Apple: The Kindle Fire will drive more people to iPads

[Raduque]

I don't know about that. The Amazon App market already has Samurai II: Vengeance, which is a Tegra game that won't be compatible with the Fire. I bought the Amazon version, and I have to use Chainfire to get it to work on my devices (something NOT in Amazon's store).

There's a non-Tegra version of Samurai II: Vengeance, and it's on the Amazon App Store.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Ipad2 is a great performer and quality apps abound, might be a good buy if someone was going to spend long hours on it or a stable, fast platform for a presentation say but for so many people a tablet is basically an internet toy/fun/game device to drag around and cant justify spending $500 for one. My Novo 7 advanced cost $139. (it's back on sale) and does all I need/want and is buttery fast, yea, it's a no-name Chinese tablet but they've already upgraded the firmware twice so decent support so far. Fire will sell well but the omission of a memory upgrade slot is puzzling as even the cheapest $70 "7 tab on Ebay has a micro sd slot, how much did Amazon save per unit by not including one??.

I'd be willing to bet that it was left out for copyright protection issues, not price...

 

[jpeyton]

Ipad2 is a great performer and quality apps abound, might be a good buy if someone was going to spend long hours on it or a stable, fast platform for a presentation say but for so many people a tablet is basically an internet toy/fun/game device to drag around and cant justify spending $500 for one. My Novo 7 advanced cost $139. (it's back on sale) and does all I need/want and is buttery fast, yea, it's a no-name Chinese tablet but they've already upgraded the firmware twice so decent support so far. Fire will sell well but the omission of a memory upgrade slot is puzzling as even the cheapest $70 "7 tab on Ebay has a micro sd slot, how much did Amazon save per unit by not including one??.

The omission of the slot might have saved a couple dollars max, but there was a higher purpose for it:

Getting their customers to utilize free Amazon cloud storage for their media content.

It's just another way that Amazon (and Apple) psychologically lock customers into their platform.

 

[BUTCH1]

I'd be willing to bet that it was left out for copyright protection issues, not price...

Yea, with all the content being offered that might indeed be the reason, probably won't hurt sales too much but might be a deal-breaker for the geek crowd..

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yea, with all the content being offered that might indeed be the reason, probably won't hurt sales too much but might be a deal-breaker for the geek crowd..

Which is perfect. These are sold at near cost, relying on media purchases to make them money. Geeks that hack on CM7 are not going to help the bottom line.

 

[senseamp]

It creates installed base for Android app developers. So it helps Google's ecosystem in that regard because those developers will also sell their apps on Android market and there will be more Android apps. I don't see how it helps Apple. If anything, the people who get Kindle Fire will be less likely to get an iPad.

 

[preslove]

1. If fragmentation was a big deal, then Android wouldn't be the #1 smartphone os. Software differentiation allows for hardware differentiation, which is a major advantage for Android over the iPhone.
2. 7" and 10" tablets are in different categories. This years Fire might take a few sales away from Apple, just because it's a well marketed device and so much cheaper than the iPad that it might convince people to just get the cheaper, smaller device. But, it won't be a large number of consumers. It will sell well, but most sales will be from consumers who weren't going to buy an iPad, anyway.
3. Next year, if Amazon releases a 10" tablet for $300, it will outsell the iPad within a quarter and will definitely steal a ton of potential iPad purchases.

 

[hans007]

The omission of the slot might have saved a couple dollars max, but there was a higher purpose for it:

Getting their customers to utilize free Amazon cloud storage for their media content.

It's just another way that Amazon (and Apple) psychologically lock customers into their platform.

i think this is why i like the nook color 2 more. has the sd slot. barnes and noble doesn't seem to have as much of a tablet strategy as amazon, but in this case its beneficial to us techies

 

[BUTCH1]

Which is perfect. These are sold at near cost, relying on media purchases to make them money. Geeks that hack on CM7 are not going to help the bottom line.

It will be interesting to see how many other apps besides the "official" apps from Amazon will run on this machine, I'm sure it will be rooted and custon ROM'ed early but doing so will void any warranty and might result in losing the connection with the huge Amazon content. I'm thinking that by early next year I'll wind up buying a "10 tablet since my wife has hijacked my Novo 7 advanced, LOL. By then a dual core 3.0 machine will drop to the $225-250 price range, wont need a custom ROM and have all the ports and expansion I want..

 

[BigDaddyD]

The omission of the slot might have saved a couple dollars max, but there was a higher purpose for it:

Getting their customers to utilize free Amazon cloud storage for their media content.

It's just another way that Amazon (and Apple) psychologically lock customers into their platform.

You say this like it is a bad thing. I am drooling at the chance to buy this so that I can use it with my Amazon cloud storage. I already use Amazon for everything. Itunes blows and has for years. I couldn't prayed for a valid competitor to arrive and Amazon did years ago. I jumped ship as soon as they did. When they opened the Cloud, I was on board and have been using it since with my droid and desktops. It rules.

