Kindle Fire Seen Slowing Some Previously-Planned iPad Purchases

[bretm]

And I have a feeling those that are buying a Fire were never going to buy an iPad in the first place.

Really? C'mon I have a MacPro, an iPhone, 2 mac laptops and when the fire came out I said "cool!" Because here's what I want - I just want to sit in front of the TV with my iPad and surf the net and check email, that kind of stuff. Also, it would be great to velcro one to the back of a car seat and play movies for the kids on trips. Hell, a 7" DVD player we use now for that purpose cost $150 and that's all it does. So yeah, $200 for a device that can play movies and check emai and surf? I would have probably bought this instead of the portable DVD player we bought if it had been out.

Now, with Garage Band on the iPad be arguably better than on my Desktop because you can play piano, guitar and drums on it for $5 I also see the value of the iPad. But my WIFE does not.

 

[trip1ex]

No one is putting the Kindle Fire on a pedestal. People are just stating why they would choose it over the ipad, since that is where this discussion as gone.

It's funny how all Apple fanboys trash everything other than Apple's products. They can't even seen the good things from competition.

Funny how only fanboys think others must be fanboys when they point out the absurd ness of product comparisons.

 

[Winni]

The Kindle will not fit in a pocket like the iPod Touch.

Probably not. But neither would most books - and that is the size the Kindle Fire should be measured against, because that is the object it is trying to replace and what it is competing against.

7" is just an entry size for the new Kindle series. It is very safe to assume that there will be a larger Kindle coming very soon. And when the 7" Kindle becomes a major success, you will probably also see a 7" iPad hitting the Apple store. Steve and his ego are gone, and when Apple begins to lose market share in the tablet market, you will see major changes in their strategy.

I also think most people totally overrate the capabilities of the iPad. I doubt that most people use it for more than reading, viewing photo albums, web surfing and a few casual games. And these are things that a 7" screen can handle almost as well - especially the book reading and gaming part. Real work and non-trivial tasks are still the domain of full blown computers - with real keyboards - and that won't change anytime soon.

And as I've said before, "Apple welcoming the Kindle Fire" is as much a suicide note as their "Welcome, IBM. Seriously" welcome message was back in the 1980s. This is not about iOS versus Android or the "stability" of the limited and restricted iOS platform versus the unlimited and unrestricted diversity of the Android platform. This is about the Amazon content ecosystem against Apple's content ecosystem and how well the front-end device is integrated into it and how easy it is for the customer to obtain that content. Amazon have the muscle, the experience AND the ecosystem to make their gadget a huge success. Apple should put some warm clothes on, there's some cold wind blowing in their face.

 

[Boston007]

Apple has a better ecosystem for music and apps. The one thing Amazon does better is eBooks. It could have leveraged its ebook library as a Kindle exclusive and used that advantage to sell their hardware, but they're gonna keep the eBook library cross-platform.

This shows they care more about selling books than they do hardware. The opposite of Apple, which cares more about the hardware profit than it does about the media profit.

Amazon isn't trying to toss the iPad off its throne. It'll be happy positioning the Fire as a budget tablet, as long as it helps sell more ebooks. If it can find a niche submarket, like the Nook Color did among women, even better.

If you really think the basis for the Fire is eBooks you are completely clueless and missing the point.

 

[Funkymonk]

of course the kindle fire would cannibalize some of the ipad's sales. who didn't predict that?

 

[Breckenridge]

Good for children's books and the cost is great, now I don't have to be hovering on top of my 3.5 year old while she is holding the iPad. 8G of memory is really too little for my taste but again it is as expensive as going out to dinner at a decent restaurant. It is not an iPad killer but apple just lost a sale since I was really planning on getting 16gb iPad for my daughter and prolonging the life of my 64 3g iPad.

 

[tigres]

What good is a survey, when the aforementioned product is not even released yet?

 

[Boston007]

Funny how only fanboys think others must be fanboys when they point out the absurd ness of product comparisons.

How am I a fanboy? Look at my signature.

I have a Kindle and preordered the Fire.

yah, I'm a fanboy, OK.

 

[paul4339]

I hate when people say Kindle Fire doesn't compete with iPad. The fact is they indeed directly compete with each other.

