Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 318 posts

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#171

Post by shoota »

joshuacc wrote: post #78
Lewisham wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great price point. It's basically in impulse zone: "This book is 6 dollars cheaper at Kindle price... if I buy 12 it pays for itself..." but note there's no physical keyboard. Without a touch screen, it looks like it won't do note-taking, which is a bummer.

Not to mention some textbooks which are $50 less in Kindle format. That brings the total cost of the Kindle hardware to $29 for a college student with one required book. If more than one textbook is available for Kindle, it could actually be a net bonus.

The textbooks may be cheaper but if you're like most students and only use a textbook for one class its more expensive than buying the book used and selling it when you're done with it.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#172

Post by riobard »

gizmo wrote: post #105

People in Europe are getting screwed again . - Small Kindle: $79 - Power Adapter: $10 - Cost in USA: $89 (free shipping) Okay, so I see a banner that they ship to Europe. Excellent, I click it. Then I get a new banner, saying that my country qualifies for free shipping (pending some conditions). I go through the checkout process and I'm faced with the following list: - Kindle + Adapter: $119 - Shipping: $27 (what hap…

No, not just Europeans. Canadians will have to pay the same price for the device and power adapter, plus $14 import duties. I thought NAFTA should eliminate the difference, but it turned out not to be the case.

Other good things for geeks like Google Voice, iPhone, etc only available, or available first during initial launch, makes me want to relocate to the US.

Sigh.

That being said, Amazon.com's product page is really a nightmare for non-US customers. You'll NEVER find a link to the product page for your country. They only show it AFTER you click checkout and proceed when warn you that it won't deliver to your address.

Bizarre.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#173

Post by nkassis »

jarek wrote: post #131
gbog wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose you are right. Kindle brand could be stronger if tight to e-ink eye confort and even black and white, which make the thing austere and monacal, and not toyish like iPad. I don't know, is touchable e-ink coming in near future? Then they could have waited for that, and improve a lot Kindle OS (allow for plugins, real browsing, epub, viable pdf, email, etc) meanwhile.

Touchable e-ink has existed for a while. See for example Kobo Touch.

Yeah touch has been around I have a sony reader that's at least 4-5 years old now that has a touchable e-ink display. The reasons they went with a lcd is color and response(refresh?) time on e-ink display. You can't watch a movie or play games or browse the web on e-ink kindles.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#174

Post by miles_matthias »

schrototo wrote: post #48
achompas wrote: post #28

Bezos, on Amazon's refreshed e-Ink readers: So meet the family. These are premium products at non-premium prices. People are going to love these products. This is Amazon's mission statement for product development. They will not compete with Apple's "revolutionary, magical" phones and tablets; instead, they'll sell quality tablets and readers to the average person at great prices. This populist attitude has been miss…

I don't think Apple has ever promoted its products as "luxurious". Jobs introduced the iPad as " a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price ". I think that Bezos quote is actually very Apple-like, what with "people are going to love these" and so on.

From the clip I saw, Bezos looked awkward and nervous. He looked like the wind was already out of his sails, which doesn't help to create that rock concert environment if that's what he wanted. He paused a lot to wait for applause and got crickets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whOlvV3HYFM

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#175

Post by tszyn »

ableal wrote: post #138
pnathan wrote: post #100

I am kinda waiting for the DX to drop in price. I really want that bigger e-ink screen, but it's not worth $379 to me.

See if my comment elsewhere here is of use to you http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048411 I find the smaller E-ink screens a great fit for comfortable reading of fiction, or non-fiction prose like biography or history, where one doesn't need to skip around much, and the font size adjustment may come in handy.

Do you have an opinion about what size Kindle (e-ink) is best for Web browsing? You'd think the DX would be better, but what about the weight?

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#176

Post by [deleted] »

achompas wrote: post #40
jkincaid wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"With this price, though, Amazon won't steal Apple's customers.." I think a lot of people with iPads would have been more than happy to spend half as much to get an easy-to-use tablet.

