If you don’t know that Amazon revealed its new Kindle Fire announcing its entry in the overheated tablet market, well, where have you been? When Jeff Bezos officially announced the launch of $199 “Fire” in NY, many touted it as having the best shot at being the IPad killer. I was struck, particularly, by the way this product launch was orchestrated. Bezos walked the stage talking and presenting at the same time that reminded me so much of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Kindle Fire
There are three things absolutely essential for the success of a tablet: hardware, OS and software. While there are plenty of other tablets on the market at the same price point as this new tablet, none can boast to be stellar in these three categories except Apple’s IPad and now Amazon’s Fire. Jeff Bezos lived up to his name “Crazy Eddie” of tech and watched as everyone’s jaw dropped when they heard a price of $199 (Initially speculated that the tablet will cost around $299). Compare it to Apple IPad at $499 for a basic version. The introduction of the new browser “Silk” was another headline of the presentation. The Fire comes with a 7 inch screen- considerably smaller than the IPad and most importantly, without 3G. Its great asset will be Amazon’s amazing repository of software-e-books, magazines, apps, music and movies; not to mention millions of credit card numbers of users Amazon already has. Read all about how it compares to the IPad here.
Taking on the IPad?
With all the hype around it and a general sense of confidence about its success, I am not sure if this tablet will exactly be an IPad killer.Sure, it will cut into IPad’s market, but IPad killer? Not really. This tablet is clearly aimed towards the consumer market while Apple’s IPad is more focused on business users as well as hardcore tech enthusiasts (and there are a lot of them). Who will buy Amazon Fire? People who already have a Smartphone and a desktop but don’t care much for the glam and pull of Apple to spend $500 dollars on another device. Now, when they can get this sleek tablet for $199 with access to Amazon’s software, they will definitely bite. The clear advantage that Amazon has, over other cheaper tablets, is the trust of millions of users. That is why, in my opinion, this tablet will only expand the tablet user base not just cut into IPad’s market. I won’t be surprised if Amazon introduces a newer version of this tablet in the next 6 months with upgrades.
On a side note, the company also introduced new cheaper versions of Kindle. Although Jeff Bezos has claimed that Kindle Fire will not affect the sales of e-readers, I think the e-readers will eventually go down the path of IPod Touch-which if you recall was cannibalized by the IPhone. More on companies cannibalizing their own products in the next post- Stay tuned!
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