Amazon Set to Unveil $199 'Kindle Fire' Tablet

[jontech]

If it's anything like my Kindle, it's bound to be awesome. I don't feel the iPad "has it" in terms of a good device for reading. Obviously however, a tablet is used for so much more than reading.

I am in the opposition on this one. I have tried three Kindle's and just can't read on them. I read at least one hour a day on the iPad.

 

[morfeas-dsl-]

i was going to buy an ipad 2 but at this price i am so going to buying this one!!

 

[bbeagle]

So many people are dismissing the Kindle Fire already.

Did you forget about the success of the Nook Color? It's also 7" and missing things like a camera and mic, but Barnes & Noble still sold millions of them to very happy customers.

I'm not dismissing the Kindle Fire at all. It looks to be a great product at a great price. I'm sure it will sell millions.

It's just in a different niche from the iPad. They both serve their own purposes. I think the Kindle Fire will be the Android-tablet killer, and not an iPad-killer.

 

[Kebabselector]

Where are the big screens for PDF?

Zoom in/out? Works fine on the iPad - as most PDFs aren't that readable on that either

 

[trip1ex]

Yes, I did read the explanation. It was denied for 2 reasons :

- It was a descriptive term. Multi-touch was describing the technology itself and the way the user interacts with the device.
- Apple failed to show it had achieved secondary meaning, ie, it was used all over the place without referring to Apple and Apple did not put enough effort in pushing the term itself on its own advertising and packaging to warrant they get exclusive use of it.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/66447722/Multi-Touch-Trademark



Apple failed to provide such evidence. If they had, they would have been granted the trademark. kdarling did quite a bit of analysis of Apple's lame attempt (trumpeting sales figure of the devices, failing to show that "Multi-Touch" was used in advertising and packaging).

So no, I'm not the pot calling the kettle black, I actually read the decision and the reasons behind it. You should to before trying to compare it to other situations so that you are familiar with the nuances behind trademarks and their grant process.

Yea but you didn't read my orginal post. YOu skimmed it. Otherwise you wouldn't have equated me wondering why to not skimming.

IF I ask how come the football team won the game does that mean I only skimmed the game story? Maybe I just heard the score and was wondering why or how they won?

And Amazon's 1-click is a very descriptive term.


Still seems like a fine line to me in how they granted the trademarks.

 

[jsh1120]

...
So I doubt it will damage iPad sales, but there's a huge market for a good (even if somewhat limited) cheap tablet. So while Apple will be selling 15 mln iPads a quarter I can see Amazon selling 5 mln fires a quarter.

And if they do, Amazon will be quite content. What is not fully recognized here is that both Apple and Amazon can move the sales of digital content directly to the bottom line. In addition, though, getting a consumer to purchase an iPad also increases the chances he/she will purchase other, more profitable products, MBA, MBP, etc.

That's also true of Amazon but to a MUCH greater extent. If Amazon can get its customers to purchase a Fire, they can also sell them lawn furniture, stereo equipment, even iPads (!). While Apple profits tremendously by hooking a customer to iTunes, Amazon ups the ante by opening the entire range of Amazon products to a Fire owner.

 

[NAG]

Where are the big screens for PDF?

Where is color electronic ink?

color e-ink isn't ready for prime time.

 

[Tones2]

Amazon is betting the farm on the cloud.

But you can't get AT the cloud on the Fire unless you are in a WiFi zone. Which excludes most of the time that I really need it.

Tony

 

[Savor]

http://www.slashgear.com/amazon-kindle-fire-publishers-leak-used-playbook-as-template-27183081/

Originally tipped to be aesthetically similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook, thanks to a shared ODM in the shape of Quanta, there’s talk that the Kindle Fire actually used RIM’s tablet as a template. Still, it’s software which will arguably be more important – or, to be precise, content – and the pipes are groaning with word of which publishers have lined up to be included in Amazon’s roster.

The Quanta connection helped Amazon take a big shortcut in the Kindle Fire’s design, so gdgt‘s sources claim, which had already helped RIM design much of the PlayBook. Rather than task its own in-house Kindle team, Lab 126, to get up to speed on developing a slate, Amazon supposedly looked to Quanta’s existing experience with the PlayBook and the QNX tablet acted as a “shortcut” of sorts. Ironically, previous leaks out of Taipei have suggested that RIM demanded Quanta use its Taiwanese production facilities rather than those in China, specifically to avoid Chinese white-box vendors from copying the PlayBook design.

Amazon apparently came across some frustrations with processor choice – eventually requiring a slower TI dual-core chip than what’s in the PlayBook – and made some tweaks, but there’s still the chance that the RIM tablet’s flaws could be carried over somewhat. Sources reckon the Kindle Fire is “supposed to be pretty poor” and little more than a “stopgap” until Amazon’s more polished second-gen hardware drops in 2012.

The clunky early Kindle, however, suggests that customers may be willing to look beyond hardware if the content is right, and leaks point to that being the case. AllThingsD‘s sources have spilled a list of three magazine titans – Hearst, Conde Nast and Meredith – which have each apparently signed up to distribute digital magazines on the Kindle Fire. That could mean titles like Wired and Vanity Fair appearing on the new ereader.

