Apple Welcomes Kindle Fire Tablet and More Android Fragmentation

[Maschil]

Yes I looked at what you were quoting. You were quoting me.

What we (me and the person I was originally talking to) were talking about was iOS fragmentation versus Android fragmentation. Neither of us brought up sales figures because that has ******* all to do with fragmentation.

However, if you want to go that route, that's fine. Now look up how much money anyone besides Microsoft makes from Android. Follow that up by searching for which company makes the lion's share of profit in the smartphone market (hint: it's Apple, and by a HUGE margin).

If you could get the heads of the smartphone manufacturers to speak candidly, and you were to ask them if they'd rather sell a phone with a bigger market share but make less money, or sell a phone with a smaller market share but make loads more, they'd all rather be in Apple's position. They'd have to be stupid not to.

yes i know that... but my point is that.... mentioning the lack of upgrades for an android phone after 1 or two years is irrelevant... as most could care less.... so its stating something that few really care about ... i for one who owns an android phone...

 

[CFreymarc]

Except, by then, Apple will see increased competition with W8 on the horizon (Q3 2012). Mac people may laugh all they want at MSFT, but according to back-to-back surveys many seem to still prefer a MSFT solution over an Apple solution - and on the enterprise side, well, afaik MSFT is still leading (strange as it may sound... just what i read though).

I play both sides and have both MSFT and APPL stock. Call me French.

 

[something3153]

The Kindle Fire is the Red Headed Slut that everyone is going to bang and leave before moving to an iPad. Apple gets an entry level tablet without even writing a product spec. Once user worth the money bangs the crap out of the Fire / Ginger, they will move up to someone worth the money and time -- brilliant! Just like most gingers.

You've got issues.

 

[fteoath64]

I think the Fire will sell unlike any Android tablet before it. I think this has Google worried, but the ball is in their court. Let's see what Google's next move is. Get your popcorn ready!

Agree. Both Fire and Nook Tablet will sell well because they have both hit the magical price point, no one did before. Both seemed to be usable in all major usage scenarios expected of a tablet. I think this will get Apple way more worried than Google. Apple lacks 2 things, these new generation tablets has : 7inch form-factor and price-point. If in 6 months and Apple sees a 60% decline in iPad sales, then they *must* do something. I am sure no manufacturer wants to see their market-share erode from 85% to 40%!.

So I would strongly expect a 7inch iPad with sub $300 pricing in about Q3 or sooner next year. Its business: you chose to be in-it or out-of-it!.

 

[ftaok]

Agree. Both Fire and Nook Tablet will sell well because they have both hit the magical price point, no one did before. Both seemed to be usable in all major usage scenarios expected of a tablet. I think this will get Apple way more worried than Google. Apple lacks 2 things, these new generation tablets has : 7inch form-factor and price-point. If in 6 months and Apple sees a 60% decline in iPad sales, then they *must* do something. I am sure no manufacturer wants to see their market-share erode from 85% to 40%!.

So I would strongly expect a 7inch iPad with sub $300 pricing in about Q3 or sooner next year. Its business: you chose to be in-it or out-of-it!.

I disagree with your assessment of the potential impact to Apple's iPad sales. I honestly don't see the Fire (or the Nook Tablet) impacting anything that Apple is doing. What I think the Fire may end up doing is adding to the overall tablet market. So while Apple's market share number may drop (probably not as much as you've suggested), the total number of iPads sold will likely grow significantly. The analogy is that a rising tide lifts all boats.

I really do think Google will be negatively impacted if the Fire sells in large numbers. The Fire has no official outlet to Google products/services. The Silk browser may/may not pass along valuable info to Google through web access. Developers may be less likely to develop for Honeycomb (or ICS) if the most desirable (users willing to spend money) Android tablet users are running a fork of 2.3.

