Ticonderoga: Amazon’s Kindle Fire is ‘hardly an iPad killer’

The Fire is good enough for pure media consumption. But like it or not, apps are the most important ingredient for any tablet to rise above the “media consumption device” designation and hence, dominate the market. The iPad 2, and to some extent, some android tablets, have the necessary apps to extend its usability. Thanks to apps, tablets can be a sketchbook, a musical instrument, a videogame console, a child’s educational toy, your diet monitor, a scientific lab tool, a cash register, and so on and so on. Unless it has the sufficient apps, A tablet is nothing more than a media consumption tool.

It’s good to know who to go to if ever my homestead is attacked by a horde of Straw People.

It was never meant to be an iPad killer….  Why is everyone so uptight about the iPad, that when a new tablet type device comes out they immediately say “The iPad is better because(insert reason here)”?  I can’t fit an iPad in my cargo pocket, this or any other 7″ tablet device fits just fine.  I think the iPad is pretty cool, but would probably never own one, mainly because they cost too damn much, but mostly because it’s too big.

Yes, definitely the Next generation of ebook readers, but something else too.  Amazon has created a portal to Amazon, where millions of faithful amazon people will pick this thing up for cheap, and buy amazon stuff with it.  Genius.  :-)

Honestly, I think this thing would have destroyed ipad and ‘other’ tablet sales if it just had a front facing camera for VOIP.  Back camera’s are stupid on a tablet, but front camera’s are genius.

The idea also that you don’t need a microsd card because you can stick everything in our cloud is pretty good for the most part as well, since  you’ll WANT to be connected to do a lot of things.  But there is also a lot of times when your not connected and you want to watch a movie (aka a plane or the back seat of the car).  

Maybe the next release of Fire will have the camera, as well as 3g to make you ALWAYS be connected to the amazon cloud….  :)

I agree with the reasoning, but disagree with the conclusion; the Kindle Fire is definitely aimed to appeal more to people who don’t have a tablet, Android users, and Kindle owners looking for a little color. It wasn’t intended to be an iPad killer. But just because that’s the target, and therefore doesn’t have the full feature set of the iPad, doesn’t mean it isn’t a potential iPad killer. If users can get 90% of the functionality at 1/3rd the price, my guess is that will eat away from iPad sales significantly. And who isn’t tight budget these days?

We’ll see how it evolves, but remember that the Fire is just the beginning; the Kindle “Hollywood” is the iPad killer yet to come.

Nook Color competitor: was that so difficult?

I have the first iPad and here is what I usually use if for: browsing, reading ebooks, music, streaming movies, games, emailing, facebook, reading news, saving photos and simple editing. The kindle fire can do at least 90 percent of this. Its definitely no ipad killer, but its not designed to be. With the way the economy is, the kindle fire is very attractive to a lot of folks. Amazon is a on-line retail giant who has their own eco-system just like Apple and I believe there is a big market for it. I will eventually get one to compliment my PC and iPad.

Dear Ticonderoga, 

No shit. Stop telling me what I already know, k? That is all.

I don’t understand why anyone insists the Fire and the iPad are in totally different categories. They are not identical, but they provide more or less the same capability. I don’t need either one, but I will likely buy the Fire based on price, and the fact that the missing features (camera, 3g) are covered by my phone. Can I play Angry Birds? Access Gmail? Watch a video every so often? Sure. I doubt the hardware will feel as expensive as Apple’s but it doesn’t look like junk by any means. I certainly wouldn’t need an iPad in addition to the Fire, so at least for this customer, it’s an iPad killer.