“You’ve got beauty and design with Apple, which we love. But with Amazon you have marketing, and ease of use. We’re very optimistic.” Unnamed publisher

Time Inc. has apparently been less enthusiastic, with a deal tipped “hopefully by the end of the year.” Amazon is reportedly offering a roughly 70/30 split on sales revenue, in the publisher’s favor, though each deal is being negotiated separately and there’s flexibility in the percentages that rival Apple isn’t willing to concede. For their part, publishers are supposedly tweaking their digital magazines to suit a 7-inch display, though with a mind to larger screens thanks to long-standing rumors of a 10-inch Kindle tablet in 2012.

^^ I am NOT really into tablets, but I am pretty sure one of those two above will be under my Christmas tree this year!

I don't need to sort through over half a million apps. I mainly need a great browser and the PlayBook has that. I am just waiting if RIM slashes the prices even more to under $199 without rebates. PlayBook still has better specs than the Kindle Fire. But the latter can be so cheap and has a better ecosystem, I may just get it for my Mom to replace her Kindle 3 she got from last year. So BlackBerry PlayBook for me and Amazon Kindle Fire for Mom. Getting both of them would still cost lower than getting the iPad 2 or most new smartphones without contract. Tablets just oversized smartphones anyway.

 

[NebulaClash]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_10 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E600 Safari/6533.18.5)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

LOL. Well, I'd say is fairly easy to see why Apple just cut iPad component orders by 25%.

Seriously? Is that propaganda still being pushed? Apple is not cutting back globally, just from those specific suppliers.

 

[whitehill76]

Kindle Battery

Kindle Fire quoting a max 8 hr battery life - with wifi switched off. However with all this cloud syncing and web browsing whats that gonna do to the battery life?! Wonder how quickly it will drain it down.

 

[Kebabselector]

I am in the opposition on this one. I have tried three Kindle's and just can't read on them. I read at least one hour a day on the iPad.

Looks as if you need to make the Kindle more reflective, like your devices already are.

 

[bbeagle]

I am in the opposition on this one. I have tried three Kindle's and just can't read on them. I read at least one hour a day on the iPad.

Same here. I have many friends with Kindles, and I don't like the reading experience on them. I just don't like e-ink.

The Fire is made for people who need a good e-reader that uses a non e-ink screen.

 

[NebulaClash]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_10 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E600 Safari/6533.18.5)

If it's anything like my Kindle, it's bound to be awesome. I don't feel the iPad "has it" in terms of a good device for reading. Obviously however, a tablet is used for so much more than reading.

I am in the opposition on this one. I have tried three Kindle's and just can't read on them. I read at least one hour a day on the iPad.

Me too. Can't read on e-ink screens, but have read about 200 novels on my iPad so far.

 

[Plutonius]

The Kindle Fire will be similar to an iPad as far as reading books (i.e. much worse then the current Kindle). The price is great for a tablet but I would never consider buying it for use as an e-reader.

 

[ade2bee]

Well done amazon, I think that rather than competing with the iPad, this new device will probably enhance the field, creating a little corner of it's own.

On another thought, I've been using a works iPad as well as having my own. The works iPad uses chrome mobile for our google document apps and I know that it would damage android, but an online 'chrome tablet' such as their chrome book would be a serious contender the same price as this, $199

Just a couple of thoughts

 

[jsh1120]

...
Still seems like a fine line to me in how they granted the trademarks.

Trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all about "fine lines." That's why specialization in those areas employs large segments of the legal community.

 

[NAG]

Anyone know if they are offloading Flash onto the EC2 servers so performance will be acceptable (and it won't drain the battery) or are they just going to do Flash like every other Android tablet and suck?

 

[trip1ex]

Trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all about "fine lines." That's why specialization in those areas employs large segments of the legal community.

Yes thanks for the non-answer.

 

[cube]

Zoom in/out? Works fine on the iPad - as most PDFs aren't that readable on that either

You're not serious about suggesting to use zooming.

An A4 iPad would be better for PDF, but for the time being one can make do with the current size.

 

[Queen of Spades]

Dammit, I really want a new Kindle now, even though I have absolutely no reason to replace my current one. Time to see what I can get for it on craigslist.

 

[Tones2]

So if the next gen Apple iPhone is an iCloud iPhone with less storage, you'll have the same complain?

ABSOLUTELY!! I want 64 GB on the next iPhone!!

Plus, Apple doesn't even stream the cloud content, which make it even worse. However, it's pretty certain that that the iPhone 4s / 5 will have at least 32 GB and the iPad 64 GB PLUS have 3G available, which is WORLD'S better than 8 GB with no 3G.

Tony

 

[iphone1105]

I don't use any of those features on my iPad 2.

emphasis on YOU....I'm sure there's plenty who do, and who'd need those features...

 

[trip1ex]

Ok I ordered a Fire just for the hell of it, but I also know that products on paper always look great (potential unrealized) and the $200 pricepoint means this is no iPad nevermind the headstart Apple has on the store, apps, ecosystem, etc.

so be realistic folks. That's all.

I think if the thing can browser decently then it can be a winner. I really don't do much more than browser and email on my Ipad 2.

 

[cube]

The Fire is made for people who need a good e-reader that uses a non e-ink screen.

An e-reader is only good if it uses e-ink. Anything else is a compromise.