Amazon on Monday said it will acquire Twitch, a video service aimed at gamers that allows them to broadcast their virtual exploits to others online. Amazon will pay $970 million in cash for all outstanding Twitch shares. The deal closes during the second half of this year.

"Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. "We look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community."

Twitch's business has boomed in recent months, particularly with the arrival of Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One video game consoles. The PS4 included Twitch broadcasting capability when it launched in November, while Xbox One added it last spring. Twitch hosts more than 1 million broadcasters. In July, 55 million unique visitors watched more than 15 billion minutes of content.

In a letter to the Twitch community, CEO Emmett Shear said business will operate as usual. "We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster."

Amazon has been making a deeper push into the video games market. In February, the company scooped up Double Helix Games, the studio behind Xbox One brawler Killer Instinct. Earlier this month, Amazon struck a deal with game designer Dong Nguyen on a sequel to his hit mobile game Flappy Bird. The game Flappy Bird Family is exclusive to Amazon's Fire TV device.

The video service has been the subject of acquisition rumors for several months. In July, Venturebeat reported Google was planning to acquire Twitch for $1 billion. YouTube has also been reported as a potential Twitch suitor. The move also adds to Amazon's growing stable of original content. The company has already started creating original TV programming for its media service Amazon Prime, and Twitch adds one more piece of original video to its lineup.

US-based electronic ecommerce company Amazon will start delivering packages using drones or unmanned aerial vehicles in India as early as Diwali, The Economic Times reported on Wednesday.
With India lacking the rules that govern the use of UAVs, Amazon is likely to start trials of its drone delivery vehicles in Bangalore and Mumbai, cities where the the company has warehouses, people aware of the development told the financial daily. In the US, ecommerce companies are not allowed to operate drones outdoor.

In December last year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the ecommerce company is testing delivery packages using drones.

Bezos said the drones, unmanned vehicles that fly through the air, could deliver packages that weigh up to five pounds (2.3 kg). That represents roughly 86 per cent of packages that Amazon delivers, he said.

Associated Press reported Bezos was working on a way to use the small aircraft to get parcels to customers in 30 minutes or less. While flight technology makes it feasible, US law and society's attitude toward drones haven't caught up with Bezos' vision.
Bezos said the drones can carry packages that weigh up to five pounds, which covers about 86 per cent of the items Amazon delivers. The drones the company is testing have a range of about 10 miles, which Bezos noted could cover a significant portion of the population in urban areas.

Amazon has introduced its popular shopping service #AmazonCart in India. The latest shopping experience enables Indian customers to buy products from Amazon directly through Twitter.The feature which was first launched in the US in May, lets buyers in India add products they discover on Twitter to their Amazon.in shopping carts without leaving Twitter. In order to use the service, customers will first have to connect their Twitter account to Amazon. Next, they can add items to their carts just by tweeting the link of an Amazon.in product along with the #AmazonCart hashtag.

“The Twitter and Amazon agreement now extends to India to provide the maturing e-commerce industry here with another tool to engage online shoppers as well as to extend relationships on Twitter to the core of their e-commerce platforms,”
said Arvinder Gujral, business development director, south-east Asia and India, at Twitter.

Customers will get a reply tweet from @MyAmazonIN along with an email from Amazon.in when an item is successfully added to their cart. For the customers who have not connected their Twitter and Amazon accounts, they will receive a reply tweet asking them to connect their accounts to enable the new feature. The product will be added to the customer’s Amazon.in shopping cart after they have finished connecting the Twitter and Amazon accounts.

At an event in Seattle, Amazon finally pulled the veil off its much awaited smartphone. Called the Fire Phone, it is meant to capitalize on the digital ecosystem that the company has created around the likes of its Kindle hardware and the new Fire TV. The phone runs a forked version of Android which at first glance appears to be very similar to the one on Amazon’s tablet efforts.


