Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#151

Post by miles_matthias » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:09 PM UTC

smackfu wrote: post #103

cletus wrote: post #65

If Amazon want to not make comparisons with the iPad, something I'd strongly suggest, they should stop making statements like this: > The Kindle Fire will have a 7-inch display and sell for $199, compared with $499 for Apple’s cheapest iPad, Amazon executives said in interviews with Bloomberg Businessweek. Also, it's disingenuous. Of course a 7" "tablet" is cheaper than Apple's 10" tablet. Film at 11. That being said…

I disagree. Every time Amazon gets a sentence printed that says the Amazon table is $300 cheaper than the iPad, they win. They want to have them be mentioned in the same comparison, because that encourages the consumer to think "do I really need $300 more of tablet?"

I think it's a little bit misleading. You can interpret those statements as an attempt to steal iPad's customers or you can interpret those statements as an attempt to attract a new market of consumers that would never buy an iPad because of the price. I like to think it's the latter more than the former.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#152

Post by tomkarlo » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:10 PM UTC

The fact that you now have a sub-$80 e-reader seems to be getting overlooked in today's news... in some ways I think that's really the innovative part here, and what will drive a lot of high margin ebook sales for Amazon in the next few years.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#153

Post by smackfu » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:12 PM UTC

smackfu wrote: post #49

Main Amazon pages don't seem to be updated, but this URL is: http://www.kindle.com Interesting stuff: * Will still sell current Kindle as "Kindle Keyboard" for same price. * New non-touch Kindle is 2 ounces lighter than old Kindle, but has half the battery life. * The new touch Kindle is 1 ounce lighter than old Kindle, with same battery life. * Kindle Fire is 6-7 ounces lighter than an iPad 2. * All the prices that…

FYI, this is not quite right: "Will still sell current Kindle as "Kindle Keyboard" for same price."

They actually dropped it from $114 to $99.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#154

Post by tjogin » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:12 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #52

tjogin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't, really. They've built their Kindle product on the Android codebase, but it isn't Android and they won't be allowed to even call it an Android tablet, because they're not dancing to Google's tune. The new Kindle tablet may be sort-of compatible with Android today, but this isn't likely to remain the case since there is no feedback loop or collaboration between Google and Amazon in this.

So when Ubuntu releases their own app store combined with a new UI, it won't be "Linux" anymore? Just software built on top of the "Linux codebase"?

Linux is a kernel, not an OS or a UI.

But whatever. Amazon isn't just putting their own UI over Android like Samsung and HTC are doing. They're forking it.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#155

Post by philwelch » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:14 PM UTC

fab13n wrote: post #44

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…

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…

> Everyone else failed at the "lesser price" part.

Apple's operational mastery and their cornering of the NAND flash market in particular is a big part of this.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#156

Post by tdicola » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:14 PM UTC

I wonder how many people who would have jumped at a $199 tablet already got in on the $99 HP TouchPad blowout and pass on the Fire.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#157

Post by city41 » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:17 PM UTC

I find the Kindle Fire kind of an odd duck. I realize e-ink is not the most responsive screen, but having a fully android based tablet that used e-ink would have been fantastic. I would have gladly bought it. But a Kindle that lacks e-ink feels strange to me. I guess they are riding on Kindle's success, but this really isn't a Kindle.

I own both a Kindle and an iPad and I flat out can not read books on the iPad. After about 30 minutes my eyes are strained and a headache is emerging. To me e-ink is not optional, but the killer feature.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#158

Post by revjx » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:19 PM UTC

nodata wrote: post #109

cletus wrote: post #65

If Amazon want to not make comparisons with the iPad, something I'd strongly suggest, they should stop making statements like this: > The Kindle Fire will have a 7-inch display and sell for $199, compared with $499 for Apple’s cheapest iPad, Amazon executives said in interviews with Bloomberg Businessweek. Also, it's disingenuous. Of course a 7" "tablet" is cheaper than Apple's 10" tablet. Film at 11. That being said…

> and me having just bought a Kindle like 2-3 months ago, grrr I wouldn't be annoyed, the Kindle you have has a battery that lasts twice as long as the new Kindle, and it has a proper keyboard. The only plus for the new Kindle is it's a bit lighter.

Agreed. The 'normal' Kindle is a fantastic little device, the battery life being one of the many reasons why I don't feel the new Fire supercedes it in any way.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#159

Post by toyg » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:19 PM UTC

yusefnapora wrote: post #64

smackfu wrote: post #49

Main Amazon pages don't seem to be updated, but this URL is: http://www.kindle.com Interesting stuff: * Will still sell current Kindle as "Kindle Keyboard" for same price. * New non-touch Kindle is 2 ounces lighter than old Kindle, but has half the battery life. * The new touch Kindle is 1 ounce lighter than old Kindle, with same battery life. * Kindle Fire is 6-7 ounces lighter than an iPad 2. * All the prices that…

Thanks for that link and summary. I'm glad there's still an option to buy the non-ad supported models; I was afraid they'd phase them out. Maybe they'll even go crazy and let me use my own screensaver images without jailbreaking!

I'd be happy to PAY for new screensavers or any other way to have custom screensavers without going through the pain of jailbreaking -- i have one of the recent versions which are difficult to root.

Re: Amazon Unveils $199 Kindle Fire Tablet

#160

Post by xbryanx » Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 4:19 PM UTC

I want to read the news story written five years in the future about how the rapid growth of e-readers/tablets affects literacy and reading rates across multiple socioeconomic scales. I have no clue what it would say, but am pretty sure it will be written.