Digital Media

Kindle book buyers can now read their books right from their PCs without having to buy a Kindle reader.

Amazon onTuesday made available its new Kindle for PC, free software that lets Kindle customers read their e-books on tablet PCs, Netbooks, notebooks, and other personal computers.

The software can be downloaded from the Kindle for PC page. The quick installation sets up the reader application, prompting you to log in and register with your Amazon account or create a new one. After logging in, you can download books that you've already purchased at the Kindle store or click on a link to buy new ones.

Microsoft had demonstrated the Kindle for PC software at its Windows 7 launch event in New York last month.

(Credit: CNET News/Lance Whitney)

Kindle for PC offers many of the options you'll find on a Kindle reader. You can increase or decrease the size of the font and change the width of the page and words per line. You can navigate from one page to another by clicking on the Next or Previous Page arrows or by using the scroll wheel on your mouse. You can jump to a specific page, such as the cover, table of contents, or last page read, and bookmark a specific location for future reference. You can also read notes and highlights created on your Kindle device, but you can't create them on Kindle for PC yet.

People with a Windows 7 multitouch PC can zoom in or out of a page by pinching it with your fingers.

Amazon has also tapped its Whispersync technology to automatically save and sync bookmarks across multiple devices. So you can read a book up to a certain page on your Kindle device and then automatically jump to that same page on your PC to resume reading where you left off.

"Kindle for PC is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. "Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to access a huge selection from the Kindle Store and read the most popular books of today even if they don't yet have a Kindle."

Amazon plans new features for the next edition of Kindle for PC. The company said it will offer the ability to create notes and highlights, search for words or phrases in your books, and click on an image to zoom in or rotate it.

With the launch of Kindle for PC, Kindle books can now be read on Kindle readers, the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and personal computers. Kindle for the PC is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, and XP. A Mac version is coming soon, promises Amazon.

Amazon Twitter integration

(Credit: Screenshot-Dave Rosenberg)

Amazon Associates is the partner program the company uses as part of its affiliate advertising programs, allowing customers to make money advertising Amazon products.

Associates can now simply click a link in the toolbar to send a link (replete with sales-y text) to Twitter as part of their shopping and selling experience. Amazon gets a sale, Twitter gets traffic, and the associate gets revenue share. What could possibly go wrong?

Linking to Amazon or other online retailers is obviously nothing new, though Amazon has been particularly successful in using its link networks for both sales and to garner higher Google rankings for organic advertising.

This new program does introduce an issue related to link fraud, where spammers and scammers leverage URL-shortening services for spam links. Currently there is no way to verify that the link you click actually goes to Amazon. It's a bit surprising that it decided to use an URL-shortener that it doesn't own, though I suppose the network effect of the URLs helps perpetuate the life of the links.

There is also a risk of nondisclosure wherein in Twitter users attempt to push products that offer some kind of gain to them that they don't clearly state to you. While I understand the argument for disclosure on blogs and media in general, Twitter remains a playground for people to post whatever they want. I highly doubt all the celebrities with accounts would bother wasting their precious time if they weren't posting for their own gain.

Interestingly, there is no mention of whether Twitter is an Amazon Associate, suggesting that Twitter won't see any of the revenue share. I'd like to think that they cut a deal that gives them a piece of the pie, but to date we haven't seen Twitter monetize itself too effectively.

Twitter is quickly becoming the flash news vehicle for everything from news alerts to product placement. And based on a very quick review of my Bitly account, Twitter users just love to click on links. But, I still have to wonder if Twitter will ever get beyond its current role as a marketing tool?

Amazon's acquisition of shoes-and-more retailer Zappos is complete, the e-commerce giant said in a release Monday. The company in July had announced its intent to make the purchase, for about $850 million in cash and stock.

Zappos, which made a name for itself based on outside-the-box customer service principles, will stay independent from the Amazon.com brand and will continue to operate out of its Las Vegas headquarters.

Numbers released by J.P. Morgan Research in conjunction with the acquisition announcement predict that Zappos will post moderate, single-digit growth for the 2009 fiscal year after raking in $635 million in revenues last year.

A simple phrase and pin code may be all you need the next time you pay for that book or CD at Amazon.

The online retailer on Thursday debuted a new feature called Amazon PayPhrase, designed to let busy shoppers store their name, address, and payment information in a single phrase and pin code. Instead of entering all that data at the online checkout counter, you type your phrase and pin number when it's time to cough up the cash.

PayPhrase doesn't just work at Amazon--it can be used at any online retailer that lets you pay via Amazon Payments. That covers a range of cyberstores, including Buy.com, J&R Electronics, DKNY, and Car Toys.

