Testing Website Redesign. Screenshots. It appears that online retail giant Amazon will launch a new, vastly improved version of its massively popular shopping website in the near future, overhauling its design that not only looks great on the desktop but has been designed to appeal to tablet owners, signalling that the company could soon announce the launch of its own tablet devices. Only a small number of users have been granted access to the new design, some of which have voiced their surprise on Twitter, which now sports big tablet-friendly buttons and a bigger, more prominent, search bar.
Gone are the blue menus and buttons, making way for a slicker white and grey interface that reduces clutter and makes navigation a lot easier. From the screenshots that were shared with us (thanks Derek), Amazon has stopped its navigation menu from loading on page load, now displaying it when the user mouses-over the “Shop By Department” button. Amazon makes sure that in its new design, it pushes the products most important to it. Menu. Amazon confirms tablet-optimized website redesign. This weekend, Amazon confirmed the company’s website is in the midst of a striking redesign to will simplify and optimize the interface for tablets. We first heard Amazon was testing a new site design last week.
The redesign was confirmed today to the Wall Street Journal. Based on a trove of images floating around the web, the new design features less clutter, more white space, larger menu navigation buttons and a re-worked search bar. The site also will emphasize features such as Instant Video, MP3s, Cloud Player, Kindle, Cloud Drive, Android apps and audio books — categories that might entice someone browsing from a tablet. The site redesign news makes a lot of sense when you consider Amazon’s upcoming tablet. A Forrester Research analyst predicted that a new Amazon tablet selling for less than $300 could sell as many as 5 million units in 2011 and make the device the second most popular tablet in the world after the iPad. Amazon.com Is Testing a Redesign [REPORT]
Amazon has begun testing a redesign of its retail site — and it could foreshadow the launch of Amazon's own tablet, according to reports. The testing began last week and will continue to be rolled out to additional customers, but a full launch date is unknown, according to the Wall Street Journal. The new design is cleaner and less cluttered, with more white space and a larger search box. Mashable staff with access to the new version noticed that the wish list and shopping cart were easier to get to and more intuitive. Amazon says the redesign will feature apps, digital games, ebooks and MP3s — all products suited for tablet visitors, according to TechCrunch.
A tablet-optimized site fits nicely with rumors of Amazon's own Android-powered tablet. Such a low price tag could make it the iPad's top competitor, because the company would profit from sales of goods and services on the device. Amazon testing tablet-optimized website redesign. Amazon's website may soon be getting a complete face lift. The site seems to have been around for ages, but has remained relatively the same. That's about to change, as the company has admitted that it is currently testing a redesign to bring a more updated look to its marketplace.
Many believe that the new layout is designed to make navigating the site on a tablet easier, signaling that Amazon's rumored first tablet is indeed fast approaching. The current Amazon.com design is a dash of blue, some orange, light blue, and generally filled up with all sorts of things in every square pixel. The screenshots were first leaked about a week ago, but Amazon has finally confirmed today with the WSJ, that there is indeed a new revamped site coming soon.
[via CNET] Amazon prepares to launch a $250 tablet. ONLINE BOOKSELLER Amazon is redesigning its website to make it tablet friendly as it prepares for the launch of its own $250 Kindle tablet. The changes, which will soon be available to all users, see a redesigned home page without clutter and there is a lot of whitespace. The search bar has been enlarged and there are fewer buttons, while the focus is on Amazon's digital offerings such as ebooks, digital games and applications. According to Techcrunch blogger Sarah Perez, who reported seeing a prototype of Amazon's tablet device, the changes in Amazon's online store "practically scream 'tablet-optimised'". Amazon's tablet has a back-lit 7in screen and is geared towards playing internet music and movies. It is multi-touch, but could rely on a two-finger multi-touch instead of 10-finger, like the Ipad uses. The tablet will be the first Kindle with a full-colour screen.
Amazon's tablet will be WiFi only and come with a colour touchscreen, but will have a limited 6GB of storage. Forrester Analyst forecasts about Amazon tablet. Amazon could sell as many as five million tablet PCs in 2011 and become the top challenger to Apple in the tablet space, according to an analyst at Forrester Research. Back in July it was reported that Amazon was working on an Android-based tablet to be released in October, 2011 that could be serious competition with the Apple iPad. So far, Android tablets have cornered just 20 percent of the tablet market share, and no single Android tablet has been able to distinguish itself sales-wise, including the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Sarah Rotman Epps, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, said the iPad is the clear leader in the tablet space with 28.7 million units sold worldwide to date.
But if Amazon can sell between three and five million tablets in the final three months of 2011, it would quickly become the most notable competitor to the iPad. Epps wrote that the Amazon tablet would need to be priced below $300 to sell those kind of numbers.