Amazon Set to Unveil $199 'Kindle Fire' Tablet

[PCClone]

When you look at this, you will ask yourself, how can Amazon afford to sell such a device at $199? The answer is, they can't. They make a loss of around $40 for each device sold. There are two reasons for this. One is that there is absolutely no way to match the $499 iPad 2 unless the price is half of it, because the iPad has already solidified its position as THE tablet to get. Another reason is that they will try to make money back from selling content. For starters, this device will only have access to Amazon's Appstore, and not the Android Market! Amazon will also offer Kindle books, magazines, music, movies etc. -- all stored via Amazon Cloud Storage.

Essentially, it's a tablet that also promotes all of Amazon's services, just like how the iPad also buys its content from the Apple Appstore, iTunes for music and movies, and iBooks - exempt the iPad 2 is twice as expensive (although having a larger display, more powerful processor, etc etc etc)

Companies like HTC, Samsung, Toshiba etc have all produced tablets. They have all failed. Why will Amazon be the first real competitor? Because they know how to punch the iPad where it hurts. None of these other companies have priced their tablets less than $499, and that itself is fundamentally flawed. The Fire is not only cheap, but it integrates well with the Amazon ecosystem, and will try to make money off content rather than the device itself.

The only real risk that Amazon faces is if people start installing CyanogenMod on their Fires and regain access to the Android Market and stop buying Amazon content. Then they'll be selling these guys at a loss and getting no returns. However, looking at the general intellect of the most Kindle users today, I don't think this will pose a major problem.

Any of you guys getting one? At $199, it's pretty tempting for sure.

There are several reports already that say they are selling them at a loss.

 

[firewood]

I don't have a link backing me up, but I'm sure that 90% of the people who use the iPad use it as a media consumption device and not a creation device. Why would those people pay an extra $300 for features they are not going to use?

For the same reasons that a lot of adults buy full-sized magazines and large print books. It fills their field of view when holding it at a reasonable reading distance. Much bigger, and it's too hard to hold when sitting on the couch. Smaller, and the huge monsters in big screen movies and 1st-person games start looking like small bugs.

Kids with shorter arms and better near or close-up vision might like the smaller screen Fire and iPod Touches though.

 

[Nostromo]

I love Amazon's move.

Competition is good.

 

[ortuno2k]

Very excited here, can't wait to get one! I have been an Amazon customer for about 12 years, and have NEVER been disappointed by them. I'm sure they've built a good, quality product at a reasonable price.
I've been considering getting a Kindle for a while - mainly to read many of the books I own in PDF. If the Fire can do it, then count me in for one! Even if I have to convert the PDF to some sort of portable book format, this little table would be great. I am a Prime member, have some music on my cloud drive and some Kindle books... This thing is excellent for hanging out around the house, playing with my son, reading on the bed or the couch - without the need to pull out the 15" MBP.
I don't think it's meant to compete against the iPad, but rather to attract users with different needs. And if it can play basic games, movies, music, books - that's a lot, plenty for people who want a portable device which can do all these things but doesn't carry the iPad price tag.
I really can't wait 'till the Fire starts shipping in November. I know my 2 1/2 year old son and my wife will love one!

 

[D.T.]

Why will the Kindle Fire not be decent for gaming? It is my understanding that it will run all the Android apps that are on Amazon's Appstore, and the selection of games is excellent already. I've downloaded plenty on our Galaxy Tab 7" and they run great. Are iOS games usually better than their Android versions? Yes. But it's not usually a night and day difference, and the selection is still very good for Android.

Not being able to access the Google Marketplace isn't the end of the world since Amazon's version of it is really growing. Plus I love that they give out a free app each day, and many of them are $3 or $4 apps normally.

Not to mention, most of the games I've had a blast playing, aren't really "hardware intensive". I think if a KF owner can play Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Squibble, Cut the Rope, etc., I think they'll be plenty happy.

 

[JordanNZ]

Not to mention, most of the games I've had a blast playing, aren't really "hardware intensive". I think if a KF owner can play Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Squibble, Cut the Rope, etc., I think they'll be plenty happy.

It only has 2 finger multi-touch though... It's one limitation people seem to be overlooking.

 

[skinnylegs]

Why pay $500-$800 for an iPad that can't do half the things that a Windows 8 tablet will do for the same price?

That's been the non-iPad tablets' marketing scheme for some time now. How's that working out?

 

[Chris in IL]

Not to mention, most of the games I've had a blast playing, aren't really "hardware intensive". I think if a KF owner can play Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Squibble, Cut the Rope, etc., I think they'll be plenty happy.

Cut the Rope is the free app of the day on the Amazon Appstore today.