Let's see, both do
Email
Web
Books
Music
Apps
Magazines

Not understanding how it's not a competitor product. Someone please explain!!

Of course they compete (at least partially)
People are delaying or reconsidering the purchase of an iPad.

Isn't that what the survey data (exhibit 2) is implying?


edit: just to clarify... I'm reading a lot of posts trying explain the differences between the devices, what they see in the subway and comparisons to cars, etc...and they (attempt) to draw conclusions... But we have some actually survey data here. Shouldn't the discussion should be around that data (validity) and survey results?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Wait until people get it in their hands. I had one on pre-order too but canceled after remembering it is going to be closer to a Color Nook than iPad.

The price point and surfing is what caused me to forget this. I will wait to see if it can actually surf the Internet as fast as iPad. Also have a feeling 7" screen would ultimately suck. It is half the size of iPad screen. Its landscape mode would be the same as iPad in portrait mode only half the height.


I do think I really only need iPad for surfing, email and reading so I think the device category is destined to drop in price. At least until it can comfortably replace a laptop.

But if Apple makes a 7" iPad, it will be great. Right?

 

[trip1ex]

How am I a fanboy? Look at my signature.

I have a Kindle and preordered the Fire.

yah, I'm a fanboy, OK.

How am I a fanboy? I have a Kindle. iPad. Pc. Panasonic tv. Sony phone. Google email. Oracle database.

Oh yeah I pointed out the Fire is being put on a pedestal because no one has even used one.

 

[fahadqureshi]

I have two iPads, but will be buying a fire to check it out. Why not. If it works for surfing, that will be all I want.

i am in the exact same situation as yourself. i think people are forgetting that for prime members(such as myself) the kindle fire is a great value since it gives you access to lots of movies and tv shows which are only available on itunes as a purchase.

i suppose there is still netflix which can be had on either device.

but maybe having a prime membership plays into someones decision on purchasing a kindle fire.

 

[samcraig]

What good is a survey, when the aforementioned product is not even released yet?

Never seems to bother people when it's surveys about apple products before they are released.

You know - "how many people will be ugrading to the 4s" and "Who will be buying an iPad"

 

[Tailpike1153]

I hate when people say Kindle Fire doesn't compete with iPad. The fact is they indeed directly compete with each other.

Let's see, both do
Email
Web
Books
Music
Apps
Magazines

Not understanding how it's not a competitor product. Someone please explain!!

Correct! The Kindle Fire competes very well with the iPad G1 and other G1 tablets. At $199 it will blow away all the competition....in 2010.

 

[damir00]

iPad owner from Day 1.

Next tablet in our family will be a Kindle Fire, and that will indeed take the place of another iPad purchase.

Looking forward to seeing how good this thing really is...

 

[BC2009]

And I have a feeling those that are buying a Fire were never going to buy an iPad in the first place.

Exactly... Surveys on "planned purchases" are always skewed because folks "plan on purchasing" stuff all the time that they never get around to (mainly due to price). The Kindle Fire is going to expand the tablet market to those who would likely never bought a tablet -- or not bought it for years. There is also a possibility that if the functionality gap remains between the Fire and the iPad that eventually those Fire users will upgrade if they find that a tablet useful to them and therefore worth the money.

Incidentally, I have been planning on purchasing a large flat-screen television for two years -- but my existing television works well enough that I keep putting it off.

And for the record, I think surveys about folks planning to switch to an iPhone or buy an iPad are just as stupid. Wait for the real sales numbers to come in and then talk statistics. I have no doubt the Kindle Fire will garner enough real sales to make it interesting. To me, the only downside to the Fire is that without the Amazon Prime subscription, it is not nearly as useful -- and I don't like recurring costs.

 

[Winni]

Too hard to read long articles, books. I hope people still read these things?

Especially if you are mid-age.

I'm mid-age (41) and I just read the Kindle edition of Adam Baker's "Outpost" on my Samsung Galaxy S2. Before that, I read a bunch of other novels on the Galaxy and even my old iPhone.

I also own a Kindle 3. But the thing is: I have my phone always with me but my Kindle lies at home next to my bed. And that's the same place where my tablet would be if I felt the urge to buy one.

