@Amazon launches a pair of Kindle Fire 2 - ACS-Xerox Call Centers in Jamaica ramp up as Kindle Fire begin to Sparkle

“We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices”

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday September 6^th 2012AD during an event hosted in Santa Monica, California

Amazon, the Tangerine coloured Online Retailer that made books popular with its Kindle line of e-readers, has done it yet again, this time in the Tablet Space. Gooooooooo Amazon!!

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday September 6^th 2012AD during an event hosted in Santa Monica, California unleashed upon the Tablet World a Quartet of Kindle Fires and an improved au pair of Kindle e-readers as stated in the article “Kindle Fire HD: Amazon's anti-Apple profit engine”, published September 6, 2012 12:55 PM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News. 

Apparently the Family has grown, with the Kindle Fire Family now rivaling the Original Kindle E-reader family in size and importance. What can already be drawn from this product launch is the obvious; there are five (5) new additions to the Kindle family; two (2) Kindle Paperwhite e-readers and a three (3) Kindle Fire HD. 

More interestingly, the expansion of the Kindle Fire line, the inclusion of HD Screens and the support for Wireless Broadband (the main reason this product launch caught my eye!) suggests a shifting of Gears and changing of focus by Amazon from purely e-readers to Tablets that can challenge the Apple iPad.

It now becoming clear that Amazon wants to stake its claim to the rapidly growing Tablet market estimated to be about 100 million served as per the statistics of analyst ABI by the end of 2012AD in the article “Tablet sales could top 100 million”, published Friday, August 24, 2012, The Jamaica Observer.

Thus if Google thinks that its Wi-Fi only Google Nexus 7 can beat the Amazon Kindle and take away its e-reader market, The Lorax (2012), begins to Sparkle (2012) and is fighting back!

The Second iteration of by far the most successful product ever as stated in the article “Kindle Fire 'Sold Out' as new model looms”, published 30 August 2012 by Lance Whitney, CNET News is not just one (1) Kindle Fire, but Three (3).

And all of them are packing different size HD (High Definition) Screens with their high-end model, the 8.9” Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE packing – get this - 1,920x1,200 resolution, giving it a PPI (Pixel Per Inch) of two hundred and fifty four (254). To say I’m blow away is a superlative that does not truly explain what’s we are all are bearing witness with these new upgrades to the Kindle Fire Line. 

Here are the basic specs on The Three Musketeers (2011) as described in “Amazon Kindle Fire HD”, published September 6, 2012 11:17 AM PDT, CNET Editor, CNET News as follows:

7” Kindle Fire HD

1.      16GB for US$199

2.      32GB for US$249

3.      7.6" x 5.4" x 0.4" (193 mm x 137 mm x 10.3 mm)

4.      13.9 ounces (395 grams)

5.      High performance 1.2 GHz Dual-Core Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 Processor

6.      PowerVR 3D graphics Processor

7.      1280x800 HD display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology

8.      Dolby Digital Plus Audio

9.      Dual-driver stereo speakers

10.  Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands (a first for Tablets…interesting!)

11.  11 Hours battery Life with full charging in 4 hours

12.  USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) port for connection to a PC or Macintosh computer and charging

13.  Audio 3.5 mm stereo jack

14.  Sensors Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope

15.  External volume controls

16.  Built-in microphone

17.  Built-in Bluetooth with support for A2DP compatible stereo headphones and speakers

8.9” Kindle Fire HD 

1.      16GB for US$299

2.      32GB for US$369

3.      9.4" x 6.4" x 0.35" (240 mm x 164 mm x 8.8 mm)

4.      20 ounces (567 grams)

5.      High performance 1.5 GHz Dual-Core Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 Processor

6.      PowerVR 3D graphics Processor

7.      1920x1200 HD display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology

8.      Dolby Digital Plus Audio

9.      Dual-driver stereo speakers

10.  Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands

11.  USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) port for connection to a PC or Macintosh computer and charging

12.  Audio 3.5 mm stereo jack

13.  Sensors Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope

14.  External volume controls

15.  Built-in microphone

16.  Built-in Bluetooth with support for A2DP compatible stereo headphones and speakers

8.9” Kindle Fire HD 4TE

1.      32GB for US$499

2.      64GB for US$599

3.      9.4" x 6.4" x 0.35" (240 mm x 164 mm x 8.8 mm)

