Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#301

Post by danssig » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 8:31 AM UTC

nickik wrote: post #106

achompas wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Barnes & Noble is only america right? I have never seen a Barnes & Noble store anywhere in europ, were as amazon is very commen in europe. Thats not a small market.

Europe is a bigger market than the US is.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#302

Post by danssig » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 9:20 AM UTC

pork wrote: post #189

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? How does this relate to Samsung? Their related phone and tablet devices are priced nearly identically to Apple's offerings with nearly identical specs.

In the minds of most people, Apple is sexy. They make stylish products that are easy to use. They have sexy stores and enjoyable ads on TV. The high price makes them status symbols. They are massively entrenched and can take advantage of network effects ("all my friends are ipad owners and they love it"). In the face of that, the only rational area to compete in is offering a functionally similar product at a much lo…

How would Samsung fight on price here? Amazon is using the Fire as a loss leader. They very likely lose money on every sale. But they make it up on extra Amazon conversions. What would Samsung make up their losses on?

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#303

Post by ableal » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 9:44 AM UTC

tszyn wrote: post #298

ableal wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't recommend trying web browsing on E-ink, unless it's through some Readability filter or similar. The screen updates are too slow for it, and the DX browser didn't render perfectly. I suspect the CPUs don't have the oomph for the modern web. Note that my experience is on a 2010 vintage DX with no WiFi - it is limited to 3G on Amazon's dime. In Europe that's only Wikipedia and the Amazon store.

Thanks. Reading from LCD screens gives me eye strain, so I was thinking of reading blogs, news and software docs on the Kindle. Do you think that might work?

I'd advise searching a bit for people describing their use - I suspect most 'send' material for later reading to the Kindle (through readability.com or some equivalent process).

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#304

Post by danssig » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 10:17 AM UTC

nodata wrote: post #115

> 8GB internal. That's enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. Anyone know how 8 gigs enough for 10 movies? The quality can't be great. Can these things plug into a tv?

When I use Handbrake to rip directly from DVD to Apple TV format the video comes out at just over 700 megs.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#305

Post by danssig » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 10:27 AM UTC

"There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp."

I've always had a lot of respect for Bezos and what he's done but this lowers my opinion of him. Not only is it a petty cheap shot, it's not even true (so does he not know somehow, or is he lying?). Most tablet makers were having a hard time competing with the iPad on price. It's incredibly cheap for what it does.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#306

Post by Tyrannosaurs » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 10:47 AM UTC

joebadmo wrote: post #285

ChuckMcM wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, its a weird (and stupid) system. Libraries are toeing a fine line between getting sued vs not. They only got agreement for 'lending' ebooks if they set up a system like real books where if its out, you can't borrow it. This from the head librarian at the Sunnyvale Library at least.

I agree that it's silly from a technological point of view, but the libraries are at the mercy of publishers, and what else can the publishers do, really? If they let libraries "lend" out unlimited copies of books, who would buy them?

As someone said recently, if libraries didn't already exist, publishers would be doing their best to stop them happening.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#307

Post by msh » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 12:21 PM UTC

smackfu wrote: post #122

maximilian wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What popped out at me was the battery life for the fire: 8 hours continuous reading or 7.5 hours video playback 8 hours doesn't seem like very much. Clearly its an LCD panel with back lighting and all that, but 8 hours seems a bit short.

That is a fairly standard number for a tablet. iPad, Touchpad, Galaxy Tab, nook color are all in that neighborhood. Anything better means a bigger battery = more weight and thickness.

iPad is 10 hours of video and even more for Reading.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#308

Post by achompas » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 12:40 PM UTC

Apple-Guy wrote: post #249

ssp wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And their mastery of PR is a big part of why the transition from Jobs to Cook has gone so smoothly ...

WRONG. Tim Cook has been running operations at Apple for a decade now. Here's a 2006 story about Apple's number two: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116096027141893457-aw...

Downvoted--please try to disagree more tactfully next time.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#309

Post by Maxious » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 1:00 PM UTC

whatusername wrote: post #292

babblefrog wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right next to the Amazon store ;-)

I'm in Australia. My local supermarket sells Kindles (woolworths). So does the local electronics store owned by the same brand (Dick Smiths). What's this Nook thing you're talking about?

Borders Australia, may it rest in peace with it's absurd over RRP pricing policy, sold them.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#310

Post by riverlaw » Thu, Sep 29, 2011, 1:11 PM UTC

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…

"This populist attitude has been missing from the tablet market since the iPad's release." I do not agree with this at all. Before the iPad the tablet market was ~$1500 laptops. Now amazon has come out with a tablet that they did not have to design the hardware or software. Great, but do not knock the iPad for price, as it cost something to create a design people want to buy.