This past week, I got the Kindle Fire and the Kindle Touch in. My wife and I already both own Apple iPads to compare them to. One thing that jumps out almost immediately to me is that the Kindle Fire is to the iPad what the Mazda Miata is to an Audi A4. When price and small size matter, it’s a better choice, but only if they matter significantly more than functionality. In short: The Kindle Fire and Apple iPad appeal to different users.
To take that analogy a step further, the Kindle Touch is to the Fire what a scooter might be to that Miata. The Kindle Touch is even more limited, but it’s not only a better reader, it’s actually a good complement to people also own an Apple iPad. In the end, I think the Kindle Fire begs for a larger sibling that actually could go head to head against the iPad more evenly.
-- Rob Enderle
*** [10/5/11]
Since Amazon initially released the Kindle in 2007, it has successfully sold more than 18 million. In an attempt to further compete with Apple’s iPad and delve deeper into the tablet wars, and after much hype, last week Amazon debuted the Kindle Fire for $199.
“Kindle Fire brings together all of the things we’ve been working on at Amazon for over 15 years into a single, fully integrated service for customers,” says Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. “With Kindle Fire, you have instant access to all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, the convenience of Amazon Whisper-sync, our revolutionary cloud-accelerated Web browser, the speed and power of a state-of-the-art dual-core processor, a vibrant touch display with 16 million colors in high resolution, and a light 14.6-ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand all for only $199. We’re offering premium products, and we’re doing it at non-premium prices.”
The Kindle Fire is the only device that runs the Amazon Silk browser, a “split browser” architecture that accelerates the power of the mobile device hardware by running with Amazon Web Services Cloud. It has a dual-core processor and runs the latest Google Android software, so you can download apps from the Android Market. It also sports a 7-inch color touchscreen display, and you can watch videos from Amazon’s streaming Prime service and play your music from the Amazon Store.
While the Fire is smaller than the iPad’s 10-inch screen and doesn’t have a camera, it is lighter and supports Adobe Flash (a seemingly huge issue everyone keeps bringing up).
***
Shares of Amazon.com (AMZN -1.82%) were down more than 2% Monday afternoon as investors fretted about a report in the New York Times detailing a litany of woes affecting the Kindle Fire. The newspaper likened Amazon's new tablet computer to Ford's Edsel -- one of the biggest flops in the history of corporate America.
As the Times noted, the Kindle Fire is enduring a torrent of negative reviews on the company's website, of all places. This is a huge headache for Amazon, which is counting on the Fire to fuel future growth. "Slightly more than a third of the 4,500 reviewers of the Fire on Amazon have given it mixed to negative reviews, three stars or fewer," according to the newspaper.
My wife and I decided this weekend to buy an iPad. Although it is twice as expensive as the Fire, it is also twice as good. We found the Barnes & Noble (BKS +0.56%) Nook to be inferior to the Fire. Like many consumers, we are not oblivious to price. Quality, though, is important. The iPad, to many minds -- ours included -- is by far the best product.
After reading the Times story, I realized that we made the right decision. One surprising tidbit was that some people found the Kindle Fire's performance as an e-reader to worse than the original Kindle. Amazon, of course, told the Times that fixes were in the works.
The parallels to the Edsel, a car brand that flamed out during the 1950s, are hard to avoid. Like the Kindle Fire, Ford Motor's (F -1.63%) Edsel over-promised and under-delivered. The Edsel was hurt by quality problems that earned it the nickname: "Every Day Something Else Leaks." Owners of the Kindle Fire are complaining about the device's lack of an external volume control and the poor placement of the "off" switch, according to the Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment