Amazon Kindle lands at Walmart

By Geoff Duncan May 6, 2011

Amazon Kindle (Special Offers) — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon.com has announced its Kindle ereader will soon be available in more than 3,200 Walmart retail stores in the United States, significantly expanding the retail availability of the company’s popular ereader. Although the Kindle has been available from Target, Best Buy, Staples, and other retailers for some time, the move into Walmart should substantially expand the Kindle’s retail footprint—and enable it to compete side-by-side with ereaders from Barnes & Noble and Kobo, which went into Walmart stores ahead of the 2010 end-of-year holiday buying season.

Walmart stores will be carrying the Kindle 3G and Kindle with Special Offers, which makes special offers available to customers directly on the Kindle, such as discounted Amazon gift cards. Walmart will not be offering the larger Kindle DX.

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Amazon’s decision to expand the number of retail locations offering the Kindle may be a smart move for the company competitively. Where ereader makers like Barnes & Noble and Sony have significant retail operations where companies can set hands on their products and see if they like them, Amazon’s online-only approach doesn’t give customers a good feel for the Kindle—no number of 3D rotating views of the device or customer testimonials are going to give customers the same kind of experience as holding a Kindle in their hands. Even in the age of the Internet, retail storefronts still carry considerable value: Apple has ridden its retail stores to the height of the tech industry.

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Outdoors

Juiced Bikes offers 20% off on all e-bikes amid signs of bankruptcy

Juiced Bikes Scrambler ebike

A “20% off sitewide” banner on top of a company’s website should normally be cause for glee among customers. Except if you’re a fan of that company’s products and its executives remain silent amid mounting signs that said company might be on the brink of bankruptcy.That’s what’s happening with Juiced Bikes, the San Diego-based maker of e-bikes.According to numerous customer reports, Juiced Bikes has completely stopped responding to customer inquiries for some time, while its website is out of stock on all products. There are also numerous testimonies of layoffs at the company.Even more worrying signs are also piling up: The company’s assets, including its existing inventory of products, is appearing as listed for sale on an auction website used by companies that go out of business.In addition, a court case has been filed in New York against parent company Juiced Inc. and Juiced Bike founder Tora Harris, according to Trellis, a state trial court legal research platform.Founded in 2009 by Harris, a U.S. high-jump Olympian, Juiced Bikes was one of the early pioneers of the direct-to-consumer e-bike brands in the U.S. market.The company’s e-bikes developed a loyal fandom through the years. Last year, Digital Trends named the Juiced Bikes Scorpion X2 as the best moped-style e-bike for 2023, citing its versatility, rich feature set, and performance.The company has so far stayed silent amid all the reports. But should its bankruptcy be confirmed, it could legitimately be attributed to the post-pandemic whiplash experienced by the e-bike industry over the past few years. The Covid-19 pandemic had led to a huge spike in demand for e-bikes just as supply chains became heavily constrained. This led to a ramp-up of e-bike production to match the high demand. But when consumer demand dropped after the pandemic, e-bike makers were left with large stock surpluses.The good news is that the downturn phase might soon be over just as the industry is experiencing a wave of mergers and acquisitions, according to a report by Houlihan Lokey.This may mean that even if Juiced Bikes is indeed going under, the brand and its products might find a buyer and show up again on streets and trails.

Cars

Volkswagen plans 8 new affordable EVs by 2027, report says

volkswagen affordable evs 2027 id 2all

Back in the early 1970s, when soaring oil prices stifled consumer demand for gas-powered vehicles, Volkswagen took a bet on a battery system that would power its first-ever electric concept vehicle, the Elektro Bus.
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Cars

Nissan launches charging network, gives Ariya access to Tesla SuperChargers

nissan charging ariya superchargers at station

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