Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Kindle Fire Seen Slowing Some Previously-Planned iPad Purchases

I purchased my iPad 2 because it was really the only game in town that did what I wanted to do: check email, browse the web, listen to music, read books, and watch videos. Had the Kindle Fire been available at the time, I would very likely have bought it instead.

The only "miss" here is no expansion slot for extra storage - I would kill to be able to up the storage on the Fire to 64gb or higher - more is better :)
 
ugahairydawgs said:
The products are so very different I don't get how they really can be compared in the same breath. Someone saying they are holding off on getting an iPad because they are going to instead get a Fire is like someone saying they are going to hold off on getting a new SUV because Honda just came out with a new crotch rocket.
Click to expand...

Why can they not be compared? The majority of users will probably just want a portable device with "the internet in the palm of your hand" with a few apps to play around with, games , music and video.


Both are great choices, difference is people will probably be more willing to part with $200 Compared to $500+ dollars.
 
divinox said:
(But yes, 8gb is an issue for some. I'll bet a KF on that you'll see a KFII out soon though taking care of this).
Click to expand...

I really hope you're right. I'm somewhat torn between the Fire and the Nook right now. My only concern about the Fire is the 8GB of local storage. They are expecting us to only use this when WiFi is available? After storing apps and whatever else, that isn't much for video files.
 
D.T. said:
OOC, what size is your MBA? The 11" or the 13"?
Click to expand...

13". But i must say, i think i underestimated the 11" a bit. As an academic, i do a lot of writing and reading, and thats mainly what put me off from the 11". But yeah, everytime i see one (11"), i go like - damn, why didnt i pick that one instead.

p.s.

is there any way of replicating win7's snap to side behavior in lion? doing it manually is tedious to say the least, and splitting the screen in two is just as handy as the fullscreen mode at times. Easily top 3 of the features that i miss when using mac.

----------
HighDesert50 said:
For readers who prefer a smaller unit, e.g. one that can fit in a fanny pack, the new Nook Tablet certainly extinguishes the Kindle Fire. Indeed the 32GB microSD alone allows one to be off the grid and still maintain a fair library. But, comparing the iPad to these half-weight media friendly tablets is really comparing Apples to oranges especially when one considers the +10 hour runtimes and anti-glare efforts focused on the tablets to specifically improve text readability. But, for individuals who have been dual purposing their iPod Touches as readers, these newer tablets provide a comparably priced upgrade particularly so as Apple did not upgrade the Touch. It will be interesting to see how many developers jump onto this low cost tablet venue and begin to concurrently produce cross-platform apps.
Click to expand...

The Fire has what? +7 hours? And, its not like Apple is the only company in the world that has ever reflected on reflections (pun not intended). Hardly the best one at it either. Weird point to make in other words.

As for developers, i know for sure that i would. If i developed apps that is. Havent developed any apps since the death of J2ME really :- )

----------
PDFierro said:
I really hope you're right. I'm somewhat torn between the Fire and the Nook right now. My only concern about the Fire is the 8GB of local storage. They are expecting us to only use this when WiFi is available? After storing apps and whatever else, that isn't much for video files.
Click to expand...

Well. If you're comfortable with placing trust in the romming community, i wouldnt be surprised if you end up with an usb (drive) solution for that as well. Cant say anything for sure of course. Time will tell. Could be missing something too.

Also, as for using when only wifi is available, that covers quite a lot of the use case. We're also seeing how wifi access is starting to get built into our means of communication. Trains, subways, busses etc. And, for those times when you really need to get online - tether: most people probably have a smartphone already that they can piggy back on.

----------
thewitt said:
Self selecting surveys of already interested customers are statistically worthless.

Survey people on the Apple iPhone 4S website with a poll on what mobile phone they are most likely to purchase, and what do you think the answer will be?
Click to expand...

Your ability to draw conclusions is (apparently) worthless. For example, in investigating whether or not people interested in a KF now felt less interested in the ipad, selecting of already interested customers is in fact a requisite.

Its a question that only applies to "already interested".

Similarly, we can analyse the population itself (demographic analysis), and we can learn more about why the device is found appealing, in turn allowing us to target the segment better (or: allow us to offer higher value propositions).

----------
jhwalker said:
I purchased my iPad 2 because it was really the only game in town that did what I wanted to do: check email, browse the web, listen to music, read books, and watch videos. Had the Kindle Fire been available at the time, I would very likely have bought it instead.

The only "miss" here is no expansion slot for extra storage - I would kill to be able to up the storage on the Fire to 64gb or higher - more is better :)
Click to expand...

i dont get this fear of sd-slots either. are they that expensive? cant be.
 
