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DATE | 2009-07-20 |
FROM | Ruben Safir
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SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Big Brother is Watching
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From lest-hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com Mon Jul 20 20:13:10 2009 Received: from www2.mrbrklyn.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by www2.mrbrklyn.com (8.13.1/8.13.1/SuSE Linux 0.7) with ESMTP id n6L0D8fZ028145 for ; Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:13:10 -0400 Received: (from majordomo-at-localhost) by www2.mrbrklyn.com (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id n6L0D8am028143 for hangout-outgoings; Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:13:08 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: www2.mrbrklyn.com: majordomo set sender to lest-hangout-at-nylxs.com using -f Received: from mail1.panix.com (mail1.panix.com [166.84.1.72]) by www2.mrbrklyn.com (8.13.1/8.13.1/SuSE Linux 0.7) with ESMTP id n6L0D4hu028140 for ; Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:13:08 -0400 Received: from panix1.panix.com (panix1.panix.com [166.84.1.1]) by mail1.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8D16E1F08E for ; Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:13:03 -0400 (EDT) Received: by panix1.panix.com (Postfix, from userid 20529) id BFC6913804; Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:13:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:13:04 -0400 From: Ruben Safir To: hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Big Brother is Watching Message-ID: <20090721001304.GB29808-at-panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) Sender: lest-hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com
The Channel Wire July 20, 2009 Big Brother Amazon? No, Just A Rough Week For Kindle It's a new week, and Amazon has to be relieved. From a lawsuit over cracked Kindle screens to accusations that it unceremoniously recalled Kindle digital editions of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm -- not to mention plenty of screaming Kindle headlines for both -- it had more than one reason to seek shelter.
Maybe all these arrows aimed at Kindle are a little too hysterical at times, but that's what you get, Amazon, when your product leads a hot technology area and retail segment such as e-books. Take a lesson: You need to respond better -- and faster -- when you're challenged. There's no harm in keeping Kindle in the news, especially because those pesky 1984 accusations turned out to be a little misleading anyway. But it would serve you and Kindle lovers everywhere better to not stumble over your response.
To review: Late last week, most of the mainstream and tech press seized upon a story that Amazon had zapped copies of Orwell's most famous novels from its Kindle store and from Kindles themselves everywhere, sending most folks into a tizzy over Amazon taking control over its Kindle content in, well, a 1984 kind of way.
But as a number of observers, including CNET News' Peter Glaskowsky, pointed out, the reason Amazon yanked the books, or at least made them unavailable for purchase, is that 1984 in particular is, although in the public domain in countries such as Canada and Australia, still under copyright in the United States. Amazon addressed the situation late Friday, telling The New York Times via a spokesman that the Orwell books had been added to the Kindle store by a company, MobileReference, that didn't have the rights to publish them.
"When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers," said Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener to the Times.
Credit Amazon for taking steps to head off both of the Kindle public relations difficulties it had last week, although it's yet to be seen whether its response to an earlier lawsuit over the Kindle's optional protective case cracking the e-reader is enough to sway accusers. Earlier last week, a Seattle-based real estate executive filed a $5 million class action lawsuit against Amazon over cracks to his wife's Kindle. Amazon, which initially had said little more than "Fix it yourself" about the problem, relented last Thursday and said anyone who owned a cracked Kindle related to their use of the protective cover could come to Amazon for a replacement.
At least one analyst, ThinkEquity's Edward Weller, theorizes that Amazon is working overtime to protect the Kindle's biggest fans: That is, the top 5 percent of Amazon customers who, according to Weller's estimates, account for 20 percent of Amazon's business.
Writes Weller in a research note: "Kindle's most important benefit to the company, one that may appear indirect and secondary, one we view as utterly central: Kindle firms up and solidifies Amazon's connection to its most important customers, and not just the heaviest users, but a special class of heavy users who were at the beginning -- and probably still are -- at the very heart of the franchise ..."
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