Specifications of the handset will not leave anyone wanting. Under the hood is a 2.2Ghz Quad Core processor paired with 2GB of RAM which will guarantee a “fast and fluid” interface in Amazon’s words. The camera hardware too is quite impressive with a 13MP sensor, f/2.0 5 element lens and an optical image stabilization system that should aid low light imagery. Additionally, the phone has a dedicated camera button which is essential for every device in our humble opinion. The phone has a 4.7 inch 720p display capable of upto 590 nits of brightness. That last bit should ensure superior day light visibility. The device runs on Fire OS 3.5 which is Amazon’s forked version of Android. There’s a 2400 mAh battery.

The phone includes a dedicated button to activate Firefly which is Amazon’s newfangled way to get you to buy even more products from its services. All jokes aside, the button triggers the camera which is capable of recognizing over 100 million objects.  Another feature specific to the Amazon Fire Phone is MayDay which is essentially a one step way to get customer support straight on your phone. Available 24×7 and all 365 days of the year, Amazon promises you’ll be able to connect with someone in 15 seconds flat.

The phone places additional cameras that alongside infrared LEDs create a depth map of your face to accurately detect orientation. It then uses this to offer dynamic perspectives in applications that enable interesting new experiences. While the technology behind it is very impressive, we doubt it’ll be a device seller for anyone. The FirePhone is priced at $199 and $299 for the 32GB & 64GB variants and will be exclusive to AT&T. The phone will also be available off contract on Amazon for $649. 

Amazon has posted a YouTube video to tease a major product launch on June 18 at an event in Seattle, hinting towards the launch of its much rumored smartphone. The event will be hosted by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, who will most likely unveil the company’s smartphone at the event.

This video runs for 50-second to show off a hunch of people looking at something mysterious, which is intestinally kept off camera, and getting overly excited by the discreet product. They are also passing comments like “It’s very real-life,” and “I don’t know how you guys do it.”

BGR Classic has earlier exclusively reported that there are two Amazon smartphones currently under development, out of which one is the higher-end device with a 4.7-inch 720p display, Snapdragon processor, and 2GB of RAM. Amazon is actually focusing on offering a unique user experience by offering glass-free 3D effects on its display. BGR Classic had also revealed photos of the phone.
The phone will come with four cameras situated on each of the phone’s corners on the front which will actually be low-power infrared cameras. These cameras will constantly track the user’s eyes and face and head movements to give a 3D effect to the interface. Considering that the people featured in this video too are moving their heads from side to side to possibly gaze at this 3D interface from different angles.


Amazon is also said to be deeply integrating this capability into the OS as well as its online store. For instance, a user will be able to change the viewpoint on a map on the phone my simply tilting the phone. Also, a user will be able to see a product from different angles while shopping for products on the phone.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is known for making big bets in the world of innovation, and on Sunday night on 60 Minutes he revealed what might be one of his biggest: product delivery by flying robot drones. The service is called Amazon Prime Air and it's slated for rollout sometime in 2015, depending on FAA approval.

Bezos was so excited about the news that he kept the details under wraps until just before the interview with the network began. According to the producers of 60 Minutes, before the unveiling, Bezos said, “If you can guess what it is, then... I will give you half my fortune and send you to Vegas with it.”

Reacting to the unveiling of the Amazon-branded drone, Bezos interviewer Charlie Rose said, “I had no idea what its purpose was at first glance… They actually look like something out of a Philip K. Dick novel.”

You can watch the entire interview on the 60 Minutes website. 

Amazon’s online store for Indian customers has added a new section that will sell computers and accessories, which includes laptops, tablets, printers, storage and PC components. Like in the case of other categories, Amazon will not stock the products but will instead act as the middleman between the actual seller and the buyer, and in cases where the vendor qualifies, guarantee the transactions with its ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ promise.

A look at the ‘Computers and Accessories’ section on Amazon.in reveals that although the store has numbers, it still falls short of established Indian online retailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal.Since it launched in June, Amazon India has been quietly increasing its scope. At launch, the Amazon India marketplace sold books and blu-ray/DVDs. Now apart from the ‘Computers and Accessories’ section, it’s also selling mobiles and accessories, cameras and accessories and portable media players.

