will be nice to see Apple respond, rather than lead, for a change.
and respond they will have to.
and respond they will have to.
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Amazon Introduces 8.9-Inch and 7-Inch Kindle Fire HD at $299 and $199, Updated Kindle Fire Drops to $159
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Hopefully its in the sense that they are making a smaller tablet which is cheaper because its smaller, and not a smaller and with flimsy hardware sort of way, which would suck. It wouldn't be "... making the best products they can make" like how Steve used to say.
That is simply not true of Apple, esp for desktop computers I'm sorry to say and we all know it. I wish it were true. Limiting hardware to "get it in a thin box" is not "Making The Best Products"
Even if they did apple will just steal it back in a few weeks
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same here.
You might make your choice based on interface beauty, but most people I know, don't. Kindle may not have every book, but it's still a lot more than Apple has.
The point I was trying to make is that content is the key to getting consumers to buy your hardware. That's why no other hardware manufacturer has ever been able to slow down Apple. It takes a content provider to do that. One who can also create good hardware. Google has the potential with Google Play, but they're not there yet. Amazon is the closest yet. Again, as an AAPL shareholder this is something I will be watching REALLY closely.
The quality of the display, the limitations of function, the poor network performance, and yes, the restriction to the Amazon Ecosystem were major factors. I don't consider a low price for a crappy product to be a "great deal". But different people have different priorities.
My only tablet experience to that point had been an iPad I - which I was not particularly enthusiastic about. But the quality and function it offered placed it in a different class from what I saw in the Fire - and not just based on Size.
People endure the quagmire of Android versions and the wild west nature of its application market, justifying it by the flexibility of source and function for applications compared to that found in an Apple product. The Hardware is never as good as the Apple hardware. It's like comparing a Chevy to a Mercedes. But there is something to be said for that freedom Android offers. The problem is that the Fire offers the worst of both worlds: Inferior components and an OS so locked down that you can do almost nothing with the product.
I could stand the Amazon system of media distribution if they would allow at least limited download and storage for playing movies when outside WiFi, but they didn't.
All in all, my feeling was that I'd paid $200 for an undersized unit with cut-rate parts and a deliberately clipped operational capacity that only diminished the value of the unit further. To build this thing up and compare it to an iPad is a joke. The unit turned out to be completely worthless to me, and only my daughter's desire to have it kept me from crushing the device in a way that would illustrate my disdain for it.
I'm sure there will be people out there who claim I'm some kind of Apple FanBoy, and to that all I can say is I was interested enough in an alternative that I spent my money on this thing. It will never happen again though, that is for sure.
You know what I found out from building my own Windows PCs? After a certain amount of years, hardware platforms as in chipsets become obsolete, like I wanted to only upgrade the CPU on my old PC and found out that it won't take current chips, not only CPUs, RAM modules change too, and even motherboard connectors, new motherboards won't have IDE connectors if your old internal DVD burner drive still works, its still useless. I'm not sure there is a perfect situation. I only hope this iMac last me a good 5 years, 7 would be better
Actually, the iPad has just as many books as the Kindle. All you have to do is install the Kindle reader on the ipad. So Comparing devices on that basis isn't much of an argument.
Content is the key to getting people to buy your service. Quality, function, ease of use, and yes, finish and design are the keys to getting people to buy the hardware.
If Kindle thought they were going to roll out a piece of junk and replace Apple in the device market just because of their content, then they were sorely mistaken.
I still think iPad sucks as a tablet. I mean, it's the 'best form' of a tablet today....so I'm defintely not sure about the Fire HD. I hate Android Tablets....here's hoping for Windows RT.
It's like I want to buy one, but as a college student I see almost no use for it outside of entertainment.
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I doubt that....er...really hope not. I'm not really confident in Shareholder-ruled Apple.
To me, a 7'' tablet is a bit too close to a phone. Reluctant to get the Kindle. I'll probaly buy this for my sis as a birthday gift, but I'm not sure.
