Buzz builds for Kindle 2
Reuters and others are reporting that Amazon.com is expected to unveil a new version of the Kindle electronic reader on Monday.
While the Kindle is a tiny part of Amazon’s web retail business, it gets a ton of buzz, and a new version has been much speculated about on the web. The question is whether mainstream consumers are really ready to buy it, particularly in the current economic environment.
“We think Kindle will be an interesting product which the high-end consumers love, particularly investment bankers traveling in from Connecticut,” Bernstein Research’s Jeffrey Lindsay says in the Reuters story. ”We don’t think it will be a large penetration object any time soon.”
To help with mainstreamers, the Wall Street Journal writes, Amazon is also expected to say it has acquired a new work by best-selling novelist Stephen King that will be available exclusively, at least for a time, on Kindle.
“Many publishers have long feared that Amazon would persuade a major author to write for its Kindle on an exclusive basis. Although retailers such as Barnes & Noble Inc. have long published their own books, they have struggled to find distribution outside their own stores. But Amazon has already proven that it can sell as many Kindles as it can manufacture. Indeed, Amazon is working to overcome the supply problems that have plagued the device,” says the Journal.
We won’t know all the details until later today, so stay tuned. For now, engadget has what appear to be some early images of the new version.
Kellogg drops Phelps after photos
We won’t be tempted by puns. Or any sort of lame wordplay. We’ll play this straight. Seriously. Here goes: After all the bad publicity caused by a photo of Michael Phelps apparently taking a bong hit, Kellogg has decided to dump the superswimmer.
Okay, now that’s out of the way. Here’s the basics from Reuters:
The world’s largest cereal maker said on Thursday it would not extend a contract with Phelps, who charmed audiences in Beijing last year with a record-breaking, eight-gold medal haul, saying the photo of the swimmer was inconsistent with its public image.
Phelps, estimated to make millions of dollars annually from marketing deals, issued an apology this week after a British newspaper published a photograph purportedly showing him smoking marijuana during a student party at the University of South Carolina in November.
The move doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Marketers often get nervous about this sort of thing, especially when forking out big bucks in this economy. Phelps has other deals worth millions of dollars with brands including Speedo swimwear, Omega watches, Visa Inc, Subway sandwiches and Hilton Hotels. Phelps’s agency, Octagon, said earlier this week that it had been in touch with his sponsors and that none had indicated any intention of backing out of their deals.
What changed? What’s the deal with Kellogg? The difference? One marketing executive tells AdWeek that it’s all about the kids.
The thing is, obviously the AOL subscribers who have commented about this incident with Michael Phelps don’t understand business and endorsement ethics.This was a very serious breach of contract regardless of how young Michael is.When you sign a contract to represent a brand® you have an obligation to look outfor the interests of the payee above your own by keeping your personal behavior within the bounds of the law and moral standard. By allowing himself the freedom to participate in the Bong Photo and activity he disrespected his Agents, his Sponsors, the USOC and himself most importantly. There is no reason why we should not expect our Heros and Icons to behave with wisdom, knowledge and good sense, if we trust them with millions of dollars and the dreams of our own children! He had been warned previously with his DUI in 2004 after returning from Athens, Greece, that was his wake up call; He chose to ignore it. Everyone should wake up and take notice. America needs to protect integrity and honor. Simply put Michael Phelps did not honor his word and actions by risking some much for so little. “To whom much is given much is expected.”
