TechGuruHere

Cyber Monday, typically a great day for gadget sales – Amazon has announced that it was the best sales month ever for Kindle.

We can’t say how much of this can be attributed to the recent international launch of Kindle, but it definitely helped – along with the price cuts. Despite the competition, Kindle is certainly doing great, being the most wished for, the most gifted, and number one bestselling product across all product categories on Amazon.

“Kindle is a great gift for anyone who loves to read and it’s flying off the shelves faster than any other product Amazon sells,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We’re seeing lots of people buying from one to a handful of Kindles as gifts for friends or family, as well as many businesses and other organizations buying Kindles in large quantities for their employees or customers.”

How can Windows 7 be bigger than Harry Potter, you ask? That box can’t be more than 15 inches tall, while Daniel Radcliffe is at least 5′8”!

Well, what Amazon meant when they said that was this: Windows 7 is the biggest grossing pre-order product of all time on Amazon.co.uk.

Even Amazon UK’s MD Brian McBride sounds a bit surprised: “The launch of Windows 7 has superseded everyone’s expectations, storming ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the biggest grossing pre-order product of all-time at Amazon.co.uk, and demand is still going strong.” We’re not; we wrote earlier that Windows 7 is being preordered a lot more than Vista, and that trend obviously hasn’t changed until the very last day.

I’ve been testing Windows 7 since the first beta and while I have my qualms about it, one can’t deny that it’s better than Vista: it feels faster, looks nicer, the unnecessary fat *cough* sidebar *cough* was trimmed and it has a whole lot better hardware and driver support. And one also cannot deny that Windows XP was released in October 2001, which means that Windows users have been waiting eight long years for a decent replacement for their operating system. Tomorrow, they’ll be getting one; no wonder they’re excited.

Now you can with the newly launched Local Express Delivery service — at least in 7 major cities.

New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and Seattle can now receive orders the same day if placed before the specified cutoff times. Three other cities should be rolled out soon as well: Chicago, Indianapolis and Phoenix.

Fees for the service will be $5.99 per item for Amazon Prime members, with non-Prime customers being charged per shipment as well as per item depending on the type of product, according to the rate schedule.

In other words, unless you’re an Amazon Prime member, it certainly won’t be cheap — but if you really need it that day, it’s now an option. And if you plan to use Local Express Delivery often, Amazon Prime membership starts to look more attractive at $79 per year (which also nets you free two-day shipping on orders you don’t need the same day).

What do you think of the new option — can you imagine you or your business needing same-day delivery from time to time or even frequently? Or is the (near) instant gratification just too costly?

Look out Amazon: Google just announced plans to open an electronic book store. Unlike Amazon’s strategy with the Kindle dedicated eReader device, Google plans to deliver eBooks to any device with a web browser.

The service, dubbed Google Editions, is slated to launch in the first half of 2010. At launch it will feature about 500,000 eBooks from publishers Google is already working with on Google Book Search. Purchases can be made directly from Google or through partner sites like Barnes & Noble.

Interestingly, Reuters names Amazon.com as a potential retailer for Google’s electronic books. Considering Amazon would surely prefer to sell its own titles for use on the Kindle, and also considering Barnes & Noble plans to launch its own eReader device as well, these 3 partners seem interesting bedfellows.

Looking into how the revenue sharing breaks down, though, it starts to make more sense. When Google sells an eBook outright, the publisher will get 63% of the sale with 37% going to Google. When sold through a retailer, 45% goes to the publisher, 55% goes to the retailer, and Google only takes “a small share.” In this scenario, publishers will have incentive to promote customer purchases direct from Google, and it will be interesting to see what sort of market share grab will come of this.

Good News for the Consumer

To the consumer, Google’s entry into the electronic books market is most certainly a good thing. It means more customer choice, more widespread support for eBook open standards, and better access to the books they buy online. You’ll be able to use your Gmail login to access your Google eBook “library” from almost any device, whether it be desktop, laptop, netbook, phone, or anything else able to access the web.

Does Google’s entry into the electronic books market make you think twice about picking up an eReader like the Kindle or Sony Reader? Or are the gains in reduced eye strain, battery life and portability enough to make you interested in a specialized device?