Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN): Announces Pre-Shipment of Kindle Touch 3G
Late Friday, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced that the company has started shipping the Kindle Touch 3G to customers in 175 countries and territories around the world, seven days earlier than originally intended.
Last month, the online retailer started taking pre-orders for the touchscreen eReader in Britain, although the company had to defend its pricing of the product.
“Orders from customers worldwide for our new line of electronic ink Kindles have exceeded our expectations,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, the vice president of Kindle EU.
Amazon said that Kindle Touch pre-orders will be “fulfilled in the order they were received”. Alongside the Amazon UK website, customers will also be able to purchase the products at John Lewis, Dixons, Argos, Carphone Warehouse, Currys, PC World, Staples and Tesco.
Last week, the company announced that it has acquired a ten-year license for the North American rights to the print and digital James Bond backlist, as well as James Bond author Ian Fleming’s two nonfiction titles.
All of the books will be reissued by Amazon Publishing’s mystery and thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer, starting this summer.
The company is scheduled to report its first quarter 2012 financial results on Thursday April 26, 2012. Analysts are estimating the company to report a profit of 7 cents a share, down from a year ago profit of 44 cents a share. Revenue is estimated to grow by 30.50% to $12.66 billion, from a year ago revenue of $9.86 billion.
Last quarter, the company had beaten analysts’ estimates by a wide margin and reported 38 cents a share, compared to analysts’ estimates of 17 cents.
Shares of AMZN ended lower by 0.59% to $189.98 on Friday. So far this year, the stock has jumped over 9.75% and up 5.60% over the past one year. The stock has been moving within a range of $166.97-$246.71 over the past 52-week.