Amazon Prime officially gets a price increase, customers safe for now
Rumors have abounded for weeks that Amazon would bump up the pricing of its Prime service -- the program that awards free two-day shipping on all purchases, provides a lending library to Kindle owners and a video streaming service that competes with Netflix.
Today, rumor becomes fact as existing customers awake to an email that gives the bad news. While cries of gloom over the price possibly doubling were, thankfully, not true, it is still an added fee to the annual subscription rate.
Amazon spreads the wealth, Coins come to all Android devices
Amazon Coins have mostly flown beneath the radar -- you don't really hear much about them, but you probably know of their existence. That's because, in the past, they were available only for Kindle Fire tablets. Despite the popularity of those devices, the Coins haven't made big news.
Now Amazon is expanding the service out to encompass all Android devices, no matter what brand of phone or tablet you happen to be using. This does come with a requirement -- you'll need to be running the Amazon Store on your slate or handset, and it needs to be the latest version as well.
Forget Facebook, Amazon launches 'login and pay'
We've grown rather accustomed to logging into web sites through the use of other services, most notably Facebook and Twitter. Now retail giant Amazon is stepping into the ring, and adding a financial twist to the concept.
Today the online behemoth announces its new "Login and Pay with Amazon" service, aimed at allowing "participating companies to empower customers to go from browsing to buying in just a few clicks using their Amazon account information".
Mexico says ¡hola! to the Kindle Store
Saludos a nuestros lectores Mexicanos. The good folks who reside south of the US border have been waiting a rather long time, but find today that Amazon has not forgotten them. The Kindle Store for the Mexico market launches and the online retailer is doing so with a splash.
The splash may be small in comparison to the big picture -- 70,000 Spanish titles out of the more than two-million titles in all -- but it's a solid start. The early list includes authors such as Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Isabel Allende and Paulo Coelho.
Amazon gets fancy, brings art galleries to your computer
Amazon sells many things -- customers can shop for everything from electronics to grocery store items. With a Prime membership you can even receive free two-day shipping. But I doubt customers think of the retail giant in the same breath as an art gallery -- the Louvre certainly does not come to mind.
To be fair, the famous Paris museum is not selling off its collection on Amazon, or anywhere else, but art galleries now have a home on Amazon. Today the retailer announces Amazon Art, "a marketplace that gives customers direct access to more than 40,000 works of fine art from over 150 galleries and dealers".
Walmart to sell Chromebooks next to motor oil and pregnancy tests
Today, Google announces that it has partnered with additional brick-and-mortar retailers to sell its Chromebooks. Walmart and Staples are being announced as immediate new partners, while select Office Depot, OfficeMax, Fry’s and TigerDirect stores will be coming later. Walmart is only carrying the Acer C7, while the other retailers will sport a mix of brands, including Acer, HP and Samsung. This is a good move for Google as it is sure to increase awareness of the company's ChromeOS and Chromebook line of computers. Currently, in the USA, Best Buy is the only physical retailer selling Chromebooks.
Google has also added new retail partners outside of the USA -- Tesco in the UK, Mediamarket and Saturn in the Netherlands, FNAC in France, Elgiganten stores in Sweden and JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman in Australia.
Microsoft sets up shop in your local Best Buy
Microsoft continues its battle for your retail dollars. Not only has the company set up store fronts in malls around the country, as well as pop-up locations during this past holiday season, but now seeks other outlets. The software giant is invading your local big box store, announcing custom stores within Best Buy.
The company's Brandon LeBlanc lets us know, "today, we announce a strategic partnership to create the Windows Store only at Best Buy, a comprehensive store-within-a-store in 500 Best Buy locations across the United States and more than 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada".
Best Buy is doomed
Best Buy is in trouble you know. It’s in the news all the time. I wrote a big column about it myself last year. Same store sales have suffered, corporate employees are being laid off, the big U.S. electronics retailer is pulling out of Europe. Best Buy management is in turmoil. The founder leaves in a huff, then tries and fails to take the company private, and is now making nice-nice with the same management he previously reviled. There’s a new head of stores (I wish him well), who thinks the answer is price matching, better sales training and paying workers to sell more stuff, which sounds like commissions to me (Best Buy was always anti-commission).
All this drama is generally lain at the feet of Amazon.com on the Internet and Walmart down the street, both of which have reportedly been cleaning Best Buy’s clock. Only they haven’t. Best Buy has been killing itself with bad Information Technology. It’s been a long, long time since I introduced a new Cringely Law, but here comes one (I’m not sure what number this is), courtesy of Best Buy: compartmentalized IT can kill companies that are understaffed and overstressed.
