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Amazon Announces Kindle Fire, Setting iPad Market Ablaze

Sep. 28, 2011 Paul Thurrott | Windows IT Pro

Amazon announced its Android-based Kindle tablet, the Kindle Fire, on Wednesday—as expected—as well as two touch-based Kindle eBook readers and a low-end Kindle eBook reader without touch. But Amazon thoroughly undercut even the wildest estimates for the cost of the eagerly anticipated Kindle Fire, which will retail for just $200.

What's $200 in this market, you ask? It's $50 less than the Nook Color ebook reader and a whopping $300 less than Apple's "cheapest" iPad. But let's look at this another way: If you were to buy all four of Amazon's new Kindle devices, described below, the total cost would be less than the cost of a single 32GB iPad. That's how inexpensive Amazon's devices are. Apple, consider the gauntlet thrown.

kindle_fire_hero_0

Obviously, the Kindle Fire is the most interesting of the devices, since it's a full-featured Android tablet with hooks into Amazon's Apple-like ecosystem. The Fire features a 7" multi-touch display running at 1024 x 600, comes with 8GB of storage (which Amazon says is enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books), and utilizes Wi-Fi (but not 3G) wireless networking. The Kindle Fire gets up to 8 hours of battery life on a charge and can fully recharge in 4 hours.

And like the iPad, the Kindle Fire is backed by a vast array of content—in this case, provided by Amazon. This includes more than "18 million movies, TV shows, songs, apps, games, books, and magazines," Amazon notes, more than 100,000 movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, more than 17 million songs from Amazon MP3, 100 exclusive graphic novels, hundreds of magazines and newspapers, and of course a full range of Android apps and games, including popular titles like Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Cut the Rope, and more.

The Kindle Fire also integrates closely with Amazon's cloud computing services, including the Amazon Cloud Drive, which can be used to store any Amazon-bought content for free. It also features an exclusive new web browser called Amazon Silk that divvies up site rendering between the device and the cloud, and creates what Amazon calls a much faster web browsing experience. And of course the Kindle Fire, like other Kindles, integrates tightly with your Amazon.com user account.

In addition to the Kindle Fire, Amazon announced three other Kindles, two of which will retail for under $100. The new Kindle costs just $79 and features a new design that is lighter, smaller, and faster than its predecessor.  Next up is the Kindle Touch, which adds a touch screen and costs just $99. And then there's a $149 version of the Kindle Touch, which adds 3G connectivity. The new Kindle is available immediately, but the two Touch versions won't ship until November 21. The Kindle Fire ships November 15. They are all available for preorder today.

