Amazon.com announced on Wednesday a new line of Kindles, including a tablet device called the Kindle Fire. The name, which instantly reminded me of Billy Joel’s classic We didn’t Start the Fire, is appropriate since the Fire has an uphill battle against Apple in the tablet market.
Despite Apple’s pseudo-monopoly, I think Amazon.com can pull it off. Even if they don’t beat Apple, they’ll still claim a huge share in the tablet market.
Here’s why:
This is not your father’s Kindle. Unlike the other reading-focused Kindles, the Fire’s components allow it to play music, apps and movies. Gone are the physical keyboard and e-ink display that are found on the other Kindle products. Instead, you get a seven-inch IPS color touchscreen that looks vibrant and crisp. The tablet runs a heavily-modified version of Android, contains 8 gigabytes of storage (not including unlimited cloud storage for anything purchased through Amazon.com) and packs a dual-core TI OMAP 4 processor which will make the Fire quite speedy.
Of course, hardware is nice, but without the software to back it up, even products with the greatest specs will be dead on arrival. This is where the Amazon Appstore comes in. The store, which was launched on March 22, has proven itself by offering some of the same apps found in the Android Market for lower prices. Throw in the fact that the Kindle Fire will ship with the Silk browser, which Amazon.com claims loads pages faster than any other tablet browser, and the Fire starts to look quite attractive.
The final reason why I’m feeling warm about the Kindle Fire is its $200 price tag.
It’s still a lot of money, granted, but compare this to the $500 price of the iPad 2 or even the $230 current generation iPod touch. Similarly, HP tried launching their tablet, the HP Touchpad, on July 1 to the tune of $500. Seven weeks later, they stopped making them. Why?
It’s simple. For a new product that isn’t backed up by a company that is well-perceived by the market, $500 is a risky investment. It’s an even riskier investment when the market leader, Apple, is selling their similarly-functioning product for the same amount.
On the other hand, Amazon.com is a pretty well-known company. People have been content with the Kindles, so that good reputation should help Amazon.com with this new tablet. Even if they’re going to make a loss on the hardware, Amazon.com should be able to easily recoup that loss from their online sales and from getting people hooked on Amazon Prime, which is given free for 30 days just by buying a Kindle Fire.
I could also see the Kindle Fire being this year’s holiday tech gift. I honestly cannot think of a parent (or anyone, really) who wouldn’t want to save 300 dollars just by getting their child a slightly different version of what they want. People will definitely buy these slates for their family and friends (I’m getting one for my sister, shhh, don’t tell her) this holiday, so I predict these things will fly on November 15 when the Kindle Fire finally ships.
The Kindle Fire looks to be a solid device. It may have a few flaws (a slightly smaller screen than the iPad 2 and no front or back cameras), but it’s funny how easily these shortcomings can be overlooked when the device is relatively inexpensive. Apple is winning the tablet market battle now, but I see Amazon.com making it’s mark. It may not have started the fire, but the Kindle Fire is certainly trying to fight it.
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