If Congress passes Internet sales tax legislation, you lose
It's almost as if some in Congress forget that we've been down this path before. Garbage legislation, now under the moniker of the Marketplace Fairness Act, has been discussed in various guises and masks over the last 20 years or so. Streamlined Sales Tax. Remote Sales Tax. Distant Sales Tax. They've been tried, debated and debunked each time before.
But it's funny how larger than ever state budget deficits perk up the ears of slimy congressmen on the umpteenth attempt at an Internet sales tax. While proponents like J Marra, writing for BetaNews this week, are in favor of this bill, I stand tall against it, without hesitation.
Taxing Internet sales is the right thing to do
The fight to keep brick and mortar commerce subsidizing e-commerce is in a crucial stage today.
You never heard of that fight? It also goes under the guise of fighting "Internet sales taxes". A bill (the "Marketplace Fairness Act") is moving along in the Senate that requires merchants with $1 million or more in revenue to collect any sales taxes due in the state of the buyer.
Microsoft Store begins major online makeover
If you live in the United States, Microsoft Store online is newly redesigned and celebrates with big savings on the Acer Aspire S7, up to $350 off. The ultra-thin Windows PC is clearly a MacBook Air competitor. The 11-inch model is now available for as little as $899. Lest memory fails me, I saw the same deal inside the physical San Diego Store on Friday night.
The makeover marks the first of many. Microsoft plans to overhaul the online shop in all 228 markets. The new home page is more spacious, with lots more white space and prominently links to three subshops -- Student, Small Business and Developer.
Does Apple Store discourage T-Mobile iPhone 5 sales?
Last night, I rushed off to the local mall intent on seeing movie "Oblivion", but the 6:45 p.m. show was sold out. So I walked around and spent time inside Apple and Microsoft retail shops. At Apple Store, I had two objectives: finding out the cost of replacing a shattered iPhone 5 screen (not available, refurb phone is $229 option) and observing how the company sells T-Mobile models alongside those from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Pink's unlocked phone costs less upfront compared to Blue, Red and Yellow and is financed for 24 months. Apple presents T-Mobile iPhone 5 as costing considerably more.
Apple Store provides product information on iPads, which is a subtle way of promoting the devices. The marketing page presents 16GB iPhone 5 as selling "from $199" for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon and "from $649" for T-Mobile, which is technically true but also misleading. The $199 represents the big three's upfront price. T-Mobile asks about half as much, $99.99, upfront. But Apple lists T-Mobile's price as $450 more. Who wants to pay $649 when the others charge $199?
Apple sells unlocked T-Mobile iPhones
Eight days ago, iPhone 5 debuted at T-Mobile. I should have watched more carefully. The carrier also has iPhone 4 and 4S, and that surprises me. I wondered if Apple Store would carry Pink's variants, too, given the comparatively low starting price. Yes is the answer, and cleverly.
From AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, the 16GB iPhone 5 is $199 upfront with 2-year contractual commitment. T-Mobile's handset sells for $99.99 down plus 24 $20-month payments, no contract required. Surely, the three big carriers would gripe if Apple listed their phones alongside T-Mobile's for twice the upfront price. Solution: The fruit-logo company sells Pink unlocked for full price and T-Mobile SIM. But typical of Apple, expect no bargain. T-Mobile sells the phone for $579.99. Apple asks $640.
Amazon's over-50 store makes me puke
Back in the 1990s, I coined the phrase "cusper" -- or thought I did -- to refer to people like me who were born at the end of the Baby Boom era but didn't share the generation's values. In January 2001, I registered the .com, .net and .org variants of cusper and cuspers. For a reason. I am a Cusper. But I never properly used the domains (someday! someday!) and later let the .org variants go. This year I re-acquired cusper.org for $3.99 domain registration. Some nutcase wants $3,000 at auction for cuspers.org. Good luck.
So much aimed at Boomers doesn't apply to me, or others of my tweener generation. Amazon's new "50+ Active & Healthy Living", which opens today, is another affront. If being over 50 is a lifestyle that Boomers boast, or Amazon wants to sell them, let me out of here. I want no part of it. I don't read their kind of books or listen to their style of music or swallow vitamins like they popped pills of a more illicit type in their youth.
Google Play 4 app rolls out
Late last week rumors surfaced that Google Play store would update, which according to the APK file is officially version 4.0.25, and sporting a whole new look. Today that news becomes official as Google confirmes that the latest version is beginning its slow, but steady, march to Android smartphones and tablets.
Michael Siliski, group product manager for Google Play, announces that "today we’ve started rolling out a redesigned Google Play store on Android phones and tablets that is simple, clean and, most importantly, helps you find great entertainment, fast".
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