Discuss this Article 73

infiniteloop
on Sep 30, 2011
@waethorn: Heh. Have you worked out how you're going to plug a mouse into that late to market but on it's way iWindows 8 tablet, y'know to get all those legacy Windows Apps working properly, yet? Too funny.
jersey72
on Sep 28, 2011
Flame. Fire. Something hot. Need to fire that damned proofreader. :-)
infiniteloop
on Sep 30, 2011
@forkieboy: You didn't raise any points. All you did was try to do a 'Hack Job' on me, which I chose to ignore. And for what it's worth, I'm not here to be taken seriously, I'm here for the entertainment, as you said yourself. It's up to the viewer to decide whether my posts are accurate, meaningful or serious. Why do you think people visit this site? - to agree along with Paul's sometimes ridiculous diatribes? Wouldn't that be boring?
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
@tayme: So, you're saying that a glitch on this 'Windows IT Pro' site is your fault? -If that's not FanBoi defensiveness, I don't know what is. If it was the fault of Cold Fusion, surely the implementation of it on this site is at fault? Re Apple's enterprise products. I have told you before that Apple are not Enterprise focused. They do, however, have several products that do very well in Enterprise, namely: iPhone, MacBook(pro, Air), Macs, and now iPad. I asked you if you got out much. You replied with a list of your assets, marital status and the fact that you run. Not at all what I was after. What I was trying to understand was your 'world view'. My work takes me all over the world. I am UK based, but I have visited the USA three times this year already, - Las Vegas, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York, along with visits to Germany, France, Spain, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates and Thailand. Next month I will be travelling to Italy, Hong Kong and China, then on to San Francisco, Las Vegas and Chicago. In November I will be visiting Moscow. My work involves understanding trends and people's attitudes to them. As a part of this, technology is fundamental. I take a long term view and perspective on where things are heading. And I'm very good at it. My guess is that you've rarely, if ever, been outside the USA. Now, perhaps you could remember this when you post ridiculous things like: when Apple fall from grace, I will be devastated. Yes, I would be devastated, - if there wasn't something better to replace them with. Microsoft are in the process of that fall, and are being ousted by Apple, which is why, I guess, you're so upset. My advice would be to get out of your server farm and come blinking into the light.
Waethorn
on Sep 29, 2011
@infinitelyloupy: "So in your world, you're going to plug in a mouse and keyboard to get your un -redesigned Apps to work properly on an iWindows 8 tablet?" You mean like how Apple sells the Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad? Do you like how Apple graciously charges you $29 for the use of a USB port? Or another $39 for HDMI, despite most tablet devices having both included. "http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/749/windows-8-metro-browser-on-mobile-devices-will-be-plug-in-free" That's why there's a desktop browser, complete with Flash compatibility - and Adobe already said that Flash will be supported on ARM versions of Windows 8. Just FYI: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-desktop-apps-will-run-on-windows-8-on-arm/10756?tag=mantle_skin;content I like this quote from you though: "name calling indicates frustration at having lost an argument....Yes I concede"
BananaJr
on Sep 28, 2011
@BI_Tinkering How is the iPad a consumption only device? I think you are mistaking consumption only for consumption preferred. There are plenty of apps for content creation available. The Gorillaz recorded and mixed an album on the device. There are photo editors, painting programs, word processors, spreadsheet apps and a host of others. There is a Youtube video of an artist who used Garage Band to perform a blazing guitar solo. Balmer gets bent out of shape every time someone pulls out Pages or Evernote to write instead of a laptop. You can complain all you want about whether it's productive to work off of a tablet or whether you will prefer Windows8 apps to iPad apps but to say Windows8 is a content creation tablet and iPad is not is ridiculous.
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
@Waethorn: "Considering that you can run a lot more applications on Windows, plus get all your media content - from multiple sources, which is doubly important when it comes to regional media availability - this won't be able to touch a Windows 8 PC" You do realise that NONE of the current Windows Apps will run on Windows 8 for tablets? They will have to be re-written for ARM and re-designed to work with touch gestures. For example: Office will have to be completely redesigned. For clues how, have a look at what Apple has done with iWork. I'm sure Microsoft have.
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
@waethorn: Thing is, a lot of people are just going to expect that their existing software will run on iWindows 8, without having to purchase a different version. Lots of confusion. Anything simply 'ported over' is not going to work very well either as it needs to be redesigned for touch. iOS seems to be doing very well thank you, without the need for OSX Apps porting.
argraphics
on Sep 28, 2011
Or another way of writing the headline Amazon announces Kindle Fire, Microsoft deeper in the hole.
infiniteloop
on Sep 28, 2011
@Tayme: Get out much?
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
chuck B: Agreed. I use the term 'iPad/iPod/iPhone Killer' with sarcasm.
Waethorn
on Sep 30, 2011
"On top of that, you've just proven to your IT Pro brethren here, how little you know" Well if I had to say I knew a-thousand times as much as you, I'd still be at zero. Funny how that works. "Cute. Infiniteloop calling out someone else for lack of knowledge of IT." On WindowsITpro.com, no less. See the next line for a laugh. "The difference is, IT is not my profession." Right. Because there's still several hurdles after you graduate grade school - whenever that's going to be.
chuckb84