I hesitate to agree because it seems like the iPad and Fire will provide different experiences. For what it's worth, I couldn't justify an iPad for $500. I would absolutely consider a Fire for $200 (or a Fire 3G for $250-300).

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#177

Post by jonknee »

achompas wrote: post #62
fab13n wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The business model to compete with Apple has been known for extremely long: offer lesser products at lesser prices. Everyone else failed at the "lesser price" part. Amazon can pull it off, because they don't need to make money with the tablet: as long as it sells ebooks and movies, it remains profitable for them. Since there's nobody to challenge them on this market, they will get the volumes to drive the BOM prices…

Since there's nobody to challenge them on this market, they will get the volumes to drive the BOM prices down, too. Barnes & Noble is in this space too, and they have hundreds of stores that will serve as points-of-sale for the Nook. Don't forget them. EDIT: apologies to the European HNers. Still, those B&M stores in America are incredibly popular, making it easier for Barnes & Noble to find new Nook users.

> Still, those B&M stores in America are incredibly popular

They're actually an albatross. Ask Borders how popular physical book stores are. B&N is only still alive because of its digital business. Barely alive too, Amazon is 150x larger in terms of market cap. Digital sales are up, physical sales are down and at the end of the quarter they are losing a lot of money.

The Kindle line is sold in Target. I'd wager Targets are more popular and will be around longer than B&N. Even better, it doesn't cost Amazon a dime to keep Target stores open.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#178

Post by zach »

gizmo wrote: post #105

People in Europe are getting screwed again . - Small Kindle: $79 - Power Adapter: $10 - Cost in USA: $89 (free shipping) Okay, so I see a banner that they ship to Europe. Excellent, I click it. Then I get a new banner, saying that my country qualifies for free shipping (pending some conditions). I go through the checkout process and I'm faced with the following list: - Kindle + Adapter: $119 - Shipping: $27 (what hap…

- Small Kindle: $109 = £69.71 (without the US-only "special offers")

- 20% VAT: £13.94

--------------

- Grand total: £83.65

- UK Amazon price: £89

Seems reasonable.

I suppose 6.5% headroom is more than strictly necessary for exchange rate fluctuation. But I suppose you might as well round up to give the price a "9" on the end.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#179

Post by juliano_q »

gizmo wrote: post #105

People in Europe are getting screwed again . - Small Kindle: $79 - Power Adapter: $10 - Cost in USA: $89 (free shipping) Okay, so I see a banner that they ship to Europe. Excellent, I click it. Then I get a new banner, saying that my country qualifies for free shipping (pending some conditions). I go through the checkout process and I'm faced with the following list: - Kindle + Adapter: $119 - Shipping: $27 (what hap…

If you think you are being screwed, take a look at how it is for Brazil.

Items (2): $118.99

Shipping & Handling: $28.97

Total Before Tax: $147.96

Estimated Tax To Be Collected: $0.00

Import Fees Deposit $140.74

---------

Order Total: $288.70

Obviously not Amazon's fault. We have absurd taxes here.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#180

Post by sliverstorm »

j15e wrote: post #63

They show a lot the device in kid's hands : because 7" is too small for grown up? I have played with a RIM Playbook once and the size factor was the same concern. Seems like under 9-10" it can't be a replacement for my laptop in any situation and it feels more like a toy. (Disclaimer : I own an iPad)

Actually, I am surprisingly enamoured by the photos of the 7" in an adult's hands. It is pleasingly small-but-not-tiny.

There's also all kinds of reasons to promote the Fire in hands of children. Unlike regular geeky gadgets, Amazon is targeting women just as much as men, and you can market to mothers via their children. Plus, if you can get your products into the hands of children, you are establishing an entire generation of future customers. That's why Microsoft et al cut students and Universities such massive discounts on software and hardware.

Full-color children's books is also a distinguishing selling point for upgrading over the black-and-white Kindle.

Post reply on HN