In this episode of “Cubes,” we take a behind-the-scenes tour of Audible.com. The Amazon-owned audiobook company is headquartered in the heart of Newark, NJ and its office has played host to Jeff Bezos and George R.R. Martin, among other literary luminaries, as well as a ton of top-flight voice actors who narrate Audible’s books in state-of-the-art studios.

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Photo: Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

When Jeff Bezos announced Amazon’s new Kindle products today he presented them with this message, “What we are doing is offering premium products at non-premium prices… We don’t think of the Kindle Fire as a tablet. We think of it as a service.”

Of course, many of the news stories today have compared the Kindle Fire to the iPad, noting the big differences between the two. One is obviously a couple hundred bucks and the other costs much more. Nevertheless, Reuters focuses on Barnes & Noble, which may take a big hit on the e-reader front.

Bezos made sly references to the iPad, but largely focused on what the Kindle Fire can do — it has apps, games, email capabilities, and more.

What do you think of positioning the Kindle Fire as a service rather than a tablet? The comments section is open.

[image via Bloomberg]

If Seattle-based Amazon doesn’t get its way with the state of California, it may be taking its toys and going home.

Reuters and other news outlets reported late Thursday that the huge online retailer promised the California State Legislature it would open a warehouse in California and create 7,000 jobs if the state would hold off on demanding sales tax for two years. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation that would have required Amazon to start collecting a 7.25 percent base tax on online purchases by today.

California organizations and some lawmakers are against the deal. Amazon has sweetened the pot by saying it would also stop pushing for a repeal of the sales tax law.

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