benpatient
macrumors 68000
So when is iOS 5 coming out for the iPhone 3G again? Oh. Oops.
Apple Welcomes Kindle Fire Tablet and More Android Fragmentation
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So when is iOS 5 coming out for the iPhone 3G again? Oh. Oops.
guch20
macrumors 6502
I did too, and I'm very excited. A voracious reader that has found a Kindle ten times better than I ever expected.
While I cannot speak to the Fire until it's in my hands, I've had every generation of Kindle and they get better and better. I bought the original on a lark, just to see if it was any good. Wow! was my first and continual response when asked by others.
Especially outside. After going to the beach to surf, I return nicely exhausted and lay on the beach in the bright sun reading a Kindle book, it's unaffected by sunlight unlike a laptop or iPad.
And believe me I really enjoy my iPad but for reading it pales in comparison.
You've got to see them side by side.
So if you love your iPad for everything but reading, and you enjoy your Kindle mostly for reading, does it worry you that the Fire is going to have the same screen glare issue as the iPad?
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Yeah, damn Apple and their not supporting a three-year old phone. They should be more like Google and their hardware partners who release phones that don't support the latest version of Android months and sometimes weeks later.
And that chart only lists a few of the hundreds of models of Android phones.
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thejadedmonkey
macrumors G3
And I have no idea why they are. Microsoft clearly beat Apple in the "PC wars", does Apple have a death wish for the "Tablet Wars", too?
Does Apple not remember that they too, were winning the PC market before Microsoft?
BaldiMac
macrumors G3
And then there is the other aspect of fragmentation. If you already bought the apps from the Android Market, you have to buy them again from Amazon.
I can't believe how many people here just assume that Apple executives are idiots. When they are talking about welcoming the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem, they are not talking about people confusing the Kindle Fire for an Android tablet. They are talking about dividing the non-iPad share of the tablet market into many, smaller ecosystems. Apple's one large ecosystem is a competitive advantage over a bunch of smaller ones.
guch20
macrumors 6502
Very good points.
CalWizrd
Suspended
Way too many, it would seem. Perhaps they think that Apple got to a $350 billion+ market cap strictly through some "Zen" good fortune.
As long as you live in the US I guess. You can't buy this thing anywhere else.
The route that made them completely dominate the market, yeah. Why would Apple applaud this - other than for acknowledging the success of your competitor that is.
MacAddict1978
macrumors 68000
Which I think is the plan. None of their marketing is focused on Android at all, and they are promoting the Amazon App store (since it doesn't use the Android Market).
I think we need to be careful with how we define fragmentation. The Nook Color doesn't fragment the user in any way, shape, or form.
B&N cherry picks which apps are available to the user, and have used Android to create a "closed" platform. This is different than saying it's a fragmented device because it can't run a lot of things. What it can or can't run becomes irrelevant because of the nature of the device.
Fragmented is when a device can't be upgraded and can't take advantage of current apps or technologies leaving holes. When you buy a Nook Color, you arent being told you're buying an Android tablet that's open. It's not even branded as Android (we just know inside it is). When you buy a Droid phone or anything branded Android, that promises to be open and upgradeable and compatible, this is when fragmentation is relevant.
And a very customized and tweaked version of Android. Amazon went further than just skinning it like most device makers do.
I think Amazon and dare I say, RIM (if they ever release the Playbook 2.0 software) have started to pave the way for a new trend. The Playbook 2.0 software is Black Berry's OS... but it has a layer added to allow it to run Android apps. While I don't think RIM is going to be the company to pull the rug out from under Google, it should inspire other companies.
Amazon can afford fragmentation, because it's a media-centric device. They don't want competing elements on their hardware (Netflix for example). Where Android sucks in the tablet space is it's hodge podge and hodge podge way of bringing content. Amazon doesn't have Google's problems, and they don't have Apple's either. Amazon is such a juggernaut in the retail space, they have a lot more pull in pricing. Apple can't compete with Amazon's music prices (or movies for that matter), and Amazon gets bigger cuts of the profits than Apple in most cases. For Amazon, this is genius. Apple can laugh at fragmentation.... they won't be laughing when Fire users are rubbing in their iPad using friends faces how they paid so much less for their content.