 

[Savor]

Over 75K views and 900+ replies and this thread isn't even a day old. Come on baby, LIGHT MY FIRE. Shows that an Amazon tablet at $199 has sparked alot of interests and debate even in an Apple-centric forum.

Steve Jobs said last year that tablets with 7-inch screens will be DOA and the size of the iPad is the perfect size for a tablet. Yet, I expect this Kindle Fire to sell faster the Samsung Galaxy Tab and BlackBerry PlayBook combined within one month. I predict at least over 1M-2M sold by Cyber Monday.

Steve Jobs said we are living in the "post-PC world." Yet, Windows 7 sold like 450M after two years, the desktop market is saturated, and Apple still continues to sell Macs. Just another phrase to sell more iOS devices.

Don't get MESMERIZED by everything Steve Jobs tells you. There is REALITY and there is an ILLUSION he presents to you. Apple can sell the iPad 2 for $100 less on refurbs by Black Friday and they are still profiting on hardware if it only cost $325 to make. While Amazon is selling their tablet at a loss and even threw in Amazon Prime where you can stream Mad Men, The Office, Bridesmaids, and obscure Japanese porn unlimited for a month.

Like I said before -

If you enjoy saving more money, go with Amazon.

If you enjoy losing more money, go with Apple.

Either way, you are enjoying it, right?

 

[D.T.]

It only has 2 finger multi-touch though... It's one limitation people seem to be overlooking.

Ahh yeah, that's a good point, though I think most (all?) of the games I mentioned you can play with one or two fingers.

Also games using an accelerometer.

Cut the Rope is the free app of the day on the Amazon Appstore today.

I saw that when I was checking out the Kindle specs! Scored it for my phone I've got the freebie version on the iPad, fun and addictive, though we're currently obsessed with Where's my Water?

If you enjoy saving more money, go with Amazon.

If you enjoy losing more money, go with Apple.

Either way, you are enjoying it, right?

I enjoy the cost matching my expectations, which is what we got with the iPad

 

[KnightWRX]

The fire will sell extremely well. When HP got out of the tablet market, they lowered their price to $99 and $149 for their two versions. They sold out all of their supply in a few days. And that's for an hardware platform it won't even support anymore.

Fixed that there for you. Only the hardware has been dropped, HP are still claiming to be fully committed to webOS software.

 

[inreasonsimage]

That's been the non-iPad tablets' marketing scheme for some time now. How's that working out?

The Windows 8 tablets will function like an iPad most of the time--with a simple touch interface--unless the user needs additional functionality and then she can switch to a desktop interface. Windows 8 tablets will be the best of both worlds. That's if Microsoft can pull it off. So far Windows 8 looks promising.

A thought: What happens when Amazon releases their own smart phone?

 

[applebook]

I would have laughed at yet another 7" tablet (all of which have been less than successful), but for $199, this should sell a dozen boatloads. A lot of people who weren't even interested in tablets suddenly jumped at the $100-150 TouchPad fire sale.

----------

fully committed to webOS software.

Which will officially support the TouchPad?

 

[Phokus]

Count me as another person who is probably going to jump on this. I felt the ipad was a ripoff and the android tablets weren't ready yet (although they are very close). I missed the boat on the touchpad fire sale, but this kindle fire has me sold.

The idiot apple fanboys who are dismissing this are probably the same idiots who scoffed at the idea of android phones surpassing the iphone in sales.

 

[linux2mac]

• Color screen is not E Ink, so goodbye popular Kindle feature of easily reading in sunlight;
• Flash included in web browser means heavy web surfers should expect battery life = suck;
• Based on RIM PlayBook.

Yep. It's the trifecta of FAIL. Perhaps the Fire is aptly named.

Flash? Really? Based on RIM PlayBook? Really? LOL

Looks like the list of "flummoxed" iPad competitors has increased by one.

 

[jca24]

Flash? Really? Based on RIM PlayBook? Really? LOL

Looks like the list of "flummoxed" iPad competitors has increased by one.

It is based on the playbook and it was a failure. The fire will sell to the low end buyer that does not do the research to see what they are buying. Once they get it they will wish they bought the iPad.

 

[Savor]

Glad Amazon announced this nearly two months in advance. Since I am more into phones than tablets, what I really wanted was the Galaxy Note. But considering that phone will cost an arm and a leg when it is unlocked and don't like the PenTile screen for a low ppi, I may just have to get a pair of $200 tablets this year. Price is too irresistible and the manufacturers are already selling them at a loss for that price. These tablets are around $300 to make and by the time we see more $200 tablets by next year, they will be using cheaper parts like what Sony does to their slimmer PS3's and PSP's to increase profit margins when manufacturing cost go down. Will likely order the Fire after my birthday in first week of December but will cross my fingers if they are still available. With the PS Vita not coming out to the USA by next year, it looks to be a tablet hunting Holiday season this Christmas for me.

http://www.technobuffalo.com/mobile-devices/tablets/fast-break-kindle-fire-first-impressions/

Fast Break – Kindle Fire First Impressions

I wrote a few days ago about how the Amazon kindle would pose a considerable threat to the iPad based on service integration and a killer price point. Boy, was I ever wrong. It’s going to be even BETTER than even the most optimistic pundit had anticipated. Let’s talk about the Kindle Fire.