4.      20 ounces (575 grams)

5.      High performance 1.5 GHz Dual-Core Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 Processor

6.      PowerVR 3D graphics Processor

7.      4G LTE 10 band wireless modem with HSPA+, HSDPA, EDGE/GPRS fallback

8.      Front facing HD Camera

9.      1920x1200 HD display with polarizing filter and anti-glare technology

10.  Dolby Digital Plus Audio

11.  Dual-driver stereo speakers

12.  Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands

13.  USB 2.0 (micro-B connector) port for connection to a PC or Macintosh computer and charging

14.  Audio 3.5 mm stereo jack

15.  Sensors Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope

16.  External volume controls

17.  Built-in microphone

18.  Built-in Bluetooth with support for A2DP compatible stereo headphones and speakers

Kindle PaperWhite

1.      US$119 for Kindle PaperWhite Wi-Fi

2.      US$179 for Kindle PaperWhite 3G

3.      6” 212 PPI Paperwhite Display optimized font technology, 16-level gray scale

4.      Patented built-in light

5.      6.7" x 4.6" x 0.36" (169 mm x 117 mm x 9.1 mm)

6.      Weight 7.5 ounces (213 grams)

7.      2G GB internal, 1.25 GB reserved for user content

8.      8 weeks based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 10

9.      4 Hours to recharge via USB to computer

10.  Wi-Fi 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

The features, at least for Americans, are quite compelling as well:

Features for the 7” Kindle Fire HD, 8.9” Kindle Fire HD 4TE and 8.9” Kindle Fire HD 4TE

1.      Over 22 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books,

2.      Audio books from the Amazon.com Store

3.      Apps for Social Networking and Games e.g. Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, HBO GO, Pandora, and Angry Birds Space

4.      Integrated support for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!

5.      Exchange calendar, contacts, and email

6.      Free Skype video calls with front-facing HD camera

7.      Free unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content

8.      Includes special offers and sponsored screensavers.

9.      Kindle FreeTime; a personalized tablet experience just for kids.

10.  Prime Instant Video for unlimited streaming of popular movies and TV titles

11.  X-Ray featured that uses the IMBD Movie Database to bring up onscreen info on movie characters

12.  WhysperSync for Cloud Storage and synchronization of Cloud content to Kindle

13.  Kindle Owners' Lending Library with 180,000 books to borrow for free with no due dates

14.  100 current and former New York Times best sellers and all 7 Harry Potter books.

Features for the 8.9” Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE

1.      Ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless from AT&T

2.      250MB for 1 year for $49.99

3.      Optional 3GB and 5GB monthly available on Telecom Provider AT&T

4.      20GB of additional Cloud Drive storage

5.      $10 Amazon App Store promotional credit

The new, improved kindles also support the following Content Formats:

Content Formats for Kindle Fire and Kindel E-Reader Family

1.      Documents - Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, DOC, DOCX

2.      Images - JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP

3.      Audio Audible Enhanced format (AAX), Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), non-DRM, AAC, MP3, MIDI, PCM/WAVE, OGG, WAV,

4.      Video - MP4, AAC LC/LTP, HEAACv1,HE-AACv2, AMR-NB, AMR-WB,

5.      Web Scripting - HTML5, CSS3, 3GP,VP8(.webm)

Curiously enough in the specs on their website, Amazon has only mentioned the battery life for their most basic model, the 7” Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader; the others have no mentioned Battery Life. The 4G is only on AT&T and no mention for International Support for these models.

The Kindle Paperwhite has 3G support from AT&T as well, understandable, as the speed is not needed on an e-reader. The measly storage space on the Kindle Fires is not so bad, as provided that you can sync and back up extra Data on your external Hard-drive or computer.

Amazon also claims that their Dual-Core Texas Instruments OMAP 4470 Processor is much faster and better able to manage multi-tasking than Nvidia Tegra 3 “Kal-el” Processor, the engine behind the 7” Google Nexus 7 Tablet as described in my blog article entitled “Google Nexus 7 Tablet to upgrade to 3G or LTE - Google Nexus 7 is a ParaNorman Bladerunner to kill the Amazon Kindle Fire 2”.

I’ll wait on the specs review from CNET before I get on that bandwagon, as performance is subjective to the tester and cannot be easily derived from specs, which by logic would suggest a Quad-Core Nvidia Tegra 3 should give better performance than a Dual-Core Chipset.

