And it burns, burns, burns...
…And, according to Marco Arment, not in a good way.
I expected the Kindle Fire to be a compelling iPad alternative, but I can’t call it delightful, fun, or pleasant to use. Quite the opposite, actually: using the Fire is frustrating and unpleasant, and it feels like work.
Netflix updates for the iPad, Fire and Nook.
An iPad Killer?
Amazon announced* the Kindle Fire. A full colour, 7-inch, Android 2.3 based tablet.
There’s a lot of talk about it being an iPad Killer. It’s a link-bait statement. Yes, the Fire is considerably cheaper ($199 Vs. $499). Charts like this, though, are a little misleading. It’s not as simple as a hardware spec comparison. It’s all about the hardware + software + content = experience. It would be like a car salesman saying a Porsche is a Ferrari killer in a country where roads and gas don’t exist; information that is useless to you without context and practical application.
A study suggests that an astonishing 41% of all mobile phone users in the US would like to switch to the iPhone 5. Many wallets already belong to Apple. Most people have invested at least $100 into content (books, music, tv, apps) that will only play back on Apple devices. That content spans all Apple devices; something that’s more likely to keep you to one platform. As Apple’s cloud services launch, that stickiness will increase as you wont even need to invest in a Mac in order to move content between devices (Note that Bezos made a cheap gag in the keynote with an Apple USB cable, even though Apple have made it clear that iOS 5 is all about untethering from a PC). Like the iPad, the Fire has an app store, a video and music service, an incredible and free cloud infrastructure and Amazon Prime bundled (which also offers free two day shipping on physical items you buy); but Apple’s platform integration with mobile is going to be hard to beat.
An iPad killer? No. But after the Nook Color, the Fire is the third tablet with a good chance of selling by the bucketload.
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*The Fire isn’t released until November so why announce now? I imagine they don’t want you spending your holiday dollars elsewhere.
