Amazon, obviously excited to debut the Kindle Fire next week, has issued a press release today touting the device and its massive content library.  Using familiar names such as Pandora, Rovio, Rhapsody, and Facebook, Amazon promises several thousands of applications in addition to more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines.  In other words, we’re just days away from  truly mobile, converged Amazon experience.

Looking through the list of companies and apps in the press release, we see a number of reasons to pull out $199 and buy a Kindle Fire.  Considering everything that comes with the device and its content, it should be more than enough ‘tablet’ for the average user.

Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Rhapsody, Games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and Several Thousand More Apps and Games Coming To Kindle Fire Next Week

Just like with movies and TV shows, music, books, and magazines, Kindle Fire offers a fully-integrated Android apps and games experience – purchase or register for an app or game once, enjoy it on your Kindle Fire and other Android-based devices – and all apps and games are backed up in the Amazon Cloud for re-download anytime

SEATTLE, Nov 09, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –

(NASDAQ: AMZN) – When Kindle Fire customers across the country open their boxes next week, they will be able to choose from several thousand of the most popular Android apps and games, including Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, Comics by comiXology, Facebook, The Weather Channel and popular games from Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap and Rovio. Kindle Fire customers will be able to download these apps and games without having to register multiple times and using Amazon’s simple and secure 1-Click payment technology. Plus, all apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible, customers can get a great “paid” app for free every day, and once you’ve downloaded an app from the Amazon Appstore, it’s available on Kindle Fire as well as your other Android-based devices.

“We started talking to app developers everywhere the day we introduced Kindle Fire, and the response has been overwhelming,” Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “In addition to over 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games to choose from on Kindle Fire – from Pandora and Rhapsody to Facebook and Twitter to Netflix, as well as popular games from EA, Zynga and many other top game developers. And this is only the beginning – we’re adding more apps and games every day across all categories.”

With the Netflix app, Kindle Fire customers who are Netflix members can browse and instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies and resume watching where they left off on their TV or computer. “We’re excited to team up with Amazon to give what we think will be a huge community of Kindle Fire owners the opportunity experience all that Netflix has to offer,” said Bill Holmes, Vice President of Business Development at Netflix. “We’re certain that our members will have a great viewing experience on Kindle Fire.”

“EA is proud to be part of Kindle Fire,” said Bernard Kim, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Electronic Arts. “On Kindle Fire, we’re offering some of the world’s most popular titles with incredible gameplay and breathtaking graphics that anyone can play and enjoy anytime, anywhere.”

“Zynga strives to deliver the best mobile social gaming experiences that can be enjoyed by players anytime and anywhere,” said David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer at Zynga. “Teaming with Amazon to make Words With Friends a featured game on the Kindle Fire provides us with a great way to reach new and existing players on a fresh and exciting device.”

“As Gameloft continues to create games for the mass market, Kindle Fire comes as a very exciting new platform for us to offer our games on,” said Baudouin Corman, Vice President of Publishing for the Americas at Gameloft. “Not only does it provide us with an innovative channel for us to reach new audiences, but the tablet is set to enable a great gaming experience as well. In effect, we plan on providing Kindle Fire customers with a large catalog of top quality premium and free-to-play games.”

“We’re excited to be bringing our massively popular games to Kindle Fire,” said Andrew Stein, Director of Mobile Product Management at PopCap Games. “Kindle Fire is a great gaming device, and consumers will love the touch-screen optimized adaptations of top titles such as Plants vs. Zombies.”

“Personalized radio has the power to enhance all types of experiences anytime, anywhere and we’re thrilled that Pandora is a launch app on the new Kindle Fire,” said Jessica Steel, Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Pandora.

“We are really stoked to offer our members the Rhapsody experience on one of the most anticipated new devices this holiday season,” said Brian McGarvey, Vice President of Business Development for Rhapsody. “We want to make sure Rhapsody is available on every must-have device, including the Kindle Fire.”

“Being a featured app on Kindle Fire will allow The Weather Channel to continue to fulfill our mission of providing consumers with the most reliable weather information to help plan their daily lives – no matter where they are and what device they use,” said Cameron Clayton, Executive Vice President of Digital Product at The Weather Channel Companies.

Additional examples of apps and games that will be available to Kindle Fire customers include Allrecipes, Bloomberg, Cut the Rope, Doodle Fit, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Jenga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Airport Mania, Battleheart, Pulse, The Cat in the Hat, Quickoffice Pro, Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals, IMDb Movies & TV, and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox.

Kindle Fire offers more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, as well as free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync for books and movies, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, a vibrant color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor and Amazon Silk – Amazon’s new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud – all for only $199. Customers also enjoy a free month of Amazon Prime, providing access to Prime Instant Video with 13,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited streaming and the new Kindle Owners’ Lending Library where Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers – as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.

