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Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

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Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#61

Post by InclinedPlane »

blinkingled wrote: post #26
danilocampos wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you guys asleep when iPad launched to almost identical criticism, then sold 30 million units? The game is not about specs anymore. It's about experience. Amazon has banked a lot of credibility with regard to making great portable hardware and streamlining the content consumption experience. You're seeing this the wrong way around. People aren't going to buy this because they want a tablet. You and a few hundred…

I never understood why people insist on intentionally crippled specs before jumping on the experience is everything bandwagon. Amazon has good specs for the hardware there - it would not have altered their proposition drastically to ship modern OS on it along with support for Email client and many other experience enhancing things that it comes with - UI acceleration, more app compatibility etc. It's nearly free for…

Hardware specs are the only thing you're truly locked into, as you'll receive firmware updates after the fact. Also, consider that even a $500 price point is not so terribly high. It's above the "I want it, don't even think, just buy it" threshold of most folks but it's pretty far down the discretionary spending ladder. In inflation adjusted dollars it's about 1/10th of the launch price of the Apple II for example. Sometimes the value of having and using something you want for several months or a year outweighs the disadvantages of a prematurely purchase.

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#62

Post by kellishaver »

megablast wrote: post #37
danilocampos wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That line of reasoning might fly for a $100 tablet. For a $300 tablet, it does not. I agree completely. But this isn't a tablet. This is a Kindle . That's why it's the "Kindle Fire" not the "Amazon 7" Tablet Buddy Pro S 1.0." It's going to be exceptionally good at doing Kindle things: reading books, listening to music, streaming movies – and paying for the privilege. They're going to sell a shitload of these things…

Unless it uses color eInk, it is not going to be that good at reading books.

eInk isn't the best solution in a lot of instances. A back-lit display is a lot more visually accessible.

http://kellishaver.tumblr.com/post/10646083786/my-ipad

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#63

Post by hollerith »

jmelloy wrote: post #20
danilocampos wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on a modern hardware. There's a more than reasonable reason : Perhaps Amazon's project froze that portion of the code at some point during 2010. They're shipping v1 of a brand new product based on heavily customized code. At some point, you need to eliminate moving targets if you're ever going to ship. Amazon's use of Andro…

Which is why it's 7", and why it doesn't have an email client on it. They're directly competing with the Nook Color, and positioning themselves as a multimedia tablet that's cheaper than an iPad. Which is in my opinion a much better idea than trying to compete on price, features AND software with the iPad. Get a couple clear differentiators - price, Kindle bookstore, multimedia content, etc - and actually compete.

Is Kindle bookstore really a differentiator? What will Kindle bookstore do that Kindle for iPad does not?

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#64

Post by jonknee »

hollerith wrote: post #63
jmelloy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why it's 7", and why it doesn't have an email client on it. They're directly competing with the Nook Color, and positioning themselves as a multimedia tablet that's cheaper than an iPad. Which is in my opinion a much better idea than trying to compete on price, features AND software with the iPad. Get a couple clear differentiators - price, Kindle bookstore, multimedia content, etc - and actually compete.

Is Kindle bookstore really a differentiator? What will Kindle bookstore do that Kindle for iPad does not?

Well for starters it will be an integrated experience, something Apple has made sure Amazon can't do on iPad. Amazon also has a lot more than books to fill the Fire with--they have a much more extensive collection of video than Apple (including free streaming content for Prime members).

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#65

Post by jonknee »

blinkingled wrote: post #53
kenjackson wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very disappointing - ridiculous in fact given there should be literally no excuse to put 2.1 on modern hardware. Amazon's a pretty big SW company. I wouldn't be surprised if they started their fork with 2.1, but will bare no resemblance to it. Amazon may have their own internal Android fork built up now and may not merge back with the Google version of Android. I don't think Amazon wants Google to control their desti…

Sure, but what happens when Google's Android market place remains dominant, they release new versions of Android for Tablet and SmartPhone that become incompatible with Amazon's version of Amadroid? It doesn't have to be forever - if new games, new high-demand software is released for Android phones and Tabelts, even if it takes 6 months for Amazon to make their OS compatible and 6 more for app developers to put out…

> Sure, but what happens when Google's Android market place remains dominant, they release new versions of Android for Tablet and SmartPhone that become incompatible with Amazon's version of Amadroid?

Nothing will happen. Kindle Fire users will continue to read their books, watch their movies / tv shows and browse the web as before. This is being marketed as a Kindle for a reason.

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#66

Post by RustyM »

7952 wrote: post #3
recoiledsnake wrote: post #2

I like the play on the words, but wary of headlines like "Can the Kindle Fire kindle fire in the tablet market?"

a better name would be "the kindle tablet"

Or "Kindle Prime". But who knows? I thought iPad was silly name at first. "Too close to iPod." Seems to work now.

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#68

Post by gxs »

dskhatri wrote: post #30

Doesn't anyone else see how the Kindle Fire is very significant for Google, despite the fact that Google may see no revenue from this product? Google now has a strong partner in its Android patent war, unless Amazon has paid license fees to the likes of Oracle, which would then undermine Google's position.

Amazon has a cross licensing deal with MS for access to each others patents.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/195151/htc_cuts_licensing_dea...

Re: Amazon to Unveil the "Kindle Fire"

#69

Post by hackinthebochs »

RustyM wrote: post #66
7952 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a better name would be "the kindle tablet"

Or "Kindle Prime". But who knows? I thought iPad was silly name at first. "Too close to iPod." Seems to work now.

Exactly. I've come realized that names just don't matter. We associate our feelings towards a product to the name. The name is simply an anchor to connect all our disparate experiences. The name Google would have seemed silly at first but now it commands respect around the world.

The only exception to this are names that carry a connotation to begin with. Positive connotations to whatever product you're hawking is a huge boon. Negative connotations can be a black cloud you may never get out from under. Tablet these days seem to be the latter. Amazon was right to ditch the straight-jacket and allow the device to define itself.

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