PayPhrase also omits the need for a user name and password to store your personal info on every shopping site that uses Amazon Payments. However, you will need an Amazon.com account to set up and maintain your phrase.

Amazon sees PayPhrase as a benefit to consumers trying to juggle different accounts at different retail sites.

"PayPhrase solves the headache of trying to keep track of all the different user names and passwords people use to shop on various sites across the Web," said Matt Williams, general manager of Amazon PayPhrase, in a statement. "With PayPhrase all you need is one phrase and one PIN to pay online."

Here's how the process works:

1. You first set up your PayPhrase. The phrase can be two or more words, and the entire phrase must be at least four characters but no more than 100. Amazon provides a list of suggested phrases, or you can create your own. (With Amazon's suggested phrases of "Unusually Obese," "Contraceptive Cream," and "Bush's Education Department," you might want to create your own.) Since everyone's PayPhrase must be unique, Amazon will tell you whether or not your phrase is taken.
2. You set up your four-digit pin number.
3. You enter your Amazon.com user name and password.
4. You either confirm or enter your mailing address and credit card information.
5. After your PayPhrase is set up, you'll receive an e-mail from Amazon confirming the details.
6. The next time you check out to buy an item on Amazon or an Amazon Payment retailer, a field for PayPhrase Express Checkout will appear. You enter your phrase. You then review your order details and total cost and finally enter your pin number to submit the purchase.

Of course, a feature like this always shouts out one question: Is it secure? Amazon naturally believes so.

Though Amazon stores your credit card information, the company points out that your payment information is not shared with other online retailers. And to modify your PayPhrase settings, you have to log in to the PayPhrase site with your Amazon.com username and password.

You can establish monthly cash limits on your account ranging from $10 to $500. Finally, you can opt to receive an approval request by e-mail or cell phone for all orders that are placed.

Check out Amazon's promo video page for a brief tour of PayPhrase.

Amazon.com is apparently shelving its planned effort to sell wine online.

A little more than a year after word of the effort trickled out, a senior Amazon account manager told wineries about the decision to cork it in an e-mail last week.

"As you know, we were excited to work with you to build the AmazonWine business," Dini Rao said in an e-mail first reported by WineBusiness.com. "For that reason, this was a very tough choice for us. Many of you took the time and leap of faith to really support us."

Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Word of the effort leaked out in September 2008 when a nonprofit vintner group announced it had partnered with Amazon to drum up interest from its members to sell wine through the retail giant. However, its fulfillment partner New Vine Logistics briefly suspended operations this summer before securing additional financing from Inertia Beverage Group.

Since the Supreme Court ruled in May 2005 that states must grant the same shipping rights to out-of-state and in-state wineries, winery-to-consumer shipping has become legal in 35 states, according to wine advocacy group Free the Grapes. But state laws governing direct wine shipping vary greatly, creating an onerous task in managing compliance.

Amazon had dabbled in the wine business before, investing $30 million for a 45 percent share in Wineshopper.com in 1999, a start-up that was acquired by Wine.com in 2000 before going through a series of layoffs. Wine.com has a storefront on Amazon, through which it sells gourmet food baskets but not wine.

You wouldn't know there's been a slowdown in consumer spending by looking at Amazon.com and Netflix.

Both companies have continued to grab customers at a record pace, leading to higher earnings and sales for their third quarters.

Net income for Amazon jumped 68 percent to $199 million, or 45 cents a share, in the quarter that ended September 30, compared with $118 million, or 27 cents a share, in the prior year's quarter.

Sales rose 28 percent to $5.45 billion versus $4.26 billion in 2008's third quarter, the company said Thursday.

Amazon's stock shot up $23.75, or 25 percent, to $117.29 in Friday trading.

Amazon's two-year stock chart.

(Credit: Yahoo Finance)

Amazon attributed its earnings to several key factors.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak said Thursday in a conference call with reporters that consumers continue to spend at Amazon because of its low prices and large selection. The company noted that it had 98 million customer accounts by the end of the third quarter, 17 percent higher than a year ago.

Worldwide sales from books, CDs, DVDs, and other media grew 17 percent to $2.93 billion, while revenue for electronics and other general merchandise soared 44 percent to $2.36 billion.

Another solid driver for growth was the Amazon e-book reader, Kindle.

"Kindle has become the No. 1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars--not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. The company did not release specific sales figures for the Kindle.

Amazon managed to clobber analysts' expectations. J.P. Morgan had forecast earnings per share of 31 cents on sales of $5 billion. Broadpoint.Gleacher analyst Ben Schachter had been eyeing earnings per share of 33 cents and said that sales were 7 percent higher than he expected.

