Amazon's Big Secret About The Kindle Fire Tablet

Amazon has a secret about their newest Tablet PC: the Kindle Fire.

It has to do with the cost. No, it is not the price, it is pretty well know that this new tablet retails for $199.

The secret has to do with how much Amazon makes from the sale of each and every Amazon Fire Tablet. Amazon is raking in a huge nothing profit. Yup, you read that right. Amazon makes no money from each Kindle Tablet sale. In fact it costs them 10$ more to produce these tablets than they sell them for. So they actually lose 10 dollars each and every tablet.

Now losing 10$ a tablet may not seem much to you and me. (Although every little bit counts in these tough economic times). But when you figure that Amazon could possibly sell 10-20 million of these units, you begin to see that this could be a loss in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

But why would Amazon be content to do this with the Kindle Fire tablet?

Why would Amazon be willing to provide products for only a loss? It is simple, Amazon.com views this modern tablet a "Loss Leader". (This is a merchandise that is sold an inexpensive price, or even sells for less than it costs to make, to promote sales and profits of various other products and services).

Many of the folks who shop for Amazon Tablet PC's will want to purchase additional add-ons. They may want to get the Kindle Fire "skins", Kindle Fire stands and power converters or even the warranty.

Amazon likely make-up any sales deficits from the purchase of these add-ons. They may even turn a small profit per sale on average ...but that is not the primary point.

The real reason behind Amazon's insane decision about the Kindle Fire pricing has to do with consumption of Electronic Media. Amazon has hand crafted the Kindle Fire Tablet to give the customer the very best in media consumption. Amazon wants to give consumers good reason to buy MP3's, streaming movies, digital books and all other forms of virtual products from them.

The future of this media consumption is important to Amazon because they are betting that devices like the tablet will be essential to this media consumption.

The neat thing about this is that Amazon normally has the most affordable prices anyway as well as providing the "gold standard" of services for this content material also.

In many ways, the Kindle Fire Tablet PC and Amazon. com are creating something you can use forever. Not really only a Kindle Fire Tablet life span but your life-time. So why not consider a little bit more specifics of this innovative state of the art Amazon tablet.

Why not check a Kindle Fire out as a present for a loved one, relative...or maybe for yourself.

Secret Kindle Book Sharing Technique - Why Trade For Two Weeks Only?

Amazon has recently announced that people can share their Kindle titles for up to two weeks with other Kindle users, or Kindle app users. Little do most people know, there is a way to trade titles with friends and family for free with no time limits. Here's how it's done.

There will be two people involved in this transaction. We will call them the Giver and the Receiver. The giver will be giving their titles to the receiver. Note that the giver will keep all titles on their Kindle as well.

Step 1) Giver logs into their Amazon.com account and goes into "Manage Your Kindle" under the Digital Content section. Giver clicks on "Register a new Kindle".

Step 2) Receiver turns on their Kindle and deregisters their Kindle. Follow the prompts, Home->Menu->Settings->Deregister.

Step 3) Giver adds the Serial Number of the Receiver's Kindle and clicks "Register a New Kindle".

Step 4) Receiver goes to Home screen on their Kindle and clicks on the "Archived Items". Any books on the Giver's Kindle will now show up within the Archived Items.

Step 5) Receiver clicks on any books within the "Archived Items". These books are immediately delivered to the Receiver's Kindle.

Now the Receiver has just put any books they want from the Giver onto their Kindle.

You can now reverse the process to swap books from/to the opposite Kindles.

It is important that when all is said and done, each person deregisters the Kindle and re-registers it to their own respective account. Otherwise, the other person will be paying for your Kindle purchases from now on.

The above point explains why this ability to swap like this even exists. Say you are a family who has two elementary school children with Kindles. You aren't going to make them pay for their own titles! They of course don't even have credit cards to associate with their accounts.

According to Amazon, one piece of digital content can be used by up to 6 users simultaneously. That means that a family of 6 could be using the same ebook. Or, you and 5 of your other family members and friends can be using one piece of digital content or book.

This is a very little known method of sharing books within the family and anyone else you are close with, but completely legitimate in the eyes of Amazon. It is well documented on Amazon.com in the customer discussions.

It seems controversial, but the bottom line is, Amazon has no alternative to leaving this secret ebook sharing loophole open...for now.

Kathy writes extensively on the Nook vs Kindle [http://www.thenookvskindle.com/new-kindle-3-vs-nook-and-the-winner-is]. You can get even more information on her website, including a video showing the two working side by side at [http://www.thenookvskindle.com].

The Secret to Finding the Perfect Kindle 3 Covers!

The Kindle 3 is also known as the "Kindle with keyboard" or just "Kindle Keyboard". The covers available for this model of Kindle just exploded as the popularity of the Kindle grew amazingly. Here are some details on just two places to look. The secret to finding the perfect Kindle 3 covers is to look at as many places as possible. The right ones will reach out and grab you when you see them.