It goes against the whole ''Apple does their own thing'' philosophy.
It's like I want to buy one, but as a college student I see almost no use for it outside of entertainment.
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I doubt that....er...really hope not. I'm not really confident in Shareholder-ruled Apple.
To me, a 7'' tablet is a bit too close to a phone. Reluctant to get the Kindle. I'll probaly buy this for my sis as a birthday gift, but I'm not sure.
It goes against the whole ''Apple does their own thing'' philosophy.
Missing the point. Amazon isn't making junk. Kindle v1 was decent. This new one looks WAY better. Apple fans are now accustomed to dismissing every competitor because everyone has failed so far. These new devices are the first ones I think that should be taken seriously - the hardware is impressive, the pricing (for both hardware and data access) is impressive. But the hardware has legs because of the massive content available.
P.S. Yes, Kindle is on the iPad. iTunes is on Windows. Remember how that worked out for Microsoft?
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Hate to admit it but very true. Only few niggly stuff about the new iPad and speakers could be improved def.
unless it has an HD (retina), im not going to be interested in the ipad mini TBH...
The original Kindle Fire was 100% total junk. Plasticky. Awful. But the Amazon ecosystems's pretty good.
I think Apple may have to consider dropping iPad prices, at least a little, and leverage App store and iTunes sales and adding to their ecosystem.
I think Apple may have to consider dropping iPad prices, at least a little, and leverage App store and iTunes sales and adding to their ecosystem.
Some models are coming to Germany next month, Kindle Fire will cost EUR 159. That's a price that nobody can beat and unlike all of the other Android competitors, Amazon has a rich content ecosystem. These products have "SUCCESS" written all over them.
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I won't buy anything that has iOS on it, so for me this is only a race between the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire (HD).
Since both are Android devices, the Nexus 7 has the major advantage of getting its software updates directly from Google and it also has the Google Play Store pre-installed. That's a big plus for the Nexus 7.
The Kindle family, on the other hand, is an awesome front-end to Amazon's ecosystem and they will most likely support their devices longer than Google support theirs.
In the end, it's probably just a matter of personal preferences and you will be doing the most with the gadget. If you only want to consume stuff, the Kindle family is the better choice - Amazon has more content in their store, plain and simple. If you are more interested in using the device for web-browsing and running third party or self-written applications, the Nexus 7 probably is the better choice.
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That probably explains why it sells so well and why it is so hard to find negative reviews outside of fan-pages for Apple products...
We still don't know if the iPad Mini will make any entrance into the market. All we have some parts that supposedly could make-up the new reduced form-factor tablet. My bet though is that Apple is waiting to see how the US market responds to the Fire HD; especially when it's targetting media consumers. You only have to see the promo pages pushing all their book, music and film services.
1) According to the rumours... and we still know very little of it. MSFT could still use it as leverage, regardless. If iPad + Office is substantially more expensive than RT+Office, you'll have an even harder time convincing your management that they should buy Apple instead of MSFT,
2) That, at large, simply wont happen. New technology is always new technology, but once it matures, it will be far cheaper supplying the user with the hardware, than trying to manage the mess that is freedom. The user never remains in control (in absence of strong arguments for it) I know very little of the device management features in W8, but i attended a seminar on W7, and i doubt W8 will be any worse.
3) Call it enterprization for all i care: Technology will once more move from the workplace to the private sphere. And, choices made within the private sphere will continue to be influenced by your experiences from the work environment. Humans are lazy. Theres a reason why very few of us ever run Linux.
I never said you should be tied to your desk. More: if you want to work at your desk, fine. If you want to present something, using touch, fine. If you want to be highly mobile, fine. If you need to sit down and type something up, fine.
Arguably, its still a bit too small to allow for "serious" work. Screen wise, that is. Which to me is why a tablet wouldnt replace my macbook. But, i am well aware that i am not most: i am fairly sure that the vast majority of workers would do absolutely fine: especially if they are allowed to get "tied up at the desktop" working on a large screen.
