Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#41

Post by dagw » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 12:55 PM UTC

waterlesscloud wrote: post #19

As I'm reading it, they're going to charge 15 cents per megabyte to deliver the app itself to the device. That cost will be deducted from the app price, and the remainder is what will be split 70/30 with developers. They cap over-the-air delivery at 10 meg. Anything over that is downloaded to user's computer, then to kindle via usb. Cumbersome. So you could have up to $1.50 of the app price deducted for delivery fees…

I wonder if apps will be allowed to connect to the internet and if so will there be any charges there. If not, the obvious workaround is to write the smallest possible app and then let the app download additional features on the fly as it is used. I'm guessing Amazon have thought of this though and will crack down on it somehow.

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#42

Post by dagw » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 1:13 PM UTC

dagw wrote: post #41

waterlesscloud wrote: post #19

As I'm reading it, they're going to charge 15 cents per megabyte to deliver the app itself to the device. That cost will be deducted from the app price, and the remainder is what will be split 70/30 with developers. They cap over-the-air delivery at 10 meg. Anything over that is downloaded to user's computer, then to kindle via usb. Cumbersome. So you could have up to $1.50 of the app price deducted for delivery fees…

I wonder if apps will be allowed to connect to the internet and if so will there be any charges there. If not, the obvious workaround is to write the smallest possible app and then let the app download additional features on the fly as it is used. I'm guessing Amazon have thought of this though and will crack down on it somehow.

Yup, just found the link to Amazons SDK website, and anything over 100KB/month the user will have have to pay for somehow.

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#43

Post by bioweek » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 1:29 PM UTC

Can someone make a PDF reader for the Kindle? It would display PDF's somewhat sanely and it would allow bookmarking and annotations.

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#44

Post by Herring » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 1:35 PM UTC

dkokelley wrote: post #17

I'm excited to see what come of this. Although most of my 'connected' needs are filled by my iPhone, having a comparable substitute on the big, battery-sipping, easy-on-the-eyes screen seems like a good idea. Now if only they would come down in price just a bit...

Last I checked they had it refurbished for ~400

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#45

Post by gyardley » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 1:53 PM UTC

mcobrien wrote: post #25

waterlesscloud wrote: post #19

As I'm reading it, they're going to charge 15 cents per megabyte to deliver the app itself to the device. That cost will be deducted from the app price, and the remainder is what will be split 70/30 with developers. They cap over-the-air delivery at 10 meg. Anything over that is downloaded to user's computer, then to kindle via usb. Cumbersome. So you could have up to $1.50 of the app price deducted for delivery fees…

Definitely cumbersome, but you'd be hard pressed to find a 99c iPhone app that's 10MB. With the simplicity of typical apps and platform restrictions (black & white!), a lot will fit in the first 1MB.

Right now two of the top ten paid iPhone apps are both $0.99 and over 10MB. I'm of the impression that this is quite common.

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#46

Post by pmjordan » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 3:14 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #38

melling wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's hope they put wifi in the next gen Kindle's. It's crazy that they left it out.

I absolutely love WiFi, and wish every mobile device had it, but I can easily see how it would appear useless in their original vision for the Kindle. Anything that is useless, is of course cut for cost reasons. Remember, the 3G modem really was only used in the first place so you can seamlessly buy books from anywhere, on the go. Anywhere there is WiFi, there is almost always 3G/1Rtt, and WiFi is more complicated fo…

Plus, I gather that public Wifi coverage in the US is pretty good. Elsewhere, not so much. Almost all publicly accessible access points in Europe aren't free and cost more than 3G data these days. (and yes, I do think that's completely ridiculous)

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#47

Post by spudlyo » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 3:42 PM UTC

grandalf wrote: post #22

skywalker wrote: post #14

"We've heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle" So, why didn't they do nothing for two years? One week before Apple supposedly will announce the iTablet, Amazon creates a press release saying a limited beta of the Kindle SDK will start next month ! If you are the market leader, why would you wait two years for yours competitors? Doesn't make sense to me.

I get the impression that most product teams at Amazon contain about 5 people. I love Amazon, btw, I just think they keep the teams lean and do amazing things.

"If a project team can eat more than two pizzas, it's too large." -- Werner Vogels Amazon CTO

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#48

Post by ableal » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 4:08 PM UTC

bioweek wrote: post #43

Can someone make a PDF reader for the Kindle? It would display PDF's somewhat sanely and it would allow bookmarking and annotations.

Besides the one Amazon ships in the latest firmware versions ? ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2... )

The manuals ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2... ) seem to say you can bookmark PDF pages, but do not mention clippings or annotations, which are allowed for the mobi/azw default format.

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#49

Post by ralphc » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 4:09 PM UTC

What I haven't seen answered is can I develop my own apps for my own Kindle for free? A big factor for me losing interest in iPhone development is having to pay 99$ a year to make apps for myself, that expire in a year.

Re: Amazon Cracks Open the Kindle

#50

Post by shpxnvz » Thu, Jan 21, 2010, 4:58 PM UTC

grandalf wrote: post #22

skywalker wrote: post #14

"We've heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle" So, why didn't they do nothing for two years? One week before Apple supposedly will announce the iTablet, Amazon creates a press release saying a limited beta of the Kindle SDK will start next month ! If you are the market leader, why would you wait two years for yours competitors? Doesn't make sense to me.

I get the impression that most product teams at Amazon contain about 5 people. I love Amazon, btw, I just think they keep the teams lean and do amazing things.

If I remember correctly from a visit out there a couple of months ago, they top out at around 12 people on a team (as the other reply mentioned, they're internally referred to as "2-pizza" teams).