I looked at everything I bought in iTunes in the past three weeks, compared it to Amazon, and I would have been $30 better. Why don't I buy from Amazon? It's a pain in the butt. I have to go to their site, use their third party downloader, and then import all the stuff. iTunes is 1 click and enjoy the content. The Fire solves that issue. If they came out with a 10" tablet, and it can stand on it's legs well, I'd highly consider one over an iPad. In a year of purchases, it could almost pay for itself in content savings vs. the iPad. You don't really notice the hurt when it's $2 here, $1, there, 20 cents there... but when you add it all together, it stings. Add in all the special sales and offers Amazon often does (Like selling Lady GaGa's new album for $1, or randomly offering any Ebook for $1 for 24 hours), I don't think people are going to feel cheated in any way.
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spazzcat
macrumors 601
I did too, and I'm very excited. A voracious reader that has found a Kindle ten times better than I ever expected.
While I cannot speak to the Fire until it's in my hands, I've had every generation of Kindle and they get better and better. I bought the original on a lark, just to see if it was any good. Wow! was my first and continual response when asked by others.
Especially outside. After going to the beach to surf, I return nicely exhausted and lay on the beach in the bright sun reading a Kindle book, it's unaffected by sunlight unlike a laptop or iPad.
And believe me I really enjoy my iPad but for reading it pales in comparison.
You've got to see them side by side.
You know the fire is going to be just like the iPad in the sun...
this.
za9ra22
macrumors 65816
It's not that the point hasn't been made, but that there are some who simply have no wish to grasp it.
spazzcat
macrumors 601
And how many will be returned?
Apple would theoretically suffer some loss of sales to Amazon in the few markets where Amazon operates, assuming that supply had met demand, but at the same time, Amazon's success, and the Nook to a lesser extent, define the field for the low end. How will Android OEM"s compete on price with Amazon without the advantages of a media ecosystem to create value? How does Google profit without attached services and a weak media and app ecosystem? Somehow, I see a race to the bottom for Android OEM's which is initially great for the consumer.
I find it easy to argue that it is not a win for Android. Apple will continue to make the lion share of profits in tablets on the iPad and the iOS ecosystem, and could at anytime enter that market with a product that would compete on value, if not on price with Amazon's Fire.
I just don't see that happening as it isn't necessary.
AppleScruff1
macrumors G4
Sounds like Apple is concerned enough to make a comment.
spazzcat
macrumors 601
Source?
goosnarrggh
macrumors 68000
No, in fact, Google does NOT administer OS updates for any OEM device running the Android OS.
Google publishes the source code behind their "vanilla" Android operating system, and then it's up to each unique device manufacturer to take that source code, evaluate whether or not their equipment is capable of running, and then decide whether it is commercially viable to develop it into a final binary fit for distribution to their customers. If they go ahead, then they have to augment it with their own adaptations, customizations, device drivers, etc. Then each manufacturer compiles it to produce a usable, binary OS update, which must then be pushed out to the users by whatever mechanism they see fit.
Google does have direct control over their "Google Experience" Apps, such as the Gmail App, the Google Maps App, the YouTube App, and Google's official Android Marketplace App. Updates to those apps are handled individually by Google as App upgrades, rather than distributing them via the OS upgrade process.
But apparently Android has opted not to license any of the "Google Experience" Apps for the Kindle Fire -- not even the mainstream Android Marketplace. Instead, they've opted to replace them all with in-house Amazon customized apps. As such, Google really won't have any authority to administer any upgrades for any aspect of the Kindle.
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More interesting to ask:
a) how is this relevant for Amazon?
b) how is this relevant for Amazons customers?
Fragmentation isn't really as big of a deal as people here are making it out to be. If you buy an HTC/Samsung devices, you aren't really buying an Android device. You are buying a Sense/Touch Wiz device.The only true android devices are the nexus line, and Google is doing a great job of keeping its devices up to date.
BaldiMac
macrumors G3
The premise is completely flawed. Google's strategy has very little in common with Microsoft's strategy.
Check gizmodo's news today for example. However, to put things in context the 50k figure comes from a leak of first 5 days of orders (250k in total). Either way, it takes no rocket scientist to imagine these things flying off the shelves in the near future.
Heck, im thinking about buying one myself - and i live in Sweden...
p.s.
does anyone have any idea on how hard it would be to trick this baby to believe that im in l'amerique? Would a vpn solution suffice?
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While i agree, that doesnt change the stupidity of the comment as it reads.
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Very few. Why would people return it? For 199 it does the trick, basically.
guch20
macrumors 6502
I was responding to someone comparing the lack of updates for Android devices with Apple not supporting the 3G with iOS 5.