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Engadget: Oh snap! Look who just ate Apple and Google’s lunch here? Minutes ago, Amazon rolled out its very own music streaming service which is conveniently dubbed the Amazon Cloud Player. Existing Amazon customers in the US can now upload their MP3 purchases to their 5GB cloud space — upgradable to a one-year 20GB plan for free upon purchasing an MP3 album, with additional plans starting at $20 a year — and then start streaming on their computers or Android devices. Oh, and did we mention that this service is free of charge as well? Meanwhile, someone will have some catching up to do, but we have a feeling it won’t take them too long.

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Electronista: Amazon on Thursday released its fourth-quarter earnings report, indicating a net income increase of 75 percent to reach $9.5 billion.

CEO Jeff Bezos claims that “millions of people now own Kindles,” although the company has yet to release specific distribution numbers for the e-book reader.

The US Kindle Store now offers over 410,000 e-books, covering 100 of 112 New York Times bestsellers.

Customers can also choose from over 8,000 blogs and more than 130 domestic and international newspapers.

“When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books,” said Bezos. “This is year-to-date and includes only paid books — free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It’s been an exciting 27 months.”

Amazon has reported a 28 percent increase in net sales for the full year of 2009, reaching approximately $24.5 billion. Net income rose to $902 million for the year, a 40 percent increase compared to 2008 profits.

The company recently changed its Kindle payouts to compete with Apple, now giving 70 percent of the purchase price back to the publishers. Apple has maintained its 30 percent cut, however publishers are not restricted to Amazon’s $10 price cap for e-books.

The iPad maker recommends that publishers charge $14 or $15 for hardcover bestsellers.

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CNet: Rumours have surfaced that Amazon is looking to open physical retail stores in the UK, not long after the Borders chain of bookstores went into administration.

The rumours emerged yesterday in The Sunday Times. According to the paper, Amazon has ‘launched a secret search for brick-and-mortar stores to support its rapidly growing Web site’.

The intent behind such a venture seems clear enough: you could order online and collect at the store a few hours later. This is something that Argos is undoubtedly having heated board meetings about as you read this.

According to the The Sunday Times, 18 per cent of Argos’ sales are made on its Web site but collected from a store.

In recent years, Amazon has expanded from its core book-selling business to offer electrical products, clothes and shoes, sports gear and even kitchen appliances. The problem we see, however, is that many of these products are actually sold by third-party retailers who simply sell through Amazon’s site and give it a cut of the revenue generated.

There are a number of ways the company could make its retail stores really stand out. For example, it could enable in-store browsing and downloading of MP3s from its Amazon MP3 store, or provide opportunities to actually try out the Kindle ebook reader before purchase. And let’s not forget the convenience of having somewhere local to return faulty or damaged goods, negating one of the big pains in the backside experienced by online shoppers.

We contacted Amazon.co.uk for comment, but it hadn’t responded at the time of publication.

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Wired: Any moment now, the hot new Kindle should be all over the news. It has many hopes pinned upon it, from the ludicrously optimistic wishes of the newspaper industry to the rather worried expectations of the chiropractic industry (no heavy textbooks equals no spinal injuries to treat).

One thing is sure, though. Tech rolls in and out of fashion, and today the turnover is faster than ever. It won’t be long before many seemingly permanent gadgets disappear and become mere curiosities.

Here are a few things that will seem as retro to the kids of tomorrow as the steam ship seems to us today.

1. VCR: Just last night I asked the Lady “When was the last time you taped a TV show?” It was, of course, years ago. In fact, the only reason she still has a VCR is because the TV remote is lost, so the VCR is effectively a giant channel changer. It’s increasingly hard to rent movies on video, recording is both a pain and low, low quality and even buying a machine is tricky. Death Rating 5/5
2. Books: This one will take a while, but paper books will eventually be the written equivalent of the vinyl record — loved, collected and sold in small numbers, but really just a niche market. The e-reader isn’t nearly ready enough yet, but if the Kindle Magnum (or DX, or whatever) makes its way into schools and colleges, the formative experience of reading will be electronic, not paper, and that will be the beginning of the end. Death Rating 2/5
3. Letters: More paper, and more words. A personal letter that comes in the mail is so rare these days that we can probably declare it extinct, with a few unsubstantiated sightings every year — much like Bigfoot. It’s a shame — writing a letter was a longer, more considered affair than banging out an email, an act which itself already seems out-of-date in these days of the Twitter. And receiving one from a friend or loved one is magical. This romantic, personal method of communication has also formed a good chunk of history, something that will be lost — can you imagine the collected emails of a famous person being posthumously published? Death Rating 5/5
4. The Newspaper: The news isn’t going anywhere. The opposite, in fact — it is now possible to consume news from an almost endless supply, from amateur video to local blogs to forward thinking magazine-based sites (like Wired.co.uk, for example). But the newpaper? Dead. Or at least on life support, begging to be put out of its misery. The reason is, of course, the internet. Gutenberg’s legacy might limp on a little longer, but the internet does the exact same job — dispersing information — much more efficiently. In fact, the jump from printed paper to electronic delivery makes the original move from handwriting to movable type look like a mere historical blip, and that isn’t to put down the printing press in any way at all. Death Rating 5/5
5. The Desktop PC: What? Yes. The beige box is headed the way of the mainframe. Notebook computers already outsell desktops, and for good reason — the performance of a portable is close enough to the desktop for everyone except Pixar. More importantly, computing is so ubiquitous and essential that anyone who can afford a computer wants their own machine, and they want to take it with them. A laptop is no longer a luxury, it’s the norm. But even these are going to disappear, or perhaps be consigned to remain, ironically, on the desktop. Take a look around you: What do you see in everybody’s hand? That’s it — a phone. And the phone is fast becoming the only computer most people will need. It will probably also be their book, their newspaper and their VCR. Death Rating 4/5

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CNet: The NPD Group just sent out some interesting statistics, based on a study conducted by its music-tracking service.