Now that Amazon Kindle Fire 2 upgrades have made their debut, I must say I’m personally blown away…..again. This move prompted CNET News Editor David Crothers to declare that Amazon had joined the Retina Display club with these high-end upgrades of their most successful product to date as noted in “Amazon's Kindle Fire HD joins 'Retina' ranks”, published September 6, 2012 11:10 PM PDT by Brooke Crothers, CNET News!

For reference, the 9.7”Apple iPad and the 3.7” Apple iPhone 4S defines the Retina Display Club with a 2,048-by-1,536 pixel density, yielding two hundred and sixty four) 264 PPI; so damn close, you have to use a monocle or magnifying glass just to start seeing the pixels, which are not visible to the naked eye.

This means that the new Amazon Kindle Fires are only 10 pixels short of Retina Display, prompting Richard Shim, an analyst at DisplaySearch to declare to CNET, quote: “That puts [8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD] in the same pixel density class as the iPad Retina”. 

Many had suspected a new Tablet was in the works to the point of speculating that the product would be launched on Tuesday July 31^st 2012 as ruminated in the article “Kindle Fire 2 may hit as soon as July”, published June 25, 2012 1:13 PM PDT by David Carnoy, CNET News.

Alas, this was not to be, as the date whisked by with nary a peep from Amazon but much fanfare from Google much ado about their Google Nexus 7 Tablet as stated in my blog article entitled “Google Nexus 7 Tablet to upgrade to 3G or LTE - Google Nexus 7 is a ParaNorman Bladerunner to kill the Amazon Kindle Fire 2”.

Then the biggest clue that Amazon has something up its sleeve dropped, when availability for the original Kindle Fire on Amazon was no longer evident as stated in the article “Kindle Fire 'Sold Out' as new model looms”, published 30 August 2012 by Lance Whitney, CNET News, a sure indication of a coming new product was coming.

Speculation was rife as to the nature and number of Kindle Fires (not just Kindles alone) and if they’d be packing LTE and faster Wi-Fi and a better screen for other things than just reading books as stated in as stated in the article “At least three Kindle Fire 2 Tablets, one with 4G, on the way”, published July 5th 2012, by Lance Whitney, CNET News.

It’s now also clear after their little adventure during the Christmas period the Amazon Kindle Fire was – well, on Fire, even took away some of the sales from the Apple iPad as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple iPad 3 Launch on March 2012 - Amazon Kindle Fire is a Sweet Dream but a Beautiful Nightmare for Apple” and my Geezam blog article entitled “Amazon sells 5.5 million Kindle Fires in Fourth Quarter 2012 – Apple iPad sales drop and plans January Press Event”. 

Hence it explains why Amazon is now expanding on the success by gunning directly for the Apple iPad. They’ve even outed a Tablet that sports 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) supports and is also priced similarly to match the Apple iPad as noted in the specs above and in the article “Amazon assaults iPad turf with high-end Kindle Fire HD”, published September 6, 2012 1:36 PM PDT by Jay Greene, CNET News.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has stated categorically that they are gunning for the Apple iPad with the higher end 8.9” Amazon Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE Model, as the specs and the price are in the same ballpark. His simple to-the-point statement says it all, quote: “We want to have the best tablet at any price”.

Amazon’s market demographic for the original Kindle Fire was mostly older middle aged persons who were not so tech savvy and wanted a basic Tablet for reading and shopping as note in my Geezam blog article entitled “Amazon Kindle Fire vs the Apple iPad – The Stats Wars worth Reading About”. Amazon's model, as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Kindle Fire vs Nook Color & Apple iPad 2 – Despite the Specs the Price is Still Right”, is based SOLELY on making money from its Online Retail Store and spanking New App store.

This is contrast to Apple's model of using their exclusive services such as Apple iTunes, Apple iCloud Storage and the Apple App store to drive Apple iPhone and Apple iPad sales as explained in the article “Kindle Fire HD: Amazon's anti-Apple profit engine”, published September 6, 2012 12:55 PM PDT by Roger Cheng, CNET News. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said as much during the launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD as he admitted carte blanche that Amazon made virtually no money on the sale of the Tablets, but rather from increased online purchases on their slew of online services, quote “We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices”.