on Sep 28, 2011
"Well the headline does show that even Paul will concede it's an iPad market, not a tablet market." Exactly. The low end devices are interesting; look how Apple has forced Amazon to reduce prices. When the Kindle existed before the iPad, it cost $400, vastly overpriced for what it did. The cheapest e-reader Kindle is now almost a stocking stuffer, but the first one I'd be interested in is the $189 Kindle with Wifi. In addition to this, they've staked out a lower price point with no camera, no microphone, no Bluetooth, no 3G and half the screen space. I'm not sure, but it also appears to have no GPS, no compass, no accelerometer. This is not iPad killer and really not even an iPad competitor. This is a different product aimed at a different market. iPads are invading the enterprise very quickly; no Kindle Fire's will do that. iPads are supplanting Netbooks; the Fire won't do that. It may sell just fine, especially with the aggressive pricing. Whether the sales are additive or eating iPad potential sales is much harder to say. It will fit nicely in a purse :). It might even fit in a suit coat inner pocket. I think the biggest losers will be all the other Android tablet wannabes, not the iPad. The other big loser is Microsoft, now being totally left behind by TWO competitors. The Win8 tablets are already irrelevant. Apple an move upscale with an iPad Pro and/or down to the 7" form factor if need be. Microsoft is again the loser.
Waethorn
on Sep 29, 2011
@infinitelyloupy: Right, so you're conceding that you were wrong and that ARM software will run on Windows 8, and no you are still wrong: only recompiled apps need a new version. All of the software API's that I mentioned will NOT need a new version of their app because IE and .Net have platform-agnostic runtimes compilers. Likewise, no application is required to be redesigned for touch because Win8 supports a mouse and keyboard. Face it, your Apple platform is a bigger frustration because it takes two OS's (and twice as much money) to equal the platform capabilities of Windows. BTW: iWork is a joke, regardless of platform.
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 28, 2011
@ModernDislocation - I said that we will see if the Apple Tax is real to people or not. I did not say that I consider it that. I own an iPad, so the price did not concern me enough to sway me away from buying it. You may be right on the Nook Color competition - I own one of those as well. Its a pretty good little device in its own right. It seems to me as if Amazon is targeting both device types with the Fire. @Infiniteloop - As I just said - I own a Nook Color. It is a 7" tablet - same as the Fire. I have not had to squint to use that screen once. If I did, it is multi-touch(term cannot be trademarked, BTW)...so I could stretch the screen to meet my needs. No problems there.
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
@Waethorn: Yes I concede they will run, but who will want them to? So in your world, you're going to plug in a mouse and keyboard to get your un -redesigned Apps to work properly on an iWindows 8 tablet? Yeah that sounds about right for a Microsoft solution. Your position on two OSes is moot, as I've just pointed out. As I've said before, name calling indicates frustration at having lost an argument. Trust me, iWork is no joke and Microsoft will have to model something very similar to get Office to work on a touch only interface. .
ModernDislocation
on Sep 28, 2011
@tayme - Where is the "Apple Tax" on the iPad. To date no one has managed to make a tablet with the features/specs of the iPad and undercut the price in a meaningful way and that hasn't changed. To be fair to Amazon, I think it is pretty clear that they weren't going after the iPad at all but rather the Nook and in that space the delivered a some great competition.
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
@Waethorn: "Considering that you can run a lot more applications on Windows, plus get all your media content - from multiple sources, which is doubly important when it comes to regional media availability - this won't be able to touch a Windows 8 PC" You do realise that NONE of the current Windows Apps will run on Windows 8 Tablet edition (or whatever Microsoft's marketing machine creatively call it - iWindows 8 seems apt.) Everything will have to be rewritten and designed for a touch interface
forkieboy
on Sep 30, 2011
Infinite's job involves "understanding trends and people's attitudes to them", his words. So long as the trends support Apple. He comes here for fun, also his words, but then cuts up rough when someone questions his "expert" opinions.He is also an expert in using the same tactics himself that he is so quick to deride in others. A large balloon only needs a small pin to be completely deflated.
chuckb84
on Sep 28, 2011
One more thing, "And of course the Kindle Fire, like other Kindles, integrates tightly with your Amazon.com user account." Amazon has 65 million accounts, or so says a quick google search. Apple has over 200 million iTunes accounts. This is the part that really matters. Amazon has the customer base and the media ecosystem to be a real competitor. These enormous existing customer bases and the integration of the devices/customers with all that content is what makes Apple the winner and Amazon a legitimate 2nd. It also means that anyone else can just about forget about it. I wonder what the growth rate of iTunes accounts vs. Amazon customers is?
infiniteloop
on Sep 28, 2011
@tayme: I trust the irony of your double posting through a glitch on this 'Windows IT Pro' site hasn't escaped you? Perhaps you could cite hardware other than peripherals to prove your point. How about XBox? Oh yeah that actually wasn't that great, was it?
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 28, 2011
@infiniteloop - "Their software efforts barely function and their hardware attempts are laughable." Exchange functions very well...as does SQL Server and SharePoint. Windows has been meeting the needs of the business world for a very long time. I've used MS keyboards and mice that are elegant and more functional than what most other companies produce. I guess that I don't get your point. Again - you are making things up as you go. @ModernDislocation - Speaking of making things up...show me where in this thread I used the term iPad killer prior to asking chuck and infiniteloop why they feel that for Apple to succees all others must fail. I must have missed that.
