Thoughts on the Amazon Kindle Fire
paulstamatiou.com
paulstamatiou.com
And this is why I think Kindle Fire has a chance.
The author himself admits that his iPad is really only good for movie watching. Well, now you can do it for a shockingly low price of $200, and everything streams from the internet, no long download or sync necessary.
Remember all the people complaining about the iPad being a pure media consumption device, and how that will destroy the creativity of the world? Well, this is that idea taken to the extreme - this device practically does nothing else. And I think it will work.
You can't watch videos on e-Ink.
While the market for e-books is large, the market for e-books + videos + color magazines + other content is of course, far larger.
"I was talking about the rumored Kindle Fire tablet with my cofounder the other day. My point was that for it to really work, Amazon would have to deliver on both the tablet/media aspect while simultaneously maintaining the solid reading experience — most likely through a hybrid screen that can easily switch to e-Ink when you are outside or wish to read in a glare-free, black and white mode. Such displays have been in the works since 2009 (search for Pixel Qi e-Ink / LCD hybrid), and it would be great to see Amazon pull a home-run with such tech in their latest device."
I'm just not buying the utility of this. e-Ink-based Kindles are now at the $80 price point, which for someone who can afford Kindle books is darned close to the "afterthought" level. They don't weigh a lot -- under six ounces! -- because they have an enormous battery life, so they don't need a big battery. So why not just buy an e-Ink Kindle and an iPad?
Just toss them both in the bag. When the sun is out, pull out the one; when it's time for Angry Birds, pull out the other. When it's time to read a book while playing Angry Birds, use one in each hand. Or, when all I want to do is read, I get to save weight and theft risk and damage risk and distraction risk by just carrying the cheapo Kindle around.
Are we going to save money with the e-Ink/LCD hybrid screen? I doubt it: Even if it is ready for prime time, I bet it would tend to add more than $80 to the final price of a Kindle Fire. It's odd, it's new, it's more complicated, and (ahem) it's got twice the IP licensing costs, at least, because e-Ink is still patented, is it not? And, worse, it would introduce a big layer of complication into the development of Kindle Fire apps. Isn't Android fragmented enough? Do you really want to force Android developers who want to target the Kindle Fire to have to decide which layer of the screen their graphics should address? All for no greater purpose than pleasing the five users who desperately want a tablet, and who desperately want an e-Ink Kindle, but who can't bear to own both at the same time, one for each hand?
People who actually care about photography won't be happy with a cellphone camera. Book readers probably won't. Mobile game consoles might, but it's not a given. Apple still sold 7.5 million iPods in Q3 2011.
About 40% of the people I know who have e-readers didn't give a damn about eInk and chose the Nook.
The rest of this comes off as "Waaaah, I don't want Angry Birds on my Kindle" to which I say: buy one of the two new eInk models...
I feel the author missed the point almost entirely. Android has been hurting because Google repeatedly fails to deliver on an integrated media experience. Amazon can bring streaming video, TV partnerships, books, music and apps, today. All by themselves, in their own ecosystem on their own devices. This is the closest thing to an iTunes (and iTunes' library) competitor.
This is indeed a compelling offering. It's a one-stop shop. Rather than content providers fighting with Apple. Amazon as the content provider is not doing that and making it easier for Average Joe's like me to consume content. Much like Apple did with music and iTunes years ago.
Doing a lot of testing, I use an iPad 1, iPad 2, MacBook, Galaxy Tab, iPhone, and a netbook near-daily. My favorite electronic device is definitely my Kindle, because it doesn't feel technical and encourages me to do things - to read often, and pay attention - that I want to do in my heart of hearts, not things I'm distracted into doing, like cheap games and so-called social networking.