Much of my analysis was based on MG Siegler’s report on TechCrunch. While the report was favorable, it left many wondering whether or not Amazon would be able to bunch all of its threads together, and whether or not the tablet would sport hardware that was appealing.

The answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes.

First, let’s discuss the hardware. Many worried that it would be woefully underpowered and be nothing more than a simple, black, content-spewing box. It is black, they got that much right. It was projected to look like the RIM Playbook, and it does. It’s black, minimalistic and has the same 7-inch size screen. The display is IPS, the same technology used in the iPad, which allows for vibrant colors and great viewing angles, and is covered in Gorilla Glass. It weighs 14.6 ounces. Siegler thought it was a single-core device. It has a dual core. It was supposed to cost $250, it costs $199.

Now, let’s look at the software and service integration. It’s running a forked version of Android 2.2. It looks nothing like Android, but it provides many of the same benefits, along with integrating all of Amazon’s great services. I’ve detailed those services in my last article on this subject, but I’ll recap the parts that will form the core of the Kindle Fire experience. Of course, the Fire will have acess to the Kindle store, Amazon Music services, magazines and all of the other content that Amazon provides. I believe the killer media feature will be Prime and how Amazon’s Whispersync cloud service runs alongside it. Prime is a $79 service that will provide tablet owners with unlimited instant streaming of 11,000 TV shows and movies, and it will be managed in part by Whispersync. Whispersync remembers where you were in the movie or book, and resumes playback at that location upon return. The Kindle Fire will be continually backed up and synced with the cloud. No more cords. All in all, with the Kindle Fire you will have access to over 18 million song, movies, TV shows, books, magazines, apps and games. That’a lot of content. Lastly, Amazon has introduced a new service called Silk, which will handle internet browsing on the Fire. It offers “dynamic split browsing”, which greatly improves the performance on the Fire by storing a cache of common files on a single server. It’s a smart service, and will observe user behavior, and can predictively pre-load pages that a user might click on. And you thought predictive texting was neat-O.

Amazon needed to do two things to sink Apple’s battleship, undercut the iPad’s price by a large margin, and integrate their already robust services into the Fire. They did both, and in a bolder way than most had imagined. The Kindle Fire is not a beast, certainly. But with and IPS display and a dual-core processor wrapped in Gorilla Glass for under $200, I’m more than a happy man. The killer feature, the service integration, was highly impressive as well. The Prime catalog will continue to expand, and the cloud services look robust and will give iCloud a run for its money.

By integrating all of Amazon’s core services and by producing a solid piece of hardware, Amazon has made a decisive thrust into the tablet market, and Apple is going to have to react forcefully.

The Kindle Fire Ships November 15.

 

[blackhand1001]

Another reason why all iPad competitors fail is - no Apple Store for tech support. If your Kindle Fire fails, you have to box it up, ship it to Amazon and who knows!

You realize there are many places in this country that are hundreds of miles away from the nearest apple store. Not to mention the atmosphere of an apple store kinda blows. There way too crowded an disorganized. A simple line for checking out would work fine.

 

[applebook]

The idiot apple fanboys who are dismissing this are probably the same idiots who scoffed at the idea of android phones surpassing the iphone in sales.

Why don't you tell us how you really feel, Mr. Diplomatic?

Has Android surpassed the iPhone in sales REVENUE, which is what Apple really cares about?

 

[jca24]

You realize there are many places in this country that are hundreds of miles away from the nearest apple store. Not to mention the atmosphere of an apple store kinda blows. There way too crowded an disorganized. A simple line for checking out would work fine.

Yes, Apple stores are not everywhere. As for atmosphere, it is great in my opinion. Crowded? Maybe thats why Apple has the highest sales per square foot of any other retailer. Checkout line, I don't need a line when I have an employee standing right next to me with an iPhone that can scan my card.

 

[applebook]

You realize there are many places in this country that are hundreds of miles away from the nearest apple store. Not to mention the atmosphere of an apple store kinda blows. There way too crowded an disorganized. A simple line for checking out would work fine.

It's good news for Apple consumers, then, that a majority of them are close to an Apple Store.