P.S. There is plenty of specialized software that wont end up on iPads (or RT) in the foreseeable future.
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Yeah, people are shunning Google and Facebook like the plague. Ads are not at all the single most successful model for the web. Not at all.
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No, they dont do hardware, but they provide high quality software for those who do. And if you dont think MSFT has leverage with W8, you are in for a treat.
And yes, once more, Amazon has an ability to put a stake in various markets, limiting Apples potential growth. I would be more worried with things that could challenge me on my home turf, than what could limit my expansion, though.
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Sorry for that. The joke flew over your head. Was hoping for you to read it within context. And yes, 250 MB will be perfectly fine for many.
I'm not sure how. There's a heap of lower cost iPad-wannabes piled up in trash bin of tablet history. None, not even the Nexus 7, have yet to take a sizeable dent out of the iPad's marketshare. And Amazon, for all it's crowing about how well the Fire is selling, refuses to announce actual sales numbers. Why? Even Google proudly announces estimates of 6-8m Nexus 7 units by year's end.
The new Fires do nothing to leapfrog the iPad. And the truth is, when you consider you are buying a tablet with mandatory ads it's really not less expensive than the iPad, it's just subsidized by Amazon and its advertisers. For people looking to save a buck, they'll by the Fire, but they were buying it before. Certainly the new one isn't going to cause iPad users reason to switch to the Fire, nor is it going to cause a new rush of buyers -- the low cost original Fire would have done that last year. This tells us price is a factor, but it's not THE factor above all else.
Based on the rumors via more reliable sources, the 7" mini is imminent. My guess is that it will start at $349 for a 16GB model. That's going to be your game changer because it's a genuine iPad, compatible with iOS apps, and the first sub-$400 current model iPad. (I also suspect Apple will quietly discontinue the iPad 2).
Why does Apple have to get into a race to the bottom? Their business model is different than Amazon's. They make most of their money off hardware, Amazon sells hardware basically at cost hoping to make it up in sales of content. Amazon has yet to provide hard sales data on the Kindle Fire. They claim it's 22% of the tabloid market but we have no idea how they're arriving at that figure. And do we know that selling cheap hardware as a gateway to content purchases is profitable for them? Or do we say ' who cares if they make a profit as long as I can get a tablet for $199'?
I actually think the race to the bottom is bad because hardware OEM's won't be able to compete with those razor thin margins and still innovate. Apple might be able to sustain smaller margins and Microsoft might be able to sell Surface near cost or at a loss. But how is HP, Lenovo, Asus, etc. able to afford to do that and still turn out great products?
I actually think the race to the bottom is bad because hardware OEM's won't be able to compete with those razor thin margins and still innovate. Apple might be able to sustain smaller margins and Microsoft might be able to sell Surface near cost or at a loss. But how is HP, Lenovo, Asus, etc. able to afford to do that and still turn out great products?
Uh, do you have sales figures we're unaware of? I mean, as far as we know, it sold well initially and sales fell off a cliff after the holidays.
As well, it received negative reviews upon release from many gadget websites. However, it's saving grace in almost every review was that it was cheap.
You must not be reading the whole thread. Or you're just being obtuse.
It's 49.99 first off.
Second - you get $10 towards the app store.
So that's basically 40 for 250mb per month for a year. That works out to about 3.33 a month.
If you buy an iPad - that same 250mb per month is $15.
You can also get the same 3 and 5gb plans which I am sure will cost the same thing as it does for the iPad.
So please explain to me your exact complaint?
Yeah, I don't get how anyone could complain about cheap data. It's not a huge amount but it's quite a discount. Maybe that same discount gets applied towards the higher packages.
yeah think you got it right based on the keynote. wonder if they(carriers) are waiting on apple to see if they can get better pricing on the 3GB and 5GB deal for their ipad mini
A 2Gb a month deal with carryover data would be ideal for maybe $150 a year.but I'll keep dreaming