I literally buy whatever I can from Amazon, they are a great company with fantastic prices and even better customer service. To me the Fire won't need as much storage space or a memory slot (even though one would be nice, ) because the cloud literally gives you tons of storage. You store everything on your cloud and just transfer what you need to your fire at that moment. True, not ideal but it is $199. An Ipad costs a lot more and still has very little storage space as far as I am concerned...and no memory card. Fire comes with free cloud storage with all amazon purchases with is pretty awesome. I think to buy cloud storage for non amazon purchases is cheap as well.

For what it should do, and the specs it has it is priced incredibly well. I don't see this as a bad thing at all. You make it sound so evil. Amazon priced the under cost so that they can make money off of the transactions. They want their customers, people like me, who already buy stuff from them to buy these to keep buying more stuff from them. They also want new people to buy them with the hope that they will use them to buy some stuff from them. Everything they sell is quality and typically cheaper than elsewhere...or at least at the same price. I don't get the locked in part.

You are not required to use Amazon media on your fire. Or store it on your cloud drive. You are not required to only browse the Amazon website.
What platform are you locked into? Buying quality stuff cheap and storing it for free? Sign me up.

 

[Pliablemoose]

You say this like it is a bad thing. I am drooling at the chance to buy this so that I can use it with my Amazon cloud storage. I already use Amazon for everything. Itunes blows and has for years. I couldn't prayed for a valid competitor to arrive and Amazon did years ago. I jumped ship as soon as they did. When they opened the Cloud, I was on board and have been using it since with my droid and desktops. It rules.

I literally buy whatever I can from Amazon, they are a great company with fantastic prices and even better customer service. To me the Fire won't need as much storage space or a memory slot (even though one would be nice, ) because the cloud literally gives you tons of storage. You store everything on your cloud and just transfer what you need to your fire at that moment. True, not ideal but it is $199. An Ipad costs a lot more and still has very little storage space as far as I am concerned...and no memory card. Fire comes with free cloud storage with all amazon purchases with is pretty awesome. I think to buy cloud storage for non amazon purchases is cheap as well.

For what it should do, and the specs it has it is priced incredibly well. I don't see this as a bad thing at all. You make it sound so evil. Amazon priced the under cost so that they can make money off of the transactions. They want their customers, people like me, who already buy stuff from them to buy these to keep buying more stuff from them. They also want new people to buy them with the hope that they will use them to buy some stuff from them. Everything they sell is quality and typically cheaper than elsewhere...or at least at the same price. I don't get the locked in part.

You are not required to use Amazon media on your fire. Or store it on your cloud drive. You are not required to only browse the Amazon website.
What platform are you locked into? Buying quality stuff cheap and storing it for free? Sign me up.

Actually, till it gets reviewed/shipped, we don't know a lot about how the Fire will handle non Amazon content.

I have one pre ordered, since I'm considering replacing NetFlix with Prime video content.

 

[BUTCH1]

"QUOTE You are not required to use Amazon media on your fire. Or store it on your cloud drive. You are not required to only browse the Amazon website.
What platform are you locked into? Buying quality stuff cheap and storing it for free? Sign me up.[/QUOTE]

Your locked into a heavily modded Android 2.?, no telling what it will run in it's stock configuration, the bang/buck factor is certainly there and Amazon is a good company to do business with, it just might not be a good tablet for tweakers. Not to be a tinfoil-hat type but since the silk browser relies on cloud caching for it's speed everything you do has a chance to be monitored, prolly kinda paranoid on my part but still...

 

[Pliablemoose]

You are not required to use Amazon media on your fire. Or store it on your cloud drive. You are not required to only browse the Amazon website.
What platform are you locked into? Buying quality stuff cheap and storing it for free? Sign me up.

Your locked into a heavily modded Android 2.?, no telling what it will run in it's stock configuration, the bang/buck factor is certainly there and Amazon is a good company to do business with, it just might not be a good tablet for tweakers. Not to be a tinfoil-hat type but since the silk browser relies on cloud caching for it's speed everything you do has a chance to be monitored, prolly kinda paranoid on my part but still...

Not tin foil at all, Amazon cookies track the hell out of it's customers surfing habits already.

 

[BUTCH1]

There not alone, I was considering buying a Flytouch tablet, used Google to do some looking at reviews/pricing next thing you know I was getting flytouch ads galore on several different sites, guess I need to do a better job locking down my desktop LOL..

 

[ponyo]

1. If fragmentation was a big deal, then Android wouldn't be the #1 smartphone os. Software differentiation allows for hardware differentiation, which is a major advantage for Android over the iPhone.
2. 7" and 10" tablets are in different categories. This years Fire might take a few sales away from Apple, just because it's a well marketed device and so much cheaper than the iPad that it might convince people to just get the cheaper, smaller device. But, it won't be a large number of consumers. It will sell well, but most sales will be from consumers who weren't going to buy an iPad, anyway.
3. Next year, if Amazon releases a 10" tablet for $300, it will outsell the iPad within a quarter and will definitely steal a ton of potential iPad purchases.

