Amazon Set to Step Up as Next iPad Competitor

[Geckotek]

Travelling is a need for an iPad?


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

For a long time I fought getting an iPad. I felt it was overpriced for what you get. I kinda still do, but I decided it was finally worth it to me.

I recently took a trip to SF. In my office there is no real backup for what I do. There are people that could log into the system and call Microsoft to take direction, but I felt better being able to have remote access. However, I planned to do a lot of walking around SF and didn't want to lug even a small laptop or netbook.

So I bought an iPad, downloaded and RDP app and configured the VPN to remote into our office. While I was there, we had an issue with BES. The iPad was so thin and light that I was easily able to carry it in a messenger bag without really noticing the extra weight. I was able to quickly pull out my iPad, VPN in, and RDP to the BES server to resolve the issue.

In August, I will be travelling to China, N & S Korea. I don't plan to take a laptop. Instead I will be taking the iPad to watch a few movies on the plane, check e-mail, surf the web, and generally entertain myself during the flight. I've done this with a laptop in the past, but I've found the iPad to be so much more manageable.

My laptop definately can do certain things better than my iPad, but I wouldn't give up my iPad at this point.

Does that qualify as articulating an advantage?

 

[MacAddict1978]

A company that figured out that what you actually do with a tablet matters more than the hardware specs?

This'll be the first competitor that Apple needs to worry about, I bet.

I agree, and I think if a company as powerful as Amazon moves into this space (especially with their own Android Market) developers will get some fire under their butts too. (I think this is more a content war than an OS war. There aren't many tablet optimized or specific apps for Honeycomb, and of the few thousand most are junk and useless. No awe factor, no I need a honey comb tablet excitment you get when seeing apps in action in the iPad commercials).

Next to Apple, Amazon has the most adopted echo system. In some ways, Amazon has a better one but without devices in their garden. (Before you jump the gun, by better I refer to pricing more so than content, but Amazon isn't far behind apple in the media content space either. They have sales, competitive prices, and great selection. Google, Microsoft, and HP will take a while to catch up to Apple and Amazon in content and pricing.) I would probably use Amazon for the majority of my music purchases and video rentals if it weren't so inconvenient and unintergrated into my mac, iphone, and apple tv.

Amazon will also sell hardware at a loss. All of the Kindles until now have been loss leaders, and very successful for them looking at the increase in book sales and e-book sales. The hybrid displays that do the faux e-ink are still too expensive and not up to par. Given Amazon isn't exactly stellar with their hardware designs, I couldn't see them coming up with sexy dual screen device, or a flip device of some kind with an e-ink screen and an lcd panel. Would be neat if done right. If they enter the tablet wars (Bezos has hinted many times this year that they are) I wouldn't be fearful of the price not being competitive. Even if they use Android, you can bet the device will tie heavily into their music, books, and video stores which is where they make the money. I don't think it will be like the first gen kindle where it's priced for enthusiasts. They'll price it to get their tablet in their hands so people can 1-click their hearts out on the content. And like apple, they can profit from app sales as well. Though, if anyone should be scared it's probably Google. Even if Amazon uses Google's OS, Google aimed to make money on content too. That open thing might be biting them this fall.

 

[celo48]

Yeah right. That's not going to happen. I do not see any competition to iPad or iPhone or any other Apple products. They just do it differently (not saying better Apple bashers) and Apple will always be the top computer maker in the world (not by numbers Apple bashers).

Apple is a brand like Mercedes-Benz or any other top notch car maker.

Apple will always be Apple.

 

[ericmooreart]

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

I see more kindles on the nyc subway then I do iPads. Bought my daughter one. Fits easily in her tiny "girl bag" and she hardly ever need to charge it and can read it in daylight. Darkness is another story...

 

[dj-anon]

It will be irrelevant if it is U.S. only like everything else they do.