“In 2008, 87 percent of digital-music buyers in the U.S. used iTunes to download music, versus just 16 percent who used Amazon MP3,” according to a spokesman for the research group. (Those surveyed could list more than one store.)

On the face of it, the study’s numbers don’t sound so bad. Russ Crupnick, an NPD analyst agreed that they should encourage Amazon. For one, the online retailer’s music store is in second place only 18 months after opening. Amazon’s digital-music store is also faring better than most of Apple’s previous challengers, Crupnick said.

“It used to be that iTunes was first, and second was practically nobody,” Crupnick said.

Amazon MP3 has begun to catch on with an audience that is a little older than the average iTunes shopper, and that’s good, Crupnick said.

“I suspect a lot of consumers, some of them a little older, are still buying CDs,” he said. “That’s going to help Amazon because they aren’t battling over every crumb with iTunes. They’ll share some customers and have some of their own, and that will help the company with growth.”

The other major point the research shows is just how strong the iTunes franchise is, according to Crupnick. Apple’s music store is home to almost 90 percent of the music buyers.

For people wary of the price changes set to hit iTunes on Tuesday, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Crupnick said the NPD Group will be tracking sales very closely, but he’s very skeptical that the variable pricing structure Apple is adopting (ranging from 69 cents for catalog songs to $1.29 for newer hit songs) won’t harm sales.

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Inquirer: Rumours are circulating that executives from Seattle-based Amazon’s MP3 Store have been in London to talk to major Brit record labels about a launch of the service in Europe, kicking off with the UK.

The usual suggestion that it will be Apple with its iTunes music store that will be shaking in its boots is somewhat tenuous. The major point about Amazon’s offering is that it is DRM free.

By contrast, we all know that Apple fanboys are perfectly prepared to put up with that company’s devious ways of tying customers into its hardware and Itunes software.

The suppliers who should be most afraid are those desperately trying to flog their wares to mobile phone users – especially since consumers are now just waking up to the fact that their phone is also a pretty decent MP3 player.

If handset users realise they can get their favourite tunes DRM-free from Amazon rather than have them tied to particular handset, the mobile operators are going to lose out.

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Reuters: Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment are feeling increased pressure to follow EMI and Universal Music Group’s lead in distributing music in the MP3 format, which forgoes restrictive digital rights management technology.A yearlong download promotion planned between Pepsi and Amazon is among several developments forcing WMG and Sony to consider the format, Billboard has learned,

News of the Pepsi promotion, which is expected to be announced February 3 during the Super Bowl, coincides with Wal-Mart’s ultimatum that major labels supply walmart.com with their music in MP3, sources said.

Labels said they have been watching the success of an MP3 test that Universal Music Group (UMG) began in August. The major label continues to allow the sale of 85 percent of its current catalog as MP3s. Sources said UMG is on the verge of permanently embracing that digital format. But a source close to the testing insisted that the decision is still up in the air while the company awaits conclusive results from the trial, which are due in mid-January.

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Digital Spy: E-tailer Amazon has revealed that it sold 1,400 Nintendo Wii consoles in just 10 minutes after it received a delivery of the hard-to-find system.

Following last week’s news that HMV sold its stock in 34 minutes, the build-up to Christmas has seen orders increase even more, with Amazon the latest firm to see demand far outstrip supply.

Nintendo is now suffering both financially and critically as frustrated gamers struggle to find the hugely popular machine anywhere on the high street.

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TWICE: Amazon.com has launched a dedicated HD micro site designed to explain and sell high-definition TV and related products to less tech-savvy consumers.

The micro site, called Amazon High-Def 101, serves as comprehensive knowledge base for HDTV and home theatre, while also presenting the e-tailer’s extensive assortment of HDTVs, movie players, game systems, PC options, accessories and movies.

Educational features include a library of articles, frequently asked questions and educational videos aimed at helping the average shopper configure their HD home entertainment experience.

The site also offers a dictionary of HD terminology that explains commonly used phrases and abbreviations, and serves as a forum for a community of home theater professionals who post weekly blog entries and participate in online discussions to help answer customer questions and provide direction.

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Monsters and Critics: The appearance of Amazon.com’s new music download service could well be marked as a significant turning point in the ongoing market dominance of Apple’s iTunes Store, and that possibility moved one step closer to reality this week when Amazon launched its public beta of Amazon MP3.While offering more DRM-free unprotected music and cheaper prices than its iTunes rival, Amazon’s service also allows almost all music-enabled phone handsets and portable music/media players to take advantage of its content with limitless CD burning and file copying – something Apple’s iTunes presently cannot match.

What’s more, although iTunes users have thus far been strictly limited to using Apple’s own download service, Amazon MP3’s integrated MP3 Downloader program will enable its iPod-owning customers to seamlessly transfer music through to iTunes – if it’s present on the user’s system. MP3 Downloader will work for both Mac and Windows users and will also allow for content transfer on Windows Media Player as well as iTunes.

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