So, how many people surveyed: 50, 234, 19000? Was survey a random phone or conducted at a high school? Most of these survey are crap because they aren't representative of the whole population...
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Kindle Fire Seen Slowing Some Previously-Planned iPad Purchases
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The survey is for US consumers. It will take awhile for Amazon to ramp up on the 'international' front...
For example, even today, Amazon still only offers MP3 download in US, UK, Germany, France. In other countries, they only sell physical CD/DVDs.
They still have to make deals with media companies worldwide to offer same global services as iTunes.
Also, one of the great things about a 7" tablet is the portability... but the Fire is only available on Wi-Fi. To offer 3G, you'd have to increase the price and pay the same fees (pay into the patent pool, etc, etc) and go through the same headaches as everyone else that's selling a 3G tablet.
And to cut costs they only offer it online via Amazon.com (no markup from retailers/middlemen). If they were to offer via retail, the price would again go up.
To go global, I think that they would have to offer global services (above just ebooks) and offer 3G. This will probably(???) take some time.
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For example, even today, Amazon still only offers MP3 download in US, UK, Germany, France. In other countries, they only sell physical CD/DVDs.
They still have to make deals with media companies worldwide to offer same global services as iTunes.
Also, one of the great things about a 7" tablet is the portability... but the Fire is only available on Wi-Fi. To offer 3G, you'd have to increase the price and pay the same fees (pay into the patent pool, etc, etc) and go through the same headaches as everyone else that's selling a 3G tablet.
And to cut costs they only offer it online via Amazon.com (no markup from retailers/middlemen). If they were to offer via retail, the price would again go up.
To go global, I think that they would have to offer global services (above just ebooks) and offer 3G. This will probably(???) take some time.
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Already listed in the thread. 2600 in the survey, the people surveyed were ones who considered themselves early adopters. But this one question was only asked to the ones who had already preordered a Fire, which was 5% or 130 people. Not a big sample.
Indirect competition because it isn't the same class of product.
If it was then it would replace your iPad.
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Yeah and watching tv on a 1080p 26" tv is the same as watching tv on a 42" 1080p tv right?
Never mind the processing power, OS, and browser differences.
I assume you mean on the consumer side? Because Amazon's cloud computing is doing amazing things with SaaS.
And since we're all so concerned about #s - you can't say (or not say) whether the Fire is it or isn't it. Trying to have it both ways? #s don't mean anything yet but the device isn't competition.
It will be interesting. I look forward to seeing Q4/Q1 results.
Is everyone turning into a wimp?
Any Harry Potter book, which every kid has read, is heavier than an iPad.
I have to agree with the original poster
I would have to disagree with you. Apple has developed an entire ecosystem. The build hardware and software and one way they make that hardware and software useful is by providing things like music and videos to buy. Amazon (and I'm not bashing Amazon) really is only a store. They have done some development stuff with online storage and things but that is not their focus. Their focus is getting a book or, these days, a can of green beans, delivered to your home. They are a store that sells consumer goods. Now they have the Kindle Fire, and the reports are good. I'm sure it's a good machine. But, really, the focus of the Kindle is as a doorway to the Amazon store, to get you to buy things from Amazon. Amazon is really not concerned that you can make music or videos on the Fire. They haven't created any ecosystem really but they do participate in one (Android, and only more or less). There are glaring differences between the business models. Amazon sells Kindles so that people will buy what they sell - none of which Amazon actually makes. They don't make the books and they don't record the music and they don't can the green beans. It's a store. That's why they sell the Kindle at cost or a loss. All they care about is that you buy their consumer goods with it. Apple sells stuff like Amazon does but for an entirely different reason. They sell music and movies (reportedly without profit) only so that people will buy their hardware and software. The two companies operate entirely backwards from each other. And only one of them sells green beans.
I would have to disagree with you. Apple has developed an entire ecosystem. The build hardware and software and one way they make that hardware and software useful is by providing things like music and videos to buy. Amazon (and I'm not bashing Amazon) really is only a store. They have done some development stuff with online storage and things but that is not their focus. Their focus is getting a book or, these days, a can of green beans, delivered to your home. They are a store that sells consumer goods. Now they have the Kindle Fire, and the reports are good. I'm sure it's a good machine. But, really, the focus of the Kindle is as a doorway to the Amazon store, to get you to buy things from Amazon. Amazon is really not concerned that you can make music or videos on the Fire. They haven't created any ecosystem really but they do participate in one (Android, and only more or less). There are glaring differences between the business models. Amazon sells Kindles so that people will buy what they sell - none of which Amazon actually makes. They don't make the books and they don't record the music and they don't can the green beans. It's a store. That's why they sell the Kindle at cost or a loss. All they care about is that you buy their consumer goods with it. Apple sells stuff like Amazon does but for an entirely different reason. They sell music and movies (reportedly without profit) only so that people will buy their hardware and software. The two companies operate entirely backwards from each other. And only one of them sells green beans.