I find it very hard to justify a tablet when I already own the best smartphone on the planet (which, for me, is the Galaxy S2) -- the tablet would only have a larger screen, but it still would not be good enough to replace my notebook. And to make things worse, it would not be able to replace my phone. So am I supposed to carry to touch screen devices around with me to basically do the same things? Somehow, that does not make much sense for me. To be honest, the Galaxy Note with its larger screen looks more interesting to me than any tablet at the moment. But I think I will order the Kindle Fire as soon as it is available in Germany -- the price is right AND it is an Amazon product. I definitely prefer their ecosystem over Apple's iTunes offerings.

 

[trip1ex]

But if Apple makes a 7" iPad, it will be great. Right?

Nope Fire is same as ipAd. iPad 7 more than Fire. Fire better than iPad 7.

 

[coolbreeze]

Time to sell my iPad...my Fire will be delivered on Nov 17

Just don't use the iPad much at all. Between my iPhone 4, SGSII, and Lenovo X200, I really don't see the use. It's fun around the house, but the novelty is fading for me.

I'm heavily invested in Amazon's ecosystem, so the Fire is for me.

 

[trip1ex]

Correct! The Kindle Fire competes very well with the iPad G1 and other G1 tablets. At $199 it blows away all the competition in 2010.

Yeah my Fire blows away everything. Oh wait what Fire?

 

[benpatient]

The Amazon Appstore or whatever it's called it pretty pathetic right now. But the Fire isn't even out yet, either.

Really? I started using the Amazon App Store when I got an Android phone, and I use it more often than the regular Android Marketplace.

In fact, I look there first, and only if I can't find what I want do I go to Marketplace. The reasons are simple: Your purchases stay connected to the Amazon account and are easily transferred to any other device you may have, or acquire in the future (like a Fire), so even if you uninstall something, it's easy to get it back in the future.

They also give away a paid app every day, so I habitually "buy" it when it's free, even if I don't think I will want it. I've got ~100 paid apps in my account that I spent literally zero dollars on. Maybe 20-30 of them are worth having, I'm not sure. Half of them are games. But then, most of them are on iOS, too, and are between 2 and 15 dollars.

 

[BC2009]

Also, it would be great to velcro one to the back of a car seat and play movies for the kids on trips. Hell, a 7" DVD player we use now for that purpose cost $150 and that's all it does. So yeah, $200 for a device that can play movies and check emai and surf? I would have probably bought this instead of the portable DVD player we bought if it had been out.

I think the Fire only has 8GB of storage, so playing movies on the go in the car may not be a viable solution unless you have unlimited 3G/4G access for it via a WiFi hotspot.

You could definitely get a couple of movies on there, but you want to leave room for other stuff, so jus remember to pin a couple of movies while you are at home before you leave (assuming you can do that with the Amazon streaming video service -- I have not used it).

 

[doboy]

Amazon Fire is the gateway "drug" to the iPad.

 

[kdarling]

I think that this forum is a bad cross section, because we have a lot of singles and students here who always see things as "either - or", this device or that device.

Many people I know have a combination of iPads, Android tablets, Kindles, smartphones, etc.

So I think tablets are going to be more like TV sets around the house. Most families will have several, of various sizes.

For instance, we would use an iPad on the living room table, but 7" tablets and 3" iPod touches elsewhere because they're easier to hold, especially when reading in bed.

---

My young daughter uses both iOS and Android devices with equal ease, as most of the same apps are on both.

As for the Amazon App Store, it's nice to have almost all the same apps as the Google Market, but culled down a bit. The Apple store could use the same.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

if the Kindle Fire makes less people buy iPads they're competing, isn't?

Not necessarily. If some consumers buy the Fire instead of the iPad with full knowledge of the differences between the two then the Fire is just filling a void that existed in the marketplace. That isn't the same as direct head-to-head competition. The Fire buyers, assuming they understand the difference between the Fire and iPad, are buying the Fire because the iPad is more tablet than they need. It's the same way some people buy a BMW 1 series instead of a 3 or a low end MacBook Pro instead of the top of the line.