Customers in the U.S. can pre-order Kindle Fire at www.amazon.com/kindlefire and it ships November 15. For high resolution images and video of the all-new Kindle Fire, visit www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr,www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Tapjoy Reinvents App Discovery with the Tapjoy Personal App Marketplace

Tapjoy’s app marketplace delivers personalized recommendations based on a user’s individual tastes and interests; also fosters deeper engagement, social sharing and joint discovery 

San Francisco, CA – November 3, 2011 – Tapjoy, Inc. (www.tapjoy.com), a value exchange mobile ad network, today announced the beta launch of a new kind of personal marketplace that aims to forever change how consumers find, share and engage with mobile applications. The new Tapjoy personal app marketplace delivers customized app recommendations based on your likes and dislikes, what apps you’re currently using, what apps your friends are using, and other factors that predict which apps you’ll enjoy the most. You can also engage deeper in your favorite apps via Tapjoy’s Mobile Value Exchange™, the company’s unique approach to mobile advertising where users select personalized advertisements with which to engage for virtual currency or premium content. Tapjoy’s new service supports iOS and Android devices and can be accessed today from any mobile Web browser at www.tapjoy.com.

With more than 550,000 apps in the Apple App Store and 300,000 more in the Android Market, it’s not uncommon to get overwhelmed with choice when searching for new mobile apps suited to your individual tastes. Tapjoy lets you find interesting and personally relevant apps based on customized suggestions provided by Tapjoy’s recommendation engine as well as social triggers you elect such as the activities of your friends and ratings and reviews from other users.

“Smartphone and tablet users are clearly eager for a better way to find new apps,” said Mihir Shah, president and CEO of Tapjoy. “We already touch a very large and very passionate community of mobile app consumers—with more than 35 million Monthly Active Users—and we are proud to bring them something totally different from anything else out there.  We’ve combined our personalized app recommendation engine and enormous app marketplace with social sharing and joint discovery features to create a unique and very personal app discovery experience.”

Tapjoy can be accessed directly from a web browser on any iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 or HTML5-supported device. After creating an account, adding your mobile device or devices, and sharing apps you’ve already installed, Tapjoy identifies where virtual currency is available right away. Tapjoy features cross-platform support so that you can complete advertising engagements for virtual currency on any smartphone or tablet device, regardless of platform.

Tapjoy includes several unique and powerful app discovery and management features, including:

• Tapjoy Recommendation Engine – Tapjoy’s targeting engine provides customized application recommendations based on your personal preferences, app ratings, reviews, friends’ activities and your own app usage, making it easier and faster to find apps that match your interests;
• Social Sharing and Joint Discovery – You’ll be able to follow your friends to see which apps they’re playing, invite friends to come play apps with you, post updates to your news feed, and, coming soon, you’ll be able to challenge friends to competitions, track your ranking on the community leaderboard, and much more;
• Hundreds of Value-Exchanged Brand Ads – In exchange for virtual currency, you can choose to take part in targeted, value-added marketing actions such as installing applications, watching videos, subscribing to services, purchasing discounted products or otherwise engaging with any of the 100+ ads available from big brands such as Netflix, Gamefly, Groupon, Intuit, Discover, FTD, Amazon, Microsoft and many others;
• Editorial Reviews & Staff Picks – Each day, the Tapjoy editorial staff provides objective reviews of new, popular or up-and-coming applications; future versions will include a news feed of all the latest application news and announcements covering new games, tournaments and challenges;
• “My Apps” Dashboard – Manage your currently installed applications in one central location, with the ability to check your virtual currency balance, invite friends, and, coming soon, rate apps and write reviews.

Tapjoy’s Mobile Value Exchange model creates value amongst consumers, advertisers and publishers.  Consumers engage with publisher apps and advertiser placements by watching videos, signing up for subscriptions, installing apps and more, all in exchange for virtual currency. Advertisers connect with a very active and engaged audience base, and publishers can generate revenues to help support their free-to-play applications.

Along with today’s beta launch, Tapjoy also rebranded the www.tapjoy.com web site as its consumer-facing web property with a new logo, updated design and a whole new look. The company’s corporate site for mobile developers and advertisers can now be found at https://www.tapjoy.com/site.

About Tapjoy

Tapjoy is a value exchange mobile ad network whose unique Mobile Value Exchange™ model allows users to select personalized advertisements with which to engage for virtual currency or premium content.  Tapjoy helps unlock mobile joy by empowering more than 280 million mobile users who choose to watch videos, subscribe to services, install applications and participate in other types of advertisements in exchange for virtual currency they can use in their favorite apps.  Tapjoy’s turnkey in-app advertising platform helps developers acquire cost-effective, high-value new users and monetize their applications, while its powerful advertising marketplace lets brand advertisers reach a global mobile audience spanning more than 10,000 applications. Tapjoy is backed by top-tier investors including J.P.Morgan Asset Management, Rho Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, InterWest Partners and D.E. Shaw Ventures. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.tapjoy.com.

Tapjoy and the Tapjoy logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tapjoy, Inc. All third party logos and trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.