Amazon

Amazon.com Circa 1998

Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) is an American-based multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington and parent of subsidiary, Lab126, who developed the Kindle ereader platform for the rendering and displaying of e-books and other digital media. It was launched in November 2007 as an ebook reader which downloaded content over a “Whispernet”, via the Sprint Nextel EV-DO wireless network. The screen uses E Ink technology to reduce battery consumption allowing for hours of untethered reading time. By 2008 Amazon’s Kindle-based library included over 200,000 titles.

There are currently four hardware devices known as “Kindle”, “Kindle 2″, “Kindle 3″, and “Kindle DX.” Kindle software applications exist for Microsoft Windows, iOS (Apple iPhones, iPod Touch, and iPads), BlackBerry (Research in Motion), Mac OS X (Apple) and Android. Amazon’s first hardware device, the Kindle First Generation, was released only in the United States on November 19, 2007. The latest hardware device, the 3rd generation Kindle with 3G support for use in 100 countries and territories, was announced on July 28, 2010.

In July 2010 Amazon announced that ebook sales for its Kindle reader outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010. Amazon claims that during that period sold 143 e-books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there is no digital edition; and during late June and early July sales rose to 180 digital books for every 100 hardcovers.

Jeff Bezos, CEO, founded Amazon in 1994 and launched it online in 1995 as Cadabra.com. It started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, and toys.