Forrester Research Analyst Rotman Epps puts it in perspective, as he explains Amazon Razor-blade Strategy, quote: “Amazon's services are the core of its devices, and the devices enhance Amazon's service: a virtuous cycle where Amazon gains an increasing share of consumers' wallets”.

Forrester's recently did a survey that turned some interesting spending trends among online Credit Card users that supports this model’s success:

1.      33% registered their credit card on an Amazon Account

2.      18% registered their credit card on an Apple Account

3.      5% registered their credit card on a Google Account

As a way of providing a bit of historical perspective and background, Amazon intended the Kindle originally to sell more books when it had launched originally, which it did as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Piracy and E-Books in a Tale of Two Cities” and my blog article entitled “Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle - Publishers, Developers and Piracy” it did not accelerate e-Book Piracy as I’d predicted.

It would seem that people who genuinely like and read books are not in the same league as those who download and pirate movies; they are of the intellectual crowd and thus more respectful of the writer’s craft and are a lot less inclined to steal books, preferring to purchase them instead for the US$9.99 and upwards prices that the digital versions are sold.

In addition, anti-piracy measure on the Amazon Kindles made it difficult anyway to side-load books onto the Kindle, as the purchased ones looked so much more professional on you expensive new e-reader. So out comes the Credit Card and Down-load goes the e-book.

But when the Kindle Fire came on the scene as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Amazon lights a Kindle Fire as a Gladiator worthy of the Apple iPad”, it made Amazon realize that there was a newer generation of book reader that wanted more than just to read books.

They liked media consumption as well and books in Glossy print as the success of the Barnes and Noble Nook Color had demonstrated, making it a much-love gadget among women as stated in my blog article entitled “Women adore the Barnes and Noble Nook Colour – Free e-reader Home Improvement”.

The Amazon Kindle Fire was among a bevy of Kindles being sold by Amazon which were mainly being sold with the idea of continuing the e-book reading tradition that the original First Generation Kindle had started as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “Kindle Fire vs Nook Color & Apple iPad 2 – Despite the Specs the Price is Still Right”.

So now with the success of the Amazon Kindle for Amazon thus far, which this new product launch solidifies by expanding into a whole family of Kindle Fires, will Apple make an announcement as to a 7” Retina Display Apple iPad Mini?

Preferably in 2 versions, a Wi-Fi and a 4G LTE version as recommended in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 5 Event heralds 4G LTE and 4-inch Screen - New iPod and iMac Refresh possible as Apple becomes Lawless”?

Whatever they decide, the Call Center World, part of the ICT (Information and Computer Technology) Sector) will benefit again from American laziness to read manuals and the fact the we speak English, albeit not American English as intoned in my blog article entitled “Convergys and Aegis Communications Call Centers Coming – FDI powered Call Center Renaissance in Jamaica thanks to our Good English” and “Data Outsourcing comes to Jamaica via MobileWorks and Freelancer.com - Flexi-Work propelled by Crowsourcing and MicroWorking Anaconda”.

Already, the launch of these three (3) Amazon Kindle Fire HD’s and a single Kindle e-reader has resulted in the local Jamaican chapter of ACS-Xerox, now called Xerox after retiring the both the E-Services and ACS (Advanced Computer Systems) brand names as stated in the article “It's Xerox now - E-Services name retired” Published Wednesday July 25, 2012, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Xerox has now put out Ads in the Sunday Gleaner dated Sunday September 2^nd 2012AD looking for additional CSA (Customer Service Agents). Already, by the time this is published on my blog, they may have already had a Job Fair at their Naggo Head Headquarters and begun the intense 6 week training of CSA for Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk accounts.

A benefit to you if you live near Naggo Head, Portmore! Salaries are most likely to rise to JA$200 per hour and peak to JA$300 per hour range as overtime will be thrown at the new CSA’s left right and center…. plus incentives!

But more importantly, thanks to the strong demand for the Amazon Kindle Fire last year and now the new Kindle Fire HD, the Amazon Account is most likely to keep the CSA hired for this ram-up period long after the buzz and excitement of Christmas 2012AD has faded.

ACS-Xerox are beginning what is effectively a seasonal ramp-up to meet the crush of demand that is set to peak in Christmas of 2012AD as the Kindle Fire HD’s and the Kindle Paperwhite e-readers made by Amazon, The Lorax (2012), begins to Sparkle (2012) …….