In a report, J.P. Morgan said Amazon's strong sales growth shows that the company is grabbing significant market share from other e-commerce players, such as eBay.

In his report, Schachter called the results "phenomenal." He noted that Amazon was able to keep its costs in check while gaining market share in virtually every product category. The analyst also said he was "shocked" to hear Bezos' statement that the Kindle has become the company's top-selling item.

For the current quarter, Amazon is looking for sales of $8.13 billion to $9.13 billion, 21 to 36 percent higher than last year's fourth quarter, and racing past analysts' estimates of $8.11 billion.

Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal said in a report that improving e-commerce trends and continued growth for the Kindle, among other factors, could make Amazon the fastest growing large-cap Internet stock.

Another beneficiary of solid customer growth, Netflix also surpassed analysts' expectations for the third quarter.

The company's earnings jumped 48 percent to $30.1 million, or 52 cents a share, versus $20.4 million, or 33 cents a share in the prior year's quarter. Sales grew 24 percent to $423.1 million, compared with $341.3 million in 2008's third quarter.

Overall, analysts had been expecting earnings of 46 cents per share on sales of $420 million.

Growth in subscribers was the key driver for Netflix in the third quarter. The company ended the quarter with around 11.11 million subscribers, a 28 percent jump from the 8.67 million subscribers at the end of 2008's third quarter. Of the current total, 98 percent, or 10.84 million, were paid subscribers, while the remaining 2 percent were free subscribers.

"Our business momentum is strong and our third quarter performance keeps us solidly on course for a record 2009," Netflix co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings, said in a statement.

Though most Netflix customers still prefer to get their movies by conventional mail, Internet streaming has gradually taken off. In the third quarter, 42 percent of Netflix subscribers streamed at least 15 minutes of video, compared with only 22 percent in the prior year's quarter.

Customers can stream their Netflix picks not just through the PC but via gadgets like Microsoft's Xbox 360, which has helped attract new customers.

Now Netflix has reportedly struck a deal to add streaming to another device, which Hastings said is already in people's homes. Though the company has been mum about details, analysts believe it may be a video game console made by either Sony or Nintendo.

Netflix shares were up $4.58, or 9 percent, to $54.22 on Friday.

For the fourth quarter, the company believes customer growth and sales will be higher than anticipated three months ago. Netflix now expects to end the current quarter with 12 million to 12.3 million subscribers, up from the prior estimate of 11.6 million to 12 million. That would represent an additional 900,000 to 1.2 million customers.

Fourth-quarter sales are likely to reach $440 million to $446 million, up from the previous estimate of $431 million to $445 million.

However, the company forecasts a downturn in earnings from the third quarter, eyeing fourth-quarter net income of $21 million to $26 million, or 38 cents to 47 cents a share.

Expenses may be one factor affecting current earnings. Hastings said the company expects to spend more on marketing and licensing fees for Internet streaming. Netflix also believes its postal costs will continue to grow, surpassing $600 million next year and $700 million in 2011.

Wal-Mart Stores has waged an online book pricing war against Amazon.com, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday morning.

Wal-Mart sent the first salvo over Amazon's bow on Thursday when the retail giant announced that it would sell ten highly anticipated books for $10 on Walmart.com. Wal-Mart said Stephen King's upcoming hardcover "Under the Dome" and Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" will be included in that grouping. Wal-Mart's prices include free shipping.

Not to be outdone, Amazon reduced prices to match Wal-Mart's pricing on all 10 titles. That was quickly followed by Wal-Mart's decision to reduce the prices on those books again to $9 late Thursday night. In response, Amazon reduced the prices of all ten titles to $9, as well. The company also reduced the books' Kindle pricing to $9. That's where the prices stand on both sites as of this writing.

Sarah Palin's book is going for $9 on Wal-Mart.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

"If there is going to be a 'Wal-Mart of the Web,' it is going to be Walmart.com," Walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. "Our goal is to be the biggest and most visited retail Web site."

As viable a goal as that may be for Wal-Mart, it could also cost the online-retail industry dearly. According to the Journal, Wal-Mart is already offering up to 200 best sellers for "50 percent of their list price." That's a figure that most retailers can't keep up with. And as the publication pointed out, it's a price point that could put smaller, less powerful organizations out of business.

"Retailers traditionally pay half the list price for a hardcover book," the Journal wrote in its report. "Assuming that's the case with Wal-Mart, its $10 sale price on 'Under the Dome' represents a 71 percent discount of the $35 cover price, which suggests the discounter will lose $7 to $7.50 on every copy it sells." Wal-Mart might be able to afford that, but other, smaller retailers might not.

