Facebook Application Development

24, Jul, 12

Touch Publishing Platform Onswipe Moves Beyond iOS With Kindle Fire Support

Posted by Anthony Ha, under Kindle Fire, media, Mobile, startups, TC

Since fully launching a year ago, Onswipe has built touch-optimized experiences for iOS — starting with the iPad and, more recently, adding iPhone. Today it’s taking its first step beyond the Apple ecosystem with the launch of support for the Kindle Fire.

Onswipe’s stated goal is to deliver native app-like experiences through the mobile web. Achieving that on the Kindle Fire was particularly challenging, says CEO and co-founder Jason L. Baptiste, because it’s a relatively low-end device with an older operating system.

11, Jul, 12

Amazon’s Kindle Fire Gets A Taste Of Jelly Bean Thanks To Beta ROM

Posted by Chris Velazco, under Android, Gadgets, jelly bean, Kindle Fire, Mobile

Well, today’s shaping up to be a banner day for Kindle Fire owners. If the news of some nifty features for Kindle Fire games isn’t enough to get owners hot and bothered, how about a nice dose of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean?

Android developers and hackers have been working feverishly ever since Google released Jelly Bean to the Android Open Source Project repository two days ago, and it wasn’t long before a ROM for the Kindle Fire was pushed out into the world.

28, Jun, 12

Amazon Will Reportedly Launch A 10-Inch Quad-Core Tablet Alongside New Metal-Clad 7-Inch Fire

Posted by Jordan Crook, under amazon, Gadgets, Kindle Fire, TC

Amazon is said to be working on the next version of the Kindle Fire with more premium materials, including some type of metal casing. But perhaps even better (depending on your size preferences), the long-standing rumor that Amazon is allegedly working on a 10-inch tablet have resurfaced.

BGR reports that “Amazon is finally ready to move forward with the [10-inch] tablet.” General rumors include a quad-core processor and a higher quality screen than the original fire, along with the obvious size bump. But the original 7-inch Fire is also due for a revamp, and the same source reports a “chrome-look rib” in the brand new metal casing on the devices back (which will replace the plastic soft-touch shell on first-gen models), and a thinner profile.

15, Jun, 12

Amazon To Cut $50 Off The Fire, Release A 10.1-inch Model And New $199 7-inch, Says Report

Posted by Matt Burns, under amazon, Gadgets, Kindle Fire, TC

Amazon is prepping a 7-inch $199 tablet for a third quarter release, reports Max Wang for Digitimes. Reportedly, this tablet will have better specs than the Fire with a higher quality screen and more than likely a more competent computing platform. The original Fire will then get cut to $150. Then, later in the year or maybe in early 2013, Amazon will release a 10.1-inch model. This comes by way of an “upstream supply chain” source. Digitimes is as sketchy as trade publications get, but logic dictates that there is some truth here.

24, May, 12

Kayak Teams Up With Skyhook To Bring Reliable Location Services To Its Kindle Fire App

Posted by Frederic Lardinois, under Android, kayak, Kindle Fire, location, Mobile, Skyhook Wireless

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is one of the most popular Android-powered tablets, but it doesn’t feature a GPS chip. Given how important location-based services have become, that’s a bit of a drawback for many developers and quite a few apps that want to access location features on Amazon’s tablet actually crash. To avoid these issues, Kayak teamed up with Skyhook to provide location services for its updated Android app. Kayak, of course, relies heavily on location services to show its users information like nearby hotels and airport information.

11, May, 12

Amazon To Launch Color Ebook Reader Later This Year, Says Report

Posted by Matt Burns, under amazon, Gadgets, kindle color, Kindle Fire, TC

A color Kindle might be on the way. Industry watchdog publication, Digitimes, says Amazon will launch one in the second half of this year. The report goes on to state that the new models will forgo the traditional infrared touchpanels used in the current model for multitouch capacitive panels. Digitimes expects Amazon to adapt E Ink’s upcoming color EPD panels in their ereaders so don’t expect LCD displays.

This move, if true, would put the Kindle in a strange spot between a full-scale tablet and a tradition b/w ereader. Amazon has so far been very successful in marketing the Kindle’s grayscale screen against full color tablets like the iPad. The Kindle Fire showed that there is a demand for color ereaders as well, though. A color eink display might be the start of a larger content push from Amazon.

08, May, 12

JumpTap: Kindle Fire Usage Has Declined After Holiday Boost, iPad Back To Pre-Fire Launch Levels

Posted by Ingrid Lunden, under Gadgets, Jumptap, Kindle Fire, Mobile, mobile advertising, tablets, TC

The Kindle Fire from Amazon has stolen a march in the tablet world, with some estimating that it now makes up more than half of all Android tablets in use in the U.S. today. But the latest monthly figures from mobile ad network JumpTap today paint a different picture in terms of usage.

JumpTap noted that in the months after its launch, Amazon’s device rapidly picked up market share, reaching 33 percent of all traffic on its network in January 2012. But since then, the figure has gradually been in decline and is now at 22 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPad — which had lost share to the Kindle Fire — is now back to 65 percent, or where it was before Amazon launched its tablet.

26, Apr, 12

ComScore: Amazon’s Kindle Fire Now Has Over Half The U.S. Android Tablet Market (And All The Mindshare?)

Posted by Ingrid Lunden, under Android, Kindle Fire, Mobile, tablets, TC

On the same day that Amazon will be releasing its quarterly earnings, some research from comScore underscores just how far the company has come since launching its Kindle Fire tablet in November 2011.

The researchers say that as of February 2012, Amazon’s Kindle Fire now accounts for 54.4 percent of all Android tablets in the U.S. Given how many different models of Android tablets there are out in the market at the moment, that gives it a strong lead over the rest of the field: the whole range of Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets, added together, only accounted for 15.4 percent of the market, with the Xoom following at seven percent, comScore said.

25, Apr, 12

Amazon May Finally Be Ready To Battle Apple In China With Kindle Debut

Posted by Contributor, under amazon, China, e-reader, ECommerce, Gadgets, Kindle, Kindle Fire, Mobile, Tablet, TC

Are Amazon’s Kindle tablets and e-readers ready to break into the world’s biggest market? We’ve spotted some Chinese Help documentation for Amazon Kindle devices on the company’s China-facing site in a sign that they may be coming for real this time.

Even though the online documentation vanished, we have a screenshot of Google’s cached version of the site (see below). Amazon’s China office declined to comment.

05, Apr, 12

Seven

Posted by MG Siegler, under Apple, ipad, Kindle Fire, Opinion, TC

Will Apple make a 7 inch iPad? That’s the question being batted around yet again today. The true answer right now is easy: I don’t know. No one does. Most likely not even Apple. They’re undoubtedly thinking about it. And may even have to make a call soon. But it has probably not been decided just yet. But that’s a lame answer. Let’s sexy it up using history, logic, and common sense.

Will Apple make a 7 inch iPad?

Yes.

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