRF Foundations Customers’ Choice survey. The survey, which asked more than 9,000 shoppers which retailer provides the best customer service, was conducted by BIGresearch. In 2011, Amazon gained one spot to become the top-ranked retailer while the company’s subsidiary Zappos, which was previously ranked No.1, fell to No.3. Coming in behind Amazon was L.L.Bean, gaining a spot from 2010 rank to come in at...