Don’t worry! He’s still the richest man on the planet, but he’s less richer than everybody else than last year. Other losers on this year’s Forbes 400 include Paul Allen, who lost $US4.5 billion, Michael Dell, who lost $US2.8 billion, and Steve Ballmer, who lost $US1.7 billion.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, unlike all the other tech mavens on the list who lost money, actually made $US100 million this year, bringing his value up to $US8.8 billion. Good for him! I’m sure that made a f–king difference. [Forbes via Fortune]

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

[Amazon]

As you can see from the diagram above, there’s nothing terribly complex about the proposed system: banner ads sit atop and beside select pages, and can be catered to suit the page’s content, the book’s subject matter, or simply the reader’s assume demographic. It’s a bit like, you know, how the entire internet works, except in a book, so it gets a patent I guess?

A second, similar filing describes pretty much the same deal, this time for on-demand printed books.

Given how simple the patent is, and how eager Amazon seems to make a little extra scratch from their reader, the real question about the possibility of ebook ads is how they’d fit into the Kindle ecosystem. On this, that patent offers a few clues:

Including advertising and/or related content with on-demand printed content may prove advantageous to a consumer. For example, a lower price may be offered to a consumer regarding a request for on-demand printed content if the consumer is willing to accept advertising in the printed content

This is a “for example” section in a patent application, so it should be taken as such. But it’s interesting to think: an ebook advertising rollout—at least, a simple one, with static, predetermined ads—would be as simple as adding new listings to the Kindle Store. [Register]

Speaking at a conference this week, Bezos laid out his vision for the Kindle brand in full. Core to his plan is that the Kindle hardware and Kindle book divisions have a, let’s say, open relationship:

The device team has the job of making the most remarkable purpose-built reading device in the world. We are going to give the device team competition. We will make Kindle books, at the same $US9.99 price points, available on the iPhone, and other mobile devices and other computing devices.

An open-access Kindle bookstore would pose a threat to the reader’s market share, so either Bezos has something mysterious up his sleeve, or he’s come to terms with the fact that the Kindle—and indeed every dedicated e-reader—is essentially a stopgap device, awkwardly carrying out its single, simple task until something more versatile comes along.

When that happens, whatever company runs the de facto ebook store will stand to make tremendous amounts of money, and if Bezos’ comments are anything to go by, he’s planning for Amazon to be that company. For now, though, it’s all talk: Kindle iPhone app aside, the only way to read Amazon’s ebooks is to plunking down some serious cash on one of the Kindle flavors. These “mobile devices and other computing devices” sound promising: let’s see them. [NYT]

Bezos also noted, as we had kind of expected, that Amazon will never reveal specific sales numbers for the Kindle, which is kind of disappointing but also kind of nonchalant and cool. We knew that colour e-ink isn’t nearly ready for primetime, so it’s no big surprise that Amazon knows it. Looks like we’re stuck with black-and-white for a few more years at least. [AFP]