Where have I seen this talk about a tablet that will inevitably take over a lot of the iPad's sales?


Oh, that's right...on 90% of all Android tablet launches.


I think that the Kindle Fire will do well with people that have Kindles already, or people that aren't intrigued in Apple products. I'm sure that many households will have both a Fire and an iPad under their roofs; however, I have a gut feeling that the iPad is going to do well enough to keep the Kindle as a B level entry device.


Unrelated fact: Thus far in my life(22 year old college student in Southern California), I've only seen one tablet in the wild that wasn't an Ipad.
 
For $199 I'm getting one, its gonna have a good asortment of apps and I'm looking for a 7" tablet, I'll still use my Ipad because the fire is not replacing that its a whole different thing, but this is good if it makes apple release a smaller , cheaper device.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
By that definition, every non-essential item in the market place is competing with every other non-essential item in the market place for consumers disposable income. And that is true, but also a tad broad for this discussion.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I worded my statement poorly. What I meant was that the Fire and iPad are targeting the same consumer's dollars. Meaning that these devices are going after, in general, a consumer who is in the market for a media/web device that is not a laptop. Tablets are a hot market these days and both Apple and Amazon (and the rest) are competing for the same general set of customers.

----------
something3153 said:
Intel is just giving a roadmap, something that I know is alien to Apple followers.
Click to expand...
Longtime Apple followers know all about roadmaps. Heck, I remember looking at Intel roadmaps from the early 2000's and then looking at IBM's and Motorola's roadmaps and thinking, "WTF?!?!!?!";)
 
divinox said:
13". But i must say, i think i underestimated the 11" a bit. As an academic, i do a lot of writing and reading, and thats mainly what put me off from the 11". But yeah, everytime i see one (11"), i go like - damn, why didnt i pick that one instead.

p.s.

is there any way of replicating win7's snap to side behavior in lion? doing it manually is tedious to say the least, and splitting the screen in two is just as handy as the fullscreen mode at times. Easily top 3 of the features that i miss when using mac.
Click to expand...


OK cool, I was wondering if it was the 11" since you were talking about portability (and its size proximity to an iPad).

I'm thinking of migrating the Wifey© from a 13" MBP to a MBA, and was thinking of _maybe_ sizing down to the 11, especially with its increased resolution, you're getting roughly the same screen real estate, though scaled down and a wider aspect ratio. Not sure if losing a little vertical height will cramp reading/writing that much more[?]

The only experience I have a small notebook screen was her Netbook, which was a craptacular little turd, not sure how she even used it for as long as she did, but she tends to dive into things and not bitch about much. :) It's now running (or "running") XBMC in my office, permanently connected to my Toshiba RP TV :D

Good question on the "snap" feature which I totally dig on Win7. When my HP notebook goes TU (based on the constant 747 fan noises, it won't be long), I'm going to switch to a MBP (probably a 15" HR) and I've kind of been mentally compiling "must have/really want" features I'd like to replicate in OSX. Interestingly enough, all my non-iOS development is in .NET, and using some Windows only tools like EMS/Oracle ... already tested under Parallels/XP on the 13", works terrific!

OK, enough topic derailment..

[edit]

OK, maybe a little more


Renzatic said:
Yup. Cinch. It'll set you back $7, but if you like Aero Snap, then it's worth the cash.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks x2!
 
It's a neat little device and they're going to sell alot of them for Christmas.

Next spring, before the iPad3 comes out, there will be a ton of them on CL and ebay.
 
D.T. said:
OK cool, I was wondering if it was the 11" since you were talking about portability (and its size proximity to an iPad).

I'm thinking of migrating the Wifey© from a 13" MBP to a MBA, and was thinking of _maybe_ sizing down to the 11, especially with its increased resolution, you're getting roughly the same screen real estate, though scaled down and a wider aspect ratio. Not sure if losing a little vertical height will cramp reading/writing that much more[?]

The only experience I have a small notebook screen was her Netbook, which was a craptacular little turd, not sure how she even used it for as long as she did, but she tends to dive into things and not bitch about much. :) It's now running (or "running") XBMC in my office, permanently connected to my Toshiba RP TV :D

Good question on the "snap" feature which I totally dig on Win7. When my HP notebook goes TU (based on the constant 747 fan noises, it won't be long), I'm going to switch to a MBP (probably a 15" HR) and I've kind of been mentally compiling "must have/really want" features I'd like to replicate in OSX. Interestingly enough, all my non-iOS development is in .NET, and using some Windows only tools like EMS/Oracle ... already tested under Parallels/XP on the 13", works terrific!

