Amazon Set to Step Up as Next iPad Competitor

[wirelessness]

Not interested, it will be like all the rest of the competitors.

Yeah, it will be able to access the ENTIRE Internet. Not jus the parts Steve thinks will run best.

I love my iPad...but I would really like the option to enable Flash...if I want!!! This is such a basic function. It would be one thing if HTML5 was taking off the way Jobs predicted....but it's not.

 

[MrSmith]

Awesome! Other people have different needs. Like traveling. Which I already posted.

Travelling is a need for an iPad?

Nobody's trying to convince you that an iPad is good for you, especially since you never asked anyone to do that. You expressed skepticism that an iPad would be useful for anyone.

And still waiting for a good answer. From someone who can articulate the benefits over a laptop.

No, you still have to hold or support an MBP. Like with a table or stand. Or on a stump in the wilderness.

I assume this was an attempt at humour. Ha ha ha.

Because the alternative is admittedly more expensive. And all the other reasons posted.

Mmmm. Yeah... Might want to think that one through a bit.

 

[jlc1978]

Barnes & Nobles is way ahead of them with the Nook Color.
Interesting the article doesn't mention B&N.

probably because, even though the Nook Color is a nice device, B&N is a B&M retailer struggling to stay relevant in a market where Apple and Amazon are the 800lb guerillas.

My hope is Amazon brings out a really cool device at a price point that impacts the iPad so Apple decides to relook at their pricing. Doubtful, but serious competition might do that.

Amazon may pull this off, since, unlike it's competitors, it has a CEO who can decide what to do and drive a product to market, similar to Job's at Apple.

 

[paul4339]

If Take the Galaxy Tab and slap a Amazon logo on it, have Amazon push it like the kindle. This Tablet will put up Ipad numbers!!

I disagree, BUT if the predictions that the tablet market will grow to 200M+ units by 2015 are even remotely realistic, then there's still no shame with grabbing 5-10% of the market. (I'm sure Amazon will be overjoyed if it sold 10-20 million units a year!)

And, IMO, there's no service comparable to iTunes/appstore (movies, books, music, software) ecosystem in the Android world currently and amazon has a good shot a becoming it. (and even being #2 is still healthy!)

 

[Surely]

And still waiting for a good answer. From someone who can articulate the benefits over a laptop.

Sorry man, but you're treading on ridiculousness at this point. Answers have been provided. At this point I think you're just trying to poke the bear.

You don't like the iPad. We get it. Yay for you. You're awesome.

I'm not wasting my time on you anymore if you choose to ignore the info provided for you in people's posts and refuse to take a look at any of the info people have suggested to you to look at.

 

[MrSmith]

Sorry man, but you're treading on ridiculousness at this point. Answers have been provided. At this point I think you're just trying to poke the bear.

You don't like the iPad. We get it. Yay for you. You're awesome.

I'm not wasting my time on you anymore if you choose to ignore the info provided for you in people's posts and refuse to take a look at any of the info people have suggested to you to look at.

I've played with it many times, but just can't understand why anyone would want it over a laptop. Unless they couldn't afford a better alternative. And you're missing the point if you think I just need "info".

 

[Surely]

I've played with it many times, but just can't understand why anyone would want it over a laptop. Unless they couldn't afford a better alternative. And you're missing the point if you think I just need "info".

What else besides info could we possibly give to you in a forum?


People have stated why they enjoy using the iPad over a laptop. Seriously guy.

As I said before (but you ignored): A laptop is better in some ways. An iPad is better in some ways. They are different devices that serve some similar purposes and some different purposes.

 

[emulator]

Anyone not like shopping on amazon.com?

Best site ever

Indeed. No tax and prime. When I used to buy Apple products, always got them from Amazon. BB and all the B&M are for checking products physically then get them online: most likely from Amazon especially since they beat most B&M prices now.

