Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is to hold a press conference next month at the Barker Hangar, a 35,000 sq ft venue in Santa Monica. Bakar Hangar is reputed to be the largest stage on the west side.
This is a different location from New York, where Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has traditionally held press conferences dealing with product launches, such as the Kindle.
According to a report in CNET, the date of the conference is September 6, and invites for the press conference have already been sent out. Most likely, Amazon will launch new Kindles, such as a new Fire and an e-ink Kindle, with built in lighting option. However, all of this is just hearsay, and more information is likely to emerge soon.
However, given that the Los Angeles area is home to the entertainment industry, there is speculation that a new device, if launched, could be focused on entertainment and heavy on content, such as video, music, and games. Significantly, the event is being held a few days before the likely date of Apple’s event, and may be designed to steal its thunder.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has already made moves to beef up its marketing of the Kindle in India. According this report in Valuewalk, the online retailer officially launched its India Kindle Store on Wednesday. The store includes more than one million books, priced in rupees, and is available for purchase by Indian customers. In a separate move, Amazon has arranged for marketing of its basic Kindle e-reader through India’s Tata Group and its Croma retail store. This model is priced at Rs 6999 ($127), does not have a touch-screen, but boasts wi-fi and a 2GB storage capacity.
The on-line retailer is rated Overweight by research firm Piper Jaffray, who holds that it could be a beneficiary from the troubles at Best Buy.
Last week we reported that Kynikos Associates LP, managed by famed short seller Jim Chanos, boosted its investments in the technology sector, and that one of his investments was a fresh buy of 14,100 shares in Amazon, thereby taking his total investment in the retailer to 49,400 shares valued at $11,280,490.