 

[ctdonath]

Don't forget the observation that Amazon will be giving away Kindles by the end of the year. Price drops on the cheapest model are on a straight-line path to $0 in November.

 

[Hueyfreeman]

To be honest I think the Amazon tablet will be good for the industry. The ipad while a good device is still an Enigma most consumers play with it at best buy but they wonder what the help will it do from their and why pay 500 for it. Remember most consumers are not techies. The kindle tab most likely will be priced around 300 using a 7" screen and running android 3.2 many of the company's current kindle customers will upgrade and find it pretty good and it will replace a lot of the previous devices they have owned.

 

[vincenz]

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

People do. Just not the type who frequent forums like this.

 

[3N16MA]

I have nothing bad to say about Amazon. I like them as a company and have never had any problems with them. As others have said Amazon already has many services in place that would benefit their tablet. Of course they will also get to promote the crap out of it on the most visited online store.

It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

 

[Unspeaked]

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

Over one of Apple's laptops?

1. Cheaper
2. Smaller/Lighter
3. Easier to Use
4. Easier to Update
5. No Need to Configure Anti-Virus, Firewall, Etc
6. Touch Interface (which leads to several unique apps which many people find "fun" to use)
7. Kid Friendly/Senior Friendly
8. Doubles as a Nicer eBook Reader Than a Laptop
9. Steady Stream of Free, Easy-to-Find & Easy-to-Install Applications
10. Need I Go On?

 

[Digitalclips]

More dilution of the small market left after Apple takes its share. The fighting over the scraps gets harder and less profitable by the day. No wonder RIM is up the creek.

 

[DrDomVonDoom]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

... 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.

I really dont think thats the issue. If we are talking about true mobility vs production worth, as in i can go anywhere and still have a stable desktop equivilent, then the iPa makes sence. If i were to go to a confrence ft example, i wouldnt bring
My desktop, i would take my notebook an set it up in my hotel
Room. I would take my ipa down on the show floor. Why? How is one suppose to realistically use a laptop while walking around? The tablet is for
Mobility at its finest. Not desktop-lite.

 

[Mr. Gates]

Over one of Apple's laptops?


6. Touch Interface
7. Kid Friendly/Senior Friendly HA !....Says a lot

10. Need I Go On? You can if you want, its pretty funny

iPad's fun for all ages from 3 to 16 and 50 to 85

 

[Analog Kid]

What ever happened to the idea of core competence? Amazon is a retailer, not a manufacturer. Kindle apps sold far and wide makes a lot of sense. In the absence of a good ebook reader, the Kindle device made sense. Competing in the general purpose tablet market seems as silly as Garmin competing in the cell phone market-- just because a phone contains GPS doesn't mean a GPS company should make a phone. Just because a tablet can display books, doesn't mean a book company should make a tablet.

 

[ChrisSD]

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

The Kindle is a far better ereader than the iPad will ever be. I love my iPad, but that is just a silly comment.

 

[dolph0291]

You are kidding, right?

"Hi, my name is Google and iOS 5 was my idea!"

Really? You have to be kidding. You really want to go there?

"Hi, my name is Apple and Android was my idea!"
"Hi, my name is Apple and the cloud was my idea!" (MobileMe wasn't the best, but it was there long before anyone else.)
"Hi, my name is Apple and smart phones that didn't suck was my idea!"
"Hi, my name is Apple and Windows was my idea!"

 

[dolph0291]

The first real contender

Ever since rumors began about Amazon entering the tablet race I thought they would be the first real competition Apple would have for the tablet space. I've never used a Kindle but they are obviously a runaway success. If I'm not mistaken, they were the first of their kind, too. Which means that Amazon is thinking ahead the needs of their customers and know how to fill those needs.

Samsung, Sony et al are used to building decent hardware and then slapping someone else's software in there (like their computers and Windows). They are trying to build an ecosystem but, really, how many Android ecosystems can there be? These companies release a phone and then right away they're on to the next model. They have no investment in what they've already released and no commitment to make the buyer's experience any better. They treat their Android phones as throw-aways, very old-school pre iPhone thinking.