 

[NurJahan]

Well, you're wrong. You're making assumptions on everyone being like you. I myself own a Kindle 3 and a massive library of Kindle books, and since getting the iPad I've not once picked up the Kindle. I read all day and all night on the thing (I read a ton of books as it's my main "hobby") and I never get eye strain. Never. Not once. I can read in bed at night with all the lights off (including that little Kindle LED light attached to my Kindle's case) with my iPad and the text reversed out in the Kindle app. The eye strain argument is just a myth. I've watched TV in a dark room for 40 years and never got eyestrain. I'm typing this right now in a dark room on a LED monitor on my Mac and don't have any eyestrain.

Not to mention using the dictionary on the Kindle app on the iPad is infinitely easier do to just touching on a word and BAM the definition comes up...unlike having to cursor down down down....over over over...to the word then look it up in the dictionary as you would on the hardware Kindle.

NOW, having said this. Amazon is probably the company that can actually have a challenger against the iPad with a new Kindle touch screen and the entire Amazon infrastructure to back it up. What I'd like to see is have a dual-layer type Kindle. One with a nice color screen running a hybrid Android OS that Amazon controls and updates and on TOP of that an e-ink screen that transparent most of the time unless you're reading a book. And all of it touch-screen. Not sure the technology is available for something like that yet, but I'd be interested in something similar.

YOU are the one making assumptions, my friend. Just because you don't have eyestrain, it doesn't mean others don't, therefore the "eyestrain argument" is not a myth. My eyes hurt easily looking at an LED screen (TV, iPad, iPhone, whatever) in a dark room, or even in a fairly lit room. Besides the eyestrain thing, I sit in a cubicle staring at a computer screen all day, the last thing I want to do is look at another bright screen. I prefer the dullness of paper.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Canada cant innovate?

Eh, they can Eh. Justin Bieber?

Or if you want to listen to Robin Williams take:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjoNucs20Vw

 

[SockRolid]

Amazon will be a distant but healthy #2

Amazon's pads will do better than any other Android pad. Because only Amazon has the breadth and depth to support their pads. They have years of experience building Kindles, they have years of experience delivering digital and physical goods to customers, and they have hundreds of millions of account holders and credit card info.

But it's the intangibles that will really help their pad(s). Amazon has enormous mindshare and enormous brand equity. It's one of the world's most-trusted brands, and that will provide a significant "halo" effect for their pad(s).

Compare all that against Motorola. And HP. And RIM. Motorola has deep experience building phones, but are just an OEM. No customer-facing ecosystem like iTunes and App Store or Amazon's online store. Same with HP, except that HP builds pee cees and printers, which may or may not help them sell pads. (And yes, I know how great webOS is. But a great OS alone doth not a successful pad make.)

RIM gambled that they could coast in the smartphone arena, then leverage their deeply entrenched BlackBerry business customers to sell PlayBooks. It didn't work. And it turns out that the reason why PlayBook doesn't have built-in email is baked into the BlackBerry BES mail server. A user gets a digital identity (PIN) and that identity is assigned to a single device. You can't have both a BlackBerry phone and a PlayBook pad with the same PIN. Thus, the PlayBook can't have a BES email app. Fatal "vision problem" there, eh hoser?

iOS 5's improved messaging is a headshot to that old staggering zombie. And there won't be any "business tablet" market (hear that, Dell? Ballmer?). Microsoft proved that by failing to make a dent in anything after 10 years of waving UMPCs and "slates" around at CES keynotes.

So that leaves Amazon, with its massive customer-facing infrastructure, vast experience, and all-important mindshare. They seem to be stuck with Android for the moment, but despite that they have the best chance to win the battle for 2nd place.

 

[bobr1952]

Amazon seriously know how to run a business. Even one involving third parties. I tip my hat to them. And spend my money with them.

I totally agree with you on that--I love Amazon and spend most of my entertainment money with them. I have Amazon Prime and get virtually all of my Blu Rays with them delivered in 2 days. So yes, they know how to get customers into their store and keep them there. Personally, I feel the Amazon video model is much better than that of Netflix--today they just added a bunch of movies to their free Prime streaming--so who knows what Amazon will do when they get their hands on this. Will be interesting to see how it develops.

 

[Intarweb]

Did anyone actually use the Kindle? The only good thing it brought us so far was the Kindle App...which runs on iPhones/iPads/OSX

Maybe you should get out of your room more.