I think you nailed it. The real show will start when 10" Fire ships.

 

[sontin]

Hm, Apple said that fragmentation is out? So that must be the reason why they have 4 different products with 3 different resolutions, 2 aspect ratios and 2 different ARM-SoCs. :awe:

 

[BladeVenom]

I think you nailed it. The real show will start when 10" Fire ships.

I think 7" is a good size for reading.

7" tablets also fit in a purse better. Half the population are women.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Hm, Apple said that fragmentation is out? So that must be the reason why they have 4 different products with 3 different resolutions, 2 aspect ratios and 2 different ARM-SoCs. :awe:

It's actually up to 3 SoC's as well now, the 3GS is running an older Samsung SoC.

The people who complain about fragmentation should use WP7, at least until recently it only supported a single SoC and aspect ratio.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I think 7" is a good size for reading.

7" tablets also fit in a purse better. Half the population are women.

And a lot of Amazon's customers are women

Fits with the stats about more nook color purchasers being women too...

 

[BigDaddyD]

Actually, till it gets reviewed/shipped, we don't know a lot about how the Fire will handle non Amazon content.

I have one pre ordered, since I'm considering replacing NetFlix with Prime video content.

I suppose you are correct, but I have no reason to believe it will work any differently than how Amazon already handles the non amazon media I use now. Why would it? When I use their player and cloud on my Thunderbolt or my desktops, everything works just fine. They would literally kill themselves if they design this to not work with non amazon stuff since they are planning on being in the negative from this and are counting on it to pull them out and make them profitable based on sales. If it can't use non Amazon content along with Amazon content...no one will buy it.

 

[Fire&Blood]

If it can't use non Amazon content along with Amazon content...no one will buy it.

I doubt that's something majority of buyers will be even aware of. The average tablet owners I know leave tablets at home when they leave the house, it serves the purpose for bed/couch browsing/light reading/video watching, where the laptop is too big and the phone is too small.

 

[BigDaddyD]

I doubt that's something majority of buyers will be even aware of. The average tablet owners I know leave tablets at home when they leave the house, it serves the purpose for bed/couch browsing/light reading/video watching, where the laptop is too big and the phone is too small.

That is not what Amazon is designing it for though. They are designing it hoping that people use it to buy more stuff from them. That is why they are selling it so cheap. A lot of what they hope to sell will be media. It will make zero sense to not let non Amazon media work with it. It will make sense for non Amazon media to work with it and cents for Amazon media to be stored for free and work with it exactly the same, and be cheap and easy to buy. That encourages people to buy Amazon media. If it costs the same or less and is free to store, why would they use other media (unless they already own it.) No one is going to buy a device that can't use what they already have.

 

[poofyhairguy]

No one is going to buy a device that can't use what they already have.

What "non-Amazon" media do most people have that must be usable?

Mp3s? That is a little too nerdy. How are regular people going to get MP3s, outside of Amazon? If you say piracy, you are not in Amazon's target market.

iTunes music? That is useless unless they paid extra to remove the DRM which is unlikely considering most people don't understand DRM. Many people will just be surprised when their Fire doesn't magically hook up to iTunes. But hey, they are paying less than half an iPad so they have to expect something not to work.

Pictures? Can be put into a cloud easily.

Video files? Most people watch stuff off Youtube, Netflix or Hulu. Only geeks like me have a video file collection.

What media will the Fire not play that regular people have?

I personally have tons of local media, and I wouldn't consider the Fire for this reason. But I am still buying one for my mom-it is perfect for her and she is a better customer for Amazon because she is actually willing to buy DRM movies from them.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Hm, Apple said that fragmentation is out? So that must be the reason why they have 4 different products with 3 different resolutions, 2 aspect ratios and 2 different ARM-SoCs. :awe:

Lets not forget those iDevices are running a many different versions of iOS. Very few of the people I see with iPhones keep updating to the newest version. I bet statistics would show at least 25% or more of iPhone users are using the iOS it had the day they bought it.

 

[manly]

Lets not forget those iDevices are running a many different versions of iOS. Very few of the people I see with iPhones keep updating to the newest version. I bet statistics would show at least 25% or more of iPhone users are using the iOS it had the day they bought it.

the stats actually disprove your personal observation.

http://www.slashgear.com/ios-5-is-now-installed-on-1-out-of-3-compatible-apple-devices-17188562/

Mac and iOS users often upgrade to the latest release at a surprisingly high clip.

No idea what sontin is trying to argue, Apple purposely chooses to have very few SKUs (across all their product lines). That's a major reason why many Android fans here wouldn't buy an iPhone!