Amazon's app keep for Android is now easy for Amerindian ambulant users winning the store's gross global movement to 200 countries. Obscure from India, the Woman has also made its app store disposable for users from countries same State, Oesterreich, Brazil, Island, Belgium, Schweiz, Mexico and South Continent. In prescript to lay the Amazon App Keep on an Automaton design, users present know to download an APK and straight install it on the manoeuvre.

In a mould transfer, River has said that to meet the propulsion, it testament be providing the popular games Fruit Ninja and Cut the Fixing: Experiments for uncommitted download today and tomorrow. Woman differentiates its Golem app fund from Google's Attempt Stock with features much as 'Free App of the Day', personalized recommendations and 1-Click payments.

Amazon announced Wednesday it was launching Kindle in India, the world’s second most-populous country, as the e-reader continues its international expansion.  More than 1 million e-books are now available for download in Indian Rupees from the Amazon Kindle Store. Kindles are also available for purchase at Chroma retail stores across India for 6,999 INR or about $126 (for the entry-level model sold for $79 in the U.S.).

Customers can also purchase Kindles online through Amazon.com, which ships to India. Amazon is also launching the Kindle Direct Publishing platform to independent authors and publishers in India.

A Washington, D.C. man got a surprise package at his door after ordering what he thought was a television from Amazon. Instead, Seth Horvitz opened the large box Tuesday evening to find a military-grade assault rifle, according to Wired.

Horvitz had ordered a Westinghouse 39-inch LCD television from the ecommerce retailer for around $320. But after discovering the weapon, he contacted local police, who then confiscated the box. Officers told Horvitz the Sig Sauer 716 patrol rifle was illegal in D.C., Wired reported. An invoice for $1,590 found inside the box revealed that it was addressed to Independence Gun Shop, a Pennsylvania-based business, from online retailer Gunbuyer.com. After contacting Amazon, the company’s customer service department gave Horvitz “the standard line of sending a dispute claim for sending the wrong product,” he said.

Horvitz also contacted the third-party Amazon seller, who denied any knowledge of the weapon.

UPS, which delivered the package, likely caused the mixup, Horvitz said. The box had two different address labels on it — one with his proper address, and one with another. “UPS puts the name label on and then they put a second small sticker — a redundant sticker with the tracking information on it,” Horvitz said. “There were two different small stickers as well. THere was a small sticker that matched the label under mine, and a small sticker that matched mine.”

Nokia 808 PureView, that 41-megapixel smartphone Nokia has unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress? Well, it’s finally coming to the U.S. through Amazon.

The device will be available unlocked and unsubsidized, which brings us to the price — a hefty $699.
As far as specs go, Nokia 808 PureView’s claim to fame is its 41-megapixel sensor, still unmatched (in terms of resolution) in the world of mobile phones.

The device also sports a single core 1.3 GHz CPU, a 4-inch, 360 x 640 pixel screen, 512 MB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. It will play nice with AT&T’s 3G network, and it’ll also work on T-Mobile’s network, but only 2G will be supported.

Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire tablet, which started shipping this week, costs $201.70 to make, a research firm said Friday. That's $2.70 more than Amazon charges for it.

The analysis by IHS indicates that Amazon is, at least initially, selling the tablet at a loss that it hopes to cover through sales of books and movies for the device. The manufacturing cost of a new gadget usually comes down over time as chips become cheaper.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told The Associated Press in September that the company's goal was to make a small profit from the hardware, but as a retail company, Amazon was willing to live with a smaller margin than most electronics companies would. "We want the hardware device to be profitable and the content to be profitable. We really don't want to subsidize one with the other," Bezos said.

IHS's estimate includes the cost of components and assembly, but not the costs of development, marketing or packaging. The most expensive part of the Kindle Fire is the 7-inch (17-centimeter) color touch screen, which costs $87. Amazon kept the cost of the tablet low compared to Apple Inc.'s iPad and similar tablets by making it smaller — the screen is half the size of that for the iPad — keeping the amount of memory low and excluding a camera and microphone.

But the difference in manufacturing cost is much smaller than the difference in retail price: IHS puts the cost of the basic iPad 2 model at just under $300, while Apple sells it for $499.