Having a smart phone is really about the user experience. Which is why I think that Android is going to get left behind and people will be using Apple or Windows phones. (Full disclosure: I am a fanboy and don't trust MS one bit but I think their phones will be big, displacing Android for second or even first place.)

Tablets are all about the user experience also. I think Amazon has the knowledge and the commitment to improve Android enough to make it useable for the long term.

 

[314631]

This is bad news for consumers. Customers do not need to be confused by poor products when Apple has the ultimate solution. Amazon should just focus on selling iPads and content for our devices. They have no chance of beating us. Our team has already won the tablet battle.

 

[Geckotek]

This is bad news for consumers. Customers do not need to be confused by poor products when Apple has the ultimate solution. Amazon should just focus on selling iPads and content for our devices. They have no chance of beating us. Our team has already won the tablet battle.

Yeah, just like IE won the browser war. We should have never had another browser after IE6.

 

[Mr. Gates]

Really? You have to be kidding. You really want to go there?

"Hi, my name is Apple and Android was my idea!"
"Hi, my name is Apple and the cloud was my idea!" (MobileMe wasn't the best, but it was there long before anyone else.)
"Hi, my name is Apple and smart phones that didn't suck was my idea!"
"Hi, my name is Apple and Windows was my idea!"

You are sooooooo wrong !

Apple's iCloud runs on Microsofts technology

The progress and technology to get to the iPhone came from everyone BUT Apple


....
..
.There is more but I'm exhausted by this crap.


"Yey Apple !"

"Whoopde doo !
I finally was able to afford one, Now I can shove it in everyone's face and prove I'm not totally computer illiterate (as I was on windows) and beat my monkey paws against a shiny icon to receive a prize ! "

Hey guys, lets all live in fantasy land !



Sorry dude, but your way off

 

[RalfTheDog]

Please don't huff paint, it is not good for you. Apple is using Amazon S3 until they get their data center running. Why would any reasonable company run a high volume server on a trash OS like Azure. The long term solution will be some form of BSD Unix or at worst Linux. If you are running a data center of that size, you need an OS that scales.

You are sooooooo wrong !

Apple's iCloud runs on Microsofts technology

The progress and technology to get to the iPhone came from everyone BUT Apple


....
..
.There is more but I'm exhausted by this crap.


"Yey Apple !"

"Whoopde doo !
I finally was able to afford one, Now I can shove it in everyone's face and prove I'm not totally computer illiterate (as I was on windows) and beat my monkey paws against a shiny icon to receive a prize ! "

Hey guys, lets all live in fantasy land !



Sorry dude, but your way off

 

[Lennholm]

This is bad news for consumers. Customers do not need to be confused by poor products when Apple has the ultimate solution. Amazon should just focus on selling iPads and content for our devices. They have no chance of beating us. Our team has already won the tablet battle.

"OUR team", "beating US"? Are you an Apple employee? Because if you aren't, you just sound like a religious fanatic

 

[314631]

Yeah, just like IE won the browser war. We should have never had another browser after IE6.

IE6 was never the best browser. So yours is a ridiculous comparison. Let's keep this conversation sensible and realistic.

 

[Geckotek]

Please don't huff paint, it is not good for you. Apple is using Amazon S3 until they get their data center running. Why would any reasonable company run a high volume server on a trash OS like Azure. The long term solution will be some form of BSD Unix or at worst Linux. If you are running a data center of that size, you need an OS that scales.

You've used Azure?

Early reports I read state they were using both. So we've proven they are not using Azure?

 

[jackc]

Don't forget the observation that Amazon will be giving away Kindles by the end of the year. Price drops on the cheapest model are on a straight-line path to $0 in November.

I wish that were true, but I don't think you can extrapolate the trend, and certainly not this year. I think next stop is $99, but that's just a guess.