Amazon has not done anything yet. All they did is announce a product. You can't be a competitor until you actually release a product and consumers get their hands on it.
That being said I believe that the tablet category willl trend down quickly in price because they are very handy yet can't replace a laptop or desktop. And because it is arguably the 3rd option after a computer and smartphone.
You can't discount the amount of on board storage and 8GB is not a lot if you want to store movies, music and books. You won't be able to access Wi-Fi on a plane or on the road in a car (unless you tether and want to use a great deal of data on a wireless data plan). On my iPad I have 23GB of movies on it which the kids watch on a plane or in a car. I am not too thrilled to have to rely on the cloud exclusively to be able to use the device effectively. I like a balance of on-board storage and the cloud if needed.
LMAoff!
Please explain it is crappier tech? And what is your beacon of "Great Cloud tech" Mobileme? Icloud? Both of which demonstrated without a doubt that apple is not a cloud/storage provider. They employed the exact opposite of one of apples philosophies- Minimum features that work great! Instead they did Alot of features that don't work very well.
Look up Amazons EC2 for a cloud service done right...
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I don't know, something besides treat it like a hard drive like EC2? Like Cloudfront? Like SimpleDB? Like RDS? Like Route 53?
Yeah, because creating instances of 2 nvidia Fermi GPU to make a high performance cluster is using the cloud like a hard drive
I disagree, I was actually interested in the device however the price to what the hell am I going to use it for? ratio just wasn't there. Though I've always been the "go big or go home" type, in other words if I were to get the iPad it would be the top model with the highest capacity. $849 is just too much, for $150 more I could get a nice Mac laptop or for the $849 price I could get two entry level PC laptops.
If Apple were to lower the prices further (which I'm hoping that is what the Kindle Fire will cause) I'd consider getting one still.
Right, but it seems people are wanting to compare apples to oranges here. The Kindle Fire is a media device first and foremost. It's for people who want to use their tablets to read books, watch movies, and play Angry Birds. If they want to edit spreadsheets written on a Mac and stored on iCloud, whip up a nice document in Pages, AND read books or watch movies, they'll spend $300 more, and buy an iPad.
So as far as the ecosystem is concerned, Amazon doesn't have to have one as all encompassing as what Apple's got. All they have to worry about is tailoring the OS so it can provide books, movies, and music to their device with as little fuss as possible. All they need it to be is a doorway to the Amazon store.
Edit: The best case scenario for the Fire is that it marginalizes the iPad. Quite a few people buy tablets mainly for media consumption. The iPad does this splendidly, but you have to wonder if people will continue buying it if they have a cheaper alternative that, while limited in other aspects, does it's intended function just as well. And content creation? Laptops and desktops are still much better for that. I can't think of many people who would want to use an iPad to write a thesis.
So with the advent of the Fire, the iPad could end up being an overly expensive jack of all trades, master of none device. Too expensive for one market, too unwieldy for the other, and thus merely alright for both.
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All statistics are like this, this is why I laugh any and all statistics off. I mean with all the statistics out there we should all have some sort of life threatening disease or condition.
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Really amazes me how some of the Apple fans here are looking for anything and everything to try to discredit the device. We can pretend that its apples and oranges, but the fact is both products target the same demographic and are very similar in function.
The capacity issue is a funny one too because the iPod touch for instance only has a pathetic 8GB, yet it still sells the best as far as iPod Touch sales go. Quite frankly, I think the iPad AND the Kindle Fire are lacking capacity.
Amazon seems to be betting on the cloud service to do most of the work but the problem with this is access isn't available everywhere, not to mention server speeds can very and local memory is still 1000% superior in terms of speed and availability.
I'm really surprised it has taken THIS long for someone to realize they need to drop the price to be competitive with the iPad. I just can't believe these other companies trying to challenge Apple at the same price point for the last two years.
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Right I don't get it.
You're missing the forest. The iPad had that market. The iPad lost that market because of the Fire. Substitute good. Done.
Maybe imperfect substitute, but clearly, you didn't go to enough classes to realize that.
Right I don't get it.
Or because the second choice fits better what he wants and doesn't need the first.
The fact is that if he thought about buying an iPad because was the only viable choice and now he buys a Fire because it fits better, the Fire is competing and making the ipad sell less.
In the meantime, Apple is gaining the lion's share of profits, and is looking for the next disruption.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
The Kindle Fire does have Gorilla Glass. As far as build quality, we'll have to wait and see until it's actually released as no-one besides Amazon employees have touched it.
If there's any decline, it's most likely due to the anticipation of the iPad 3, just as the iPhone 4 took a hit from anticipation last quarter. There's just no way that I'm going to buy an iPad 2 now knowing that if I wait until Spring I'll be getting twice the resolution and possibly Seri for the same price.
Spec wise, they are very similar. And we're talking about web surfing here, which really just depends on the resolution and the web browser used. So yes, very similar web browsing experience. Get over it.
im getting the Kindle Fire because it will be a cheap way for me to play around with an Android tablet.