 

[iSee]

If this rumor is true, Amazon must feel they really have something great if they think they can sell 4 million by the end of the year.

It's gotta be really cheap or something.

 

[Lennholm]

Well, you're wrong. You're making assumptions on everyone being like you. I myself own a Kindle 3 and a massive library of Kindle books, and since getting the iPad I've not once picked up the Kindle. I read all day and all night on the thing (I read a ton of books as it's my main "hobby") and I never get eye strain. Never. Not once. I can read in bed at night with all the lights off (including that little Kindle LED light attached to my Kindle's case) with my iPad and the text reversed out in the Kindle app. The eye strain argument is just a myth. I've watched TV in a dark room for 40 years and never got eyestrain. I'm typing this right now in a dark room on a LED monitor on my Mac and don't have any eyestrain.

Not to mention using the dictionary on the Kindle app on the iPad is infinitely easier do to just touching on a word and BAM the definition comes up...unlike having to cursor down down down....over over over...to the word then look it up in the dictionary as you would on the hardware Kindle.

NOW, having said this. Amazon is probably the company that can actually have a challenger against the iPad with a new Kindle touch screen and the entire Amazon infrastructure to back it up. What I'd like to see is have a dual-layer type Kindle. One with a nice color screen running a hybrid Android OS that Amazon controls and updates and on TOP of that an e-ink screen that transparent most of the time unless you're reading a book. And all of it touch-screen. Not sure the technology is available for something like that yet, but I'd be interested in something similar.

Wow, first you complain about people making assumptions about everyone else from their own experience, and then you dismiss peoples concern about eye-strain as a mere myth, from only your own experience.
Who's making the assumptions, really?

 

[Meandmunch]

I sure hope they go with a color screen.

(sarcasm)

 

[*LTD*]

I've played with it many times, but just can't understand why anyone would want it over a laptop. Unless they couldn't afford a better alternative. And you're missing the point if you think I just need "info".

You might try asking the millions of consumers who are buying them. Sometimes why someone loves to use a product is difficult to articulate in words. It might be as simple as it being a joy to use, that's all. And for a lot of people (including yours truly), that is plenty reason enough.

I *could* use my notebook. But I just keep reaching for my iPad. if you asked me why I'd probably say I'm too busy enjoying it to answer.

Some things are not and will never be easily quantifiable

Note that one of the mistakes the competition is making is by trying to quantify everything - explaining everything in quantifiable terms - specs - and then expecting the average person's imagination to be captured by it. The competition are often consumed by this, instead of focusing on how to delight users and make everything natural and enjoyable. If that was their goal, Android would look and perform quite differently, for example.

Just look at Apple's newest iPad commercial, entitled "Now." Case in point.

 

[WyoMac]

Canada needs every portal to email they can get...they cant get regular mail. I kid, I kid

Not to mention being afraid of the dark.

 

[DrDomVonDoom]

You web surf on it half horizontally, or you support the thing with one hand? Why would you not buy a laptop? You spend all day in the wilderness you need every second of battery life? You hold it to read? A year and a half and this rational thinker has been given no good answer. And why does it bring out the nastiness in people when I ask (like the sarcasm above)?

Because your snarkiness breeds sarcasm. You ask questions that are all based on preferance. 'why not buy a laptop'. Why should one buy a laptop? So I can carry a power brick & cord around with me? Laptops aren't the perfect solution to everyone. I work in the house cleaning and fire restoration business. Its far easier to have a tablet with me that I can jot down notes while building a estimate for a customer then bringing a laptop. Being in the field all day, the battery is convienent. 'You Hold it to read' you hold a book to read as well, but...no one was complaining about that, and its far easier to read a book on a tablet then it is on a laptop. Who would carry a laptop around for that purpose? The ipad is the perfect amalgam of what makes a Mac great, and what makes the iPhone great. The App atmosphere, in a world where finding great, cheap applications that can do anything you can dream of, why go through the trouble.