Perhaps the "atmosphere" in an Apple Store "blows" to you, but I've experienced exceptional organization when I requested an iP4 replacement way back when supply was scarce --despite not having a receipt, and not having the phone even registered to me, I was supplied with a brand new unit within 24 working hours.

"Blows," right? Yeah, I had to wait in line for 160 seconds.

 

[jumanji]

When you look at this, you will ask yourself, how can Amazon afford to sell such a device at $199? The answer is, they can't. They make a loss of around $40 for each device sold. There are two reasons for this. One is that there is absolutely no way to match the $499 iPad 2 unless the price is half of it, because the iPad has already solidified its position as THE tablet to get. Another reason is that they will try to make money back from selling content. For starters, this device will only have access to Amazon's Appstore, and not the Android Market! Amazon will also offer Kindle books, magazines, music, movies etc. -- all stored via Amazon Cloud Storage.

Essentially, it's a tablet that also promotes all of Amazon's services, just like how the iPad also buys its content from the Apple Appstore, iTunes for music and movies, and iBooks - exempt the iPad 2 is twice as expensive (although having a larger display, more powerful processor, etc etc etc)

Companies like HTC, Samsung, Toshiba etc have all produced tablets. They have all failed. Why will Amazon be the first real competitor? Because they know how to punch the iPad where it hurts. None of these other companies have priced their tablets less than $499, and that itself is fundamentally flawed. The Fire is not only cheap, but it integrates well with the Amazon ecosystem, and will try to make money off content rather than the device itself.

The only real risk that Amazon faces is if people start installing CyanogenMod on their Fires and regain access to the Android Market and stop buying Amazon content. Then they'll be selling these guys at a loss and getting no returns. However, looking at the general intellect of the most Kindle users today, I don't think this will pose a major problem.

Any of you guys getting one? At $199, it's pretty tempting for sure.

This is spot on. Amazon is going to take a loss but unlike hp or blackberry or other companies, they're betting that you'll spend money using your fire. Having the device married to amazon movies, books, music, and store is a great idea.

Unlike other devices, this one is positioned to succeed more. It will take some sales away but it won't hurt bad. I have so many apps that I don't want apps to live in another ecosphere. I like keeping it all in house (iTunes). I think this gets the book reader who has wanted a cheap way to browse the Internet and watch movies.

 

[Kentochan]

An tablet for less than the price of an iPod touch 4th gen... Sweet
And the $80 Kindle... Costs less than a brand new textbook! Whats not to like?
These are the devices we should implement in our public schools, imo.

 

[trip1ex]

Over 75K views and 900+ replies and this thread isn't even a day old. Come on baby, LIGHT MY FIRE. Shows that an Amazon tablet at $199 has sparked alot of interests and debate even in an Apple-centric forum.

Steve Jobs said last year that tablets with 7-inch screens will be DOA and the size of the iPad is the perfect size for a tablet. Yet, I expect this Kindle Fire to sell faster the Samsung Galaxy Tab and BlackBerry PlayBook combined within one month. I predict at least over 1M-2M sold by Cyber Monday.

Steve Jobs said we are living in the "post-PC world." Yet, Windows 7 sold like 450M after two years, the desktop market is saturated, and Apple still continues to sell Macs. Just another phrase to sell more iOS devices.

Don't get MESMERIZED by everything Steve Jobs tells you. There is REALITY and there is an ILLUSION he presents to you. Apple can sell the iPad 2 for $100 less on refurbs by Black Friday and they are still profiting on hardware if it only cost $325 to make. While Amazon is selling their tablet at a loss and even threw in Amazon Prime where you can stream Mad Men, The Office, Bridesmaids, and obscure Japanese porn unlimited for a month.

Like I said before -

If you enjoy saving more money, go with Amazon.

If you enjoy losing more money, go with Apple.

Either way, you are enjoying it, right?

Ok you can stop with the "throwing in Mad Men" part. You get a 1 month free trial of Amazon Prime. That is whole $6 you can save. And guess what on the ipad you can get a free trial of Netflix. I know. Amazing.

And you could stop pretending that the Fire is a comparable product that millions have used already. It looks promising, but is also going to come with substantial trde offs. Cut your iPad in half and you will see the first one.

 

[Kupp]

Even as a iPhone 4 and iPad 2 owner I find this appealing. Having a second more basic tablet would allow me to use one while my wife uses the other when out and about, tethering the Internet for both off my iphone.

I wouldn't mind getting to play with android a little either. It would be nice if it had a gps, but oh well. At least it would provide a better flash experience. And a back up kindle reader when my wife is using m iPad.

I just have to ask myself do I want a 3DS, a kindle fire, some lesser kindle, or none of the above.