Amazon, the creators of the Kindle, did their own leather cover with a built-in light for the Kindle 3, which differed from third party covers with a built-in light in that it ran from the Kindle's own battery. The light extends and retracts from the top-right corner of the cover. Extending the light turns it on, while retracting it turns it off. LED technology is used for the light, giving very efficient usage of battery power for good bright light. Some have queried the fact that the LED is not replaceable; however since LEDs have such a long life time, they are likely to outlast both the Kindle and its cover, so replacement is not a problem. Because the light uses the Kindle 3's own internal battery to power it, battery life in the Kindle is reduced when using the light, although users report that since the Kindle has such an amazing battery life to begin with, the battery life with the light is still very acceptable. An interesting bonus is that if the user falls asleep reading, the light turns off when the Kindle goes to sleep, thus saving battery power compared to covers for the Kindle 3 which use separate batteries. This cover is also much lighter (pardon the pun!) than others using separate batteries.

Another place which is definitely worth looking at for Kindle 3 covers is Etsy. Etsy is not a manufacturer or supplier of Kindle 3 covers per se, but a marketplace primarily for handmade products, and has a huge range of covers for all models of Kindle from small suppliers offering their goods through Etsy's website. All the covers seem to be made of fabric, and the range of prints and styles is just enormous. There are literally thousands of them! Would you like leopard skin print? Or flowers? Or animals playing among the toadstools? It's all there, and lots and lots more. Would you like button clasp, tab clasp, velcro clasp or no clasp at all? All there, in carefully handcrafted quality. These covers seriously make a statement about yourself. What if the statement that you would like to make changes from time to time? Then grab more than one! They also make great gifts for family members and friends. Remember that the cover doesn't just have to make a statement about the owner, it can make a statement from you to the receiver of the gift too.

by Pete Edwards from Australia, the Great South Land

These are only a couple of places to look for covers for your Kindle 3. Have a look at our website for more information on Kindle 3 Covers, including images and links to suppliers.

Need information on covers for other Kindle models? Our Cover For Kindle page is a great place to start.

Amazon Kindle How-To Series - Find Out the "Secret" Functions on the Kindle 1

Amazon has built a number of different features into the Kindle that never made it to the menus you use to access your e-books and audio books. You can do everything from make screen shots of your Kindle screen to find your location on Google Maps using the WhisperNet wireless technology in the Kindle.

NOTE- the features discussed here are for the Amazon Kindle 1 device. The Kindle 2 device available after February 24, 2009 likely will have different keyboard accessible features.

To access these features you will use a combination of keys on your Kindle's keyboard. Most all of the features begin by pressing the key which is the at the lower left-hand side of your Kindle keyboard. You also may have to press the key which is directly above the key and has an upright arrow symbol. Here are a few of the special features you can access:

1. Play a game of Minesweeper on your Kindle - From the Home Screen press the key and the key and then the key to access a basic Minesweeper game. The Minesweeper menu lets you control the grid size and the number of mines you have to find.

2. Find-out the time - From the Kindle Home Screen press the key and the key. The page number display (i.e. 1 of 3) at the bottom left of your Kindle screen will change to a time display.

3. Find-out the time - From the Kindle Reader Screen (i.e. while reading and e-book) press the key and the key. The "Locations" display at the bottom left of your Kindle screen will change to a time that is in text vs. numeric format. For example 1:31 is "Twenty-nine till two".

4. Take a "screen shot" of your Kindle screen - From any screen press the and key, then the key. You won't get any notification that a screen-shot has been taken but you will find the screen shot on your Kindle's SD card. The Kindle won't save screen shots to its internal memory.

5. Find your current location - Open the Kindle's browser - Menu > Experimental > Basic Web then press the key and the key. Google Maps will open with your location shown. Your location is "triangulated" from the WhisperNet wireless access built into the Kindle so it's not entirely accurate. But you can zoom in and out on the map to get a better idea of where you are - this gets you in the ball park.

6. View your e-book as a slide show - From the Kindle's e-book reader press the key and key to turn on the slide show capability. Then press the key and key to start the slide show. Press the key and the key to turn the slide show off. Press the key and the key again to disable the slide show capability.

7. Control the Kindle audio player - Press the key and key to play or stop the audio player. Press the key and the key to advance to the next track.

8. Reboot your Kindle - If you Kindle has been acting a bit "flaky" you can do a soft reboot by pressing the key and the key then the key.

The eight features listed above should give you an idea of the capabilities that are "hidden away" in your Kindle. Some of them will make your Kindle experience a bit better, and some will help you when you're trying to trouble shoot problems with your Kindle. Keep this list handy so when you get tired of reading your favorite e-book or listening to your favorite audio book you can give them a try.

Want to learn even more about the Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 e-book readers? Visit http://www.guidetokindle.com and find-out about even more keyboard accessible features on your Kindle. Sign-up for our e-mail newsletter and keep up-to-date on everything Kindle.