But $10 might not be a figure that Wal-Mart picked out of the air. Quite the contrary, the retail giant might have chosen $10 because it's the same price Amazon is currently offering e-books for in its Kindle store. Wal-Mart is, so far, on the outside looking in at the e-book market and the sale of highly anticipated hardcovers for $10 might reflect that.

That said, the company told the Journal that its decision to drop the price of those major titles had nothing to do with the Kindle. Even so, Wal-Mart is a major retailer with loads of cash that it can easily put towards infiltrating a discount book market--electronic or otherwise. A loss on select titles might be worth it in the long run. It could stymie some of the Kindle's impressive growth. That might have been Wal-Mart's intention all along.

What do you think of this? Is Wal-Mart the hero for offering hardcover books at such discounted rates? Is Amazon wrong for matching its pricing? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Updated 10:00am PST to revise Google percentage through online bookstores.

Watch out Amazon. Google is hitting the online bookstore business.

The search giant announced Thursday at the Frankfurt Book Fair that in the first half of next year it will launch Google Editions, a new service that will deliver e-books to anyone with a Web browser.

Partnering with publishers which whom it already has digital rights deals, Google plans to initially offer about a half-million books through the service, according to press reports from Frankfurt. Readers will be able to purchase the books directly from Google or from online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

In September, in conjunction with Congressional hearings into its Google Books project, the search titan had revealed a reseller program that would give competitors a share of money from such a service.

Google plans to share the sales with both publishers and the online bookstores. For books sold directly from its Web site, the search giant said at the book fair that it would give publishers 63 percent of the sales and keep 37 percent itself. For books sold through Amazon or other retailers, the publisher would get 45 percent, while the retailer would get almost 55 percent with a small share for Google.

The company said that consumers would be able to read the books on any connected device, including PCs, Netbooks, and smartphones. Apple iPhone users could access the e-books through their Gmail accounts.

Google said it doesn't plan to offer a dedicated e-book reader to accompany the new service, according to the press reports.

"We're not focused on a dedicated e-reader or device of any kind," Tom Turvey, Google's director of strategic partnerships, told journalists at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Google was not immediately available for comment to CNET News.

The Samsung UN46B7000--one of the newly entertained Samsung HDTVs.

(Credit: CBS Interactive)

Samsung announced on Wednesday that on-demand video services from Blockbuster and Amazon are coming to some of its home entertainment products.

Blockbuster OnDemand, which allows people to rent or purchase video content on a one-off basis, is now available on some of Samsung's high-definition TVs, Blu-ray players, and home theater systems.

According to Samsung, the service will be offered on its Series 650 and above LCD and plasma HDTVs, as well as its Series 7000 and above LED HDTVs. Blockbuster OnDemand will be available to owners of the Samsung BD-P1600, BD-P3600, and BD-P4600 Blu-ray players, as well as the company's HT-BD1250, HT-BD3252, HT-BD7200, and HT-BD8200 Blu-ray home theater systems. The company said that the service is available now through a firmware upgrade.

As part of the rollout, Blockbuster OnDemand content can be streamed across multiple Blockbuster-enabled devices in the home. According to the company, users who order a particular movie can start watching it on one Samsung product in their home and continue watching it on another supported Samsung device.

For its part, Blockbuster has had a busy week. On Tuesday, the company announced that its OnDemand service was finally made available on TiVo DVRs. Like the service on TiVo, Samsung equipment owners can expect to pay between $2.99 and $3.99 for movie rentals. Blockbuster charges between $7.99 and $19.99 for film purchases.

As part of the deal, Blockbuster will start selling Samsung Blu-ray players that feature the company's OnDemand service in "thousands of corporate-owned stores and participating franchise stores." Blockbuster also said on Tuesday that it will also start selling TiVo DVRs in its stores.

But Samsung didn't stop there. The company also announced on Wednesday that Amazon Video On Demand will be offered to owners of Samsung LCD and plasma HDTVs that are series 650 and above, and LED HDTVs that are series 7000 and above. To get the service, users will need to download the Amazon Video On Demand widget using their television's Internet@TV content service.

Samsung said that once the user downloads the Amazon Video On Demand widget, they will be able to access Amazon's more than 50,000 movies and television shows. Amazon's widget joins already-available widgets from Twitter, Yahoo, YouTube, and others, the company said.

A growing trend?
The fact that Samsung has added Blockbuster's and Amazon's video services to its HDTVs shouldn't come as a surprise; it's competing in a marketplace where integrated entertainment is becoming the norm.

Earlier this year, LG announced the launch of two broadband-equipped HDTVs--the 47-inch 47LH50 and the 50-inch 50PS80--that feature the company's NetCast Entertainment Access. That service gives users the ability to access Netflix's streaming library of movies and TV shows. Toshiba is also getting in on the trend.