Also life is complicated enough, a little simplification never hurt no one. Why go to work with your notepad, your paper, juggling your coffee a book to read. All the things I need are in one convienent place. Small, light, easy to carry. A laptop is great if your temporarily mobile. You need to go to a confrence, you need the convienence of PC power where your going, and your set up in a hotel somewhere and have to get work done. But someone who is constantly mobile, constantly moving. Why bother? If I can flick open the smart case, find what I need and be on my way, I don't need a laptop.

 

[firewood]

... who can articulate the benefits over a laptop.

Easy one. A vast percentage of humans are vain and lazy. The few ounces of weight difference are enough that millions of lazy people won't carry laptops to meetings or over to the couch, even though they will carry a thin tablet. And if they do carry something in public, it has to be a "new cool" thing that has lots of hip ads for it on TV. So the benefit for millions of people is that they will have a tablet available with them for use more often. Whereas the laptop is left back at the desk.

But big laptops are still fine for the geek in the smelly t-shirt who doesn't get the girl or the promotion.

 

[BackInAction]

media consumption devices

This thread has degraded quite a bit, but I'll respond just for fun...

I have a tablet and frankly, I can't find a good use for it. After reading most of the above posts, I think this is primarily to due my lack of media usage. I do not listen to music, read books, read the news, take pictures (I'm a bad parent) or watch that many movies (if I do that's what my 58" plasma is for). I got bored with games after a week or less. So, now it just sits by the couch for nearly instant Wikipedia and IMDB ("what else have we seen her in?") access. And my three kids (7, 10, 13) barely touch it now that is is 2 months old.

The only productive thing I use it for is to access my work email mid-evening without having to drag out my laptop. But I don't have a smartphone yet. Once I do later this summer, I won't need the tablet for that purpose.

They are nice slick devices and they appear to be perfect for personal media consumption. I just don't fall into the later category.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Once I got a Kindle, I gave up reading books on the iPad.

The Kindle has a much better screen for reading books on in daylight, is much lighter, has free 3G access, and its battery lasts for weeks.

Different Markets, but I see a lot of people with Kindle's these days reading books. Magazines... not so much due to the ridiculous over pricing (Economist Im looking at you here especially!)

I gave away my Kindle about five days after I got my iPad. The Kindle is a good book reader if you are in well lit places. Most of my reading is done at home late at night or at the theater when I am waiting for a movie to start.

I had problems with my Kindle and charging. You can only charge using the Kindle USB device. If you run the battery all the way down, it can be quite hard to get the stupid thing to take a charge.

Two bricks? Obviously the iPad is your first electronic device and you therefore have no authority to compare anything. Still the nastiness, though...

I use stacks of electronics on a daily basis. On my desk sits two desktop computers (iMac and a Linux box), One laptop (Macbook Pro), and an iPad. I also use more than one Cell to WiFi device (depending on where I am and how much charge I have left.) and I use teathering on my iPhone.

I get more use out of my iPad than any other device I own. When I am out in the field, I can't always carry a laptop around. My iPad has several databases that keep track of what project I am on, what I need to do, parts lists, calendars, and IP addresses. I have a big chunk of my library on my iPad. If I am someplace and unexpectedly have an hour or 30 minutes of downtime, I can read, check the news or dig through my email. I can do all these things anytime I want because I have my iPad with me 24/7 365. I don't know anyone who takes a laptop to the grocery store or to change the oil in his car.

Having an iPad leads to having zero enforced downtime. You can be productive any time you want and never have that sinking feeling that your projects are falling behind and all you can do is look at the walls.

 

[qtx43]

...I have a tablet and frankly, I can't find a good use for it. After reading most of the above posts, I think this is primarily to due my lack of media usage...

I think that's about right. The iPad is fantastic for reading stuff and looking at stuff (but the speakers for music, not so much). Long battery life, convenient form factor, great display. And I think most of the disagreements between iPad and kindle are based on whether you like reading in bed in the dark vs. in sunny areas. But creating new documents and managing information, it's not going to compete with a regular computer.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Color E-ink isn't too far off.

I sure hope they go with a color screen.

(sarcasm)

 

[JRoDDz]

4 Million?

Unless they are pricing this thing around 200 dollars to compete with ipad 2, I don't see this happening. What OS will it run on... anyway?

$99.99 and millions will be sold!