“Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it had acquired Liquavista NV from Samsung Electronics Co to help the world’s largest Internet retailer develop new displays for mobile devices,” Alistair Barr reports for Reuters.
“Amazon also launched its own digital currency, Amazon Coins, on Monday, allowing people to buy apps and games in its app store and on its Kindle Fire tablet computers,” Barr reports. “The purchase price for Liquavista was not disclosed. Bloomberg News reported earlier this year that Samsung was seeking less than $100 million for the business… Liquavista focuses on a technology called electrowetting, which it says makes displays clearer in all lighting conditions and can show video without using much power.”
Barr reports, “The new Amazon currency – one Amazon Coin is worth 1 cent – can be used to buy apps and games and for in-app purchases, for instance when someone is playing a game and wants to upgrade to a new level quickly. Amazon put 500 Amazon Coins, worth $5, into the accounts of all Kindle Fire owners on Monday.”
Read more in the full article here.
Amazon Coins sound like gift cards. They’re hoping you buy them and they just sit in your account and don’t get spent or used. Maybe next, Amazon will charge you a “administrative fees” for unused coins sitting in your account.
No thanks.
Amazon Digital Coins are not a digital currency any more than McDonalds Gift Cards are a digital currency.
Virtual currency never works. Didn’t Microsift try this for Zune Music? It’s a smoke-and-mirrors scam conceived to trap consumers into an secondary product ecosystem and mask prices. I avoid them like the plague.
Microsoft Points for XBOX, Nintendo Points for Wii and DS/3DS, Facebook Credits, etc etc etc. They’re a stratagem to get people to give money to the companies, on which they will get handsome interest. Also, since they all have different exchange rates, you won’t really know how much you’re paying for your virtual goods. I see Apple and Sony doing the right thing: straight up, honest pricing in dollars.
The junk retailer is at it again. Is there a difference between Value Village and Amazon?
Value Village supports charities. Bad comparison.
What will happen when the Amazon Coin loses it’s value? Will it’s Canadian variant be worth more, what about the Peso version. Where will this madness end!
Last 7 of 8 items bought from amazon didn’t match the ad photo. But the CEO has time to come out for fag marriage. Fail!
Noooooooooo.
This the same stupid thing Microsoft did with the Xbox points. There is no reason for this to exist. There is no need for it. It’s only propose is to make people buy more from Amazon because now you have to if you convert money into Amazon coins only Amazon accepts them. And since 1 coin is one cent, what is the point? Why not use 1 cent then? My advice would be to stay away from this if you can.