To me, Apple is positioned above this fray. They have their target market and it's significant and lucrative. If anything, the Fire may drive Apple to drop the entry price of the iPad2 down to the $400-450 level to make it a little more attractive. I don't see a 7"-8" iPad coming any time soon.

ft

 

[Dbrown]

Actually, I think the Kindle Fire is going to do the opposite - it will give Android developers a specific SKU to develop or tailor their apps/games for. In fact, I think a lot of them will become 'Amazon Tablet Developers' instead of 'Android Developers'

Wong. Notice how kindle comes with amazon app store and not a kindle fire store?

 

[CFreymarc]

You've got issues.

I'll take that as a complement. If your life was a book, would anyone want to read it? "Adventures in Retirement Planning and Mortgage Payments" wasn't a best seller.

 

[vanguy79]

Amazon will sell its Kindle well only because it is Amazon. People will not see it is Android. However, I do not think people will use the Kindle like users use the iPad. I think most buyers of Kindle will only utilize it for the online books, content that Amazon has for them, so it be like a niche product and not one for the masses like the iPads.

 

[monkeylui]

http://www.macworld.com/article/163541/2011/11/macalope_dubious_analysis.html#lsrc.rss_main

 

[Menel]

Tim Cook, nail on the head?

Amazon Kindle Fire review
Engadget

While Amazon's own carousel of recently used items is slick and smooth, we had inconsistent results with APKs we sideloaded on here. Amazon's own media players work well, but third party ones that offered better compatibility with file formats universally did not. That said, 2D games like the omnipresent Angry Birds ran without issue, and simple 3D games like Fruit Ninja had no problems either.

Given the Fire has no access to the Android Market many of our favorite benchmarks were unavailable to us. We were able to sideload Nenamark and Nenamark 2, but running the second caused the Fire to crash. Hard. After resetting the device (it takes just over 30 seconds to boot, for the record) we opted to stick with web-based benchmarks.

Continue reading Amazon Kindle Fire review
http://m.engadget.com/nock/article....ndle-fire-review/&category=classic&postPage=1

 

[Bubba Satori]

The great thing about whistling past the graveyard
is that you don't have to worry about being in tune.

 

[samcraig]

Tim Cook, nail on the head?

Amazon Kindle Fire review
Engadget

While Amazon's own carousel of recently used items is slick and smooth, we had inconsistent results with APKs we sideloaded on here. Amazon's own media players work well, but third party ones that offered better compatibility with file formats universally did not. That said, 2D games like the omnipresent Angry Birds ran without issue, and simple 3D games like Fruit Ninja had no problems either.

Given the Fire has no access to the Android Market many of our favorite benchmarks were unavailable to us. We were able to sideload Nenamark and Nenamark 2, but running the second caused the Fire to crash. Hard. After resetting the device (it takes just over 30 seconds to boot, for the record) we opted to stick with web-based benchmarks.

Continue reading Amazon Kindle Fire review
http://m.engadget.com/nock/article....ndle-fire-review/&category=classic&postPage=1

I don't think the review is all that surprising. And I don't think anyone really thought a $200 tablet was going to be every bit as good as the iPad which cost 499+.

But if you read the review summation - there are some great points.

The Kindle Fire is quite an achievement at $200. It's a perfectly usable tablet that feels good in the hand and has a respectably good looking display up front. Yes, power users will find themselves a little frustrated with what they can and can't do on the thing without access to the Android Market but, in these carefree days of cloud-based apps ruling the world, increasingly all you need is a good browser. That the Fire has.

When stacked up against other popular tablets, the Fire can't compete. Its performance is a occasionally sluggish, its interface often clunky, its storage too slight, its functionality a bit restricted and its 7-inch screen too limiting if you were hoping to convert all your paper magazine subscriptions into the digital ones. Other, bigger tablets do it better -- usually at two or three times the cost.

So, the Kindle Fire is great value and perhaps the best, tightest integration of digital content acquisition into a mobile device that we've yet seen. Instead of having a standalone shopping app the entire tablet is a store -- a 7-inch window sold at a cut-rate price through which users can look onto a sea of premium content. It isn't a perfect experience, but if nothing else it's a promising look into the future of retail commerce.

 

[ucantgetridofme]

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