OK, enough topic derailment..

[edit]

OK, maybe a little more




Awesome, thanks x2!
Click to expand...

When it comes to reading and writing, vertical pixels are everything. That said, if she doesnt write for a living and doesnt really have to know what she just wrote 10 lines up, by all means, shell do extremely fine.

As for reading, it might get a bit trickier. With my 13" i can just about read (acedemic) articles using full page zoom. Doubt that would be possible on the 11". Here too, of course, its all about what she is infact reading. I am sure that reading average books on it would work like a charm (different format, larger text). Browsing the web style of reading should work out just nicely too.

In fact, i tried to get my girlfriend to buy a 11" instead of an ipad. Have to admit, i failed :- (

p.s.

you might want to have a look at this link:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/6-best-mac-os-x-window-managers-687955
 
pmz said:
No one who buys a Fire was ever a potential iPad customer. If you don't start acknowledging that and pointing it out in the articles that highlight the Fire, then you might as well stop posting about it all together.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree, if I wanted to I could buy an ipad right now but I still can't justify the price of getting one right now, the price of the Fire is just right for me and for what I'm going to use it for.
 
The Kindle Fire and the iPad can be compared and in competition just like an iPhone and Galaxy Nexus can be compared.

Both have different screen sizes features and app stores, so what is the difference?
 
ftaok said:
[/COLOR]Longtime Apple followers know all about roadmaps. Heck, I remember looking at Intel roadmaps from the early 2000's and then looking at IBM's and Motorola's roadmaps and thinking, "WTF?!?!!?!";)
Click to expand...

:D

You may have missed the comment that caused me to say that, which was some guy here saying roughly:

"wtf is a roadmap anyway thats just some corporate buzzword that doesn't mean anything"
 
divinox said:
Also, as for using when only wifi is available, that covers quite a lot of the use case. We're also seeing how wifi access is starting to get built into our means of communication. Trains, subways, busses etc. And, for those times when you really need to get online - tether: most people probably have a smartphone already that they can piggy back on.
Click to expand...

Disagree. While WiFi is in a lot of places, there are many places where you would be without it and that's when you would actually want to do something locally on the device. And in that case, local storage helps. Especially when you're talking about a portable device here.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Let me help.

As far as apps go, there is no way the Kindle Apps can compete w/ the ones on iTunes b/c of the Fire's hardware. It's like drag racing a VW Beetle 2.0L vs a BMW 335i. The quality and capabilities of some of the more complex iOS apps just isn't going to happen on a Fire.
Click to expand...

Kindle Fire has a TI dual core CPU w/ 512mb RAM so more than enough horsepower to run any iOS app.
 
Everyone keeps talking about how the Kindle Fire is only Wi-fi, like it's such a big deal.

I have the iPad1 3G and an iPad2 Wi-Fi. I've used the 3G once since I've had it. And it cost me a lot more than the 499 + tax I paid for the iPad2.

It's like people are trying to find something wrong with it.
Space is a big deal and also usage/OS, but 3G on a 199 device; that will tack on an additional $30+ a month in data charges? I understand why Amazon left out 3G.

I get mine later today and I'll get to see first hand how it compares to my iPad1, iPad2, Galaxy Tab 7", and my HP TouchPad.

----------
Dbrown said:
Kindle Fire has a TI dual core CPU w/ 512mb RAM so more than enough horsepower to run any iOS app.
Click to expand...

People seem to forget the iPad1 and 2 only have 512Mb and runs apps just fine. But have too many tabs open in Safari on the iPad1 things crash and it's ok. But no one here has used the Fire and it's 512mb is too small.

Too funny.

-----------

The Kindle Fire just showed up.
I like how minimal the shipping package is. Just a plain sealed brown box. The Fire feels good in the hand too. And it took literally 3 minutes to set up and hit the web and amazon Prime digital. Was super easy and simple.
 

Attachments

  • photo.jpg
    photo.jpg
    498.9 KB · Views: 105
Last edited:
Renzatic said:
You've got too many tablets, man.

...will you sell me one for cheap? :confused:
Click to expand...

I'm a gadget guy. But all the tablets get used. We have kids and with enough tablets no one fights over any of them.

And to be honest the iPads are used on the couch, bed and bathroom..
TouchPad is used as a digital photo frame, at 150 it was still the best 32gb digital picture frame out there.

And I alternate between my iPhone4 and Galaxy Tab since I flashed it to make calls.

The only problem with having so many tablets, all of the house laptops haven't been used in months.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back