ModernDislocation
on Sep 28, 2011
"I find it interesting that you & infiniteloop choose to use the term "iPad killer", though" - tayme The irony in this statement is it was you that actually used the term "iPad killer" first in this thread. Perhaps you have more insight into the mentality than you suggest.
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 30, 2011
@infiniteloop - Nice try at saying that you meant someting other than what you asked. That's an old trick. You are just too easy...and predictable. Feel free to continue trolling Paul's sites and being freakishly obsessed with pompous old me.
forkieboy
on Sep 29, 2011
infinite. So quick to defend the reason for your "mistake", no response to your deriding of tayme for a similar error. You said in a post some days ago that you come here for a bit of fun. Why shouldn't I ? When you are so pretentious, you shouldn't be surprised if someone wants to prick your balloon. Quite clear thank you.
BananaJr
on Sep 28, 2011
On the surface it would seem that Apple and Amazon use similar approaches. Underlying the two though are significant differences. Amazon's approach, much like Google is to aggregate data about you the user. They are willing to sell their hardware at a lower price point in exchange for showing you ads and aggregating your browsing habits. Read up on the web browser. "Silk browser software resides both on Kindle Fire and on the massive server fleet that comprises the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)" "When I use Amazon Silk, what does Amazon know about my Internet usage? Amazon Silk optimizes and accelerates the delivery of web content by using Amazons cloud computing services. To do this, the content of web pages you visit using Amazon Silk may be cached to improve performance and certain web address information will be collected to help troubleshoot and diagnose Amazon Silk technical issues. To learn more about what information we may collect, how long that information may be stored and how we might use that information, please see the Amazon Silk Terms and Conditions." Depending on where you fall along the privacy continuum will have a lot to do with how much you are willing to give up to save some money up front.
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 28, 2011
@infiniteloop - "Get out much?" Not sure why that matters to you...but yes, I do. I just spent a week in the southern US and will be going to Vegas in the next month. In the last year, I have ran 4 half marathons and 1 full marathon. I have a small home on a lake a few hours from where I live that I visit on the weekends during the summer months. I enjoy fishing, boating, and may other outdoor activities. Is this some sort of Match.com or eHarmony profile that you are looking for? Sorry, I'm not interested...my wife and I are happy!
infiniteloop
on Sep 30, 2011
@forkieboy: This reality you think I avoid. Please explain to me how you think I avoid it, with examples.
WATERCHEMIST
on Sep 28, 2011
The Kindle Fire could be a huge hit, that will impact iPad sales, but it could completely destroy sales of other non-iPad tablets. I mean this thing isn't even powerful enough to render it's own web pages. This could be disastrous for Android as the number one selling tablet is quite anemic in performance, solidifying the Android experience as less than iPad.
yoshipod
on Sep 28, 2011
"If you were to buy all four of Amazon's new Kindle devices, described below, the total cost would be less than the cost of a single 32GB iPad. That's how inexpensive Amazon's devices are. Apple, consider the gauntlet thrown. That's how inexpensive Amazon's devices are. Apple, consider the gauntlet thrown." And for the cost of a retail version of Windows 7 Professional, you can by the last 4 versions of Mac OS X. See what I did there?
Waethorn
on Oct 4, 2011
@loopdeeloop: No, what's embarrassing is Apple's sales of the MacBook Air before they dropped the price. Ditto for the Apple TV, but then it's still an ongoing embarrassment anyway.
Waethorn
on Sep 29, 2011
"If that is true, they need to worry about anti-trust issues with predatory pricing." Does Amazon have a monopoly in any of the markets that they operate?
infiniteloop
on Sep 28, 2011
@BI_Tinkering: You do realize that none, that is, zero, Windows Apps will work on Windows 8 tablets unless they have been written specifically for the ARM based version of Windows and adapted for a Touch interface? Apple have done a splendid job with Keynote, Pages and Numbers that work exceptionally well on a mouseless and physical keyboardless device. Allowing for excellent productivity on the iPad. Microsoft are going to have to rewrite Office for a touch interface, and, as usual, Apple have already shown them how to do it.
jersey72
on Sep 28, 2011
@Tayme- I just finished my fourth half a couple weeks ago and ran my first full this past June. Hoping to do my second full in January. :-)
Webdev511
on Sep 28, 2011
@argraphics I don't see this as MS deeper in a hole. ipad and kindle fire are still consumption only devices where as Win8 tablets are fully functional computers in a tablet form factor. That said, the Fire is only a threat to Apple if the person in question is more invested in Amazon or not particularly invested in iTunes.
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 28, 2011
We will now find out if the Apple Tax is real to people or not. Amazon has the name and the ecosystem. Can they compete? There will be those that will only buy Apple products and there will be those that like the lower price - see HP's fire sale results...what will those in between do? Interesting times.
infiniteloop
on Sep 28, 2011
Tayme: You really don't get it do you? My gripe with Microsoft is that with all their resources and employee talent, they should be much, much, better. Instead they choose the path of mediocrity. Their software efforts barely function and their hardware attempts are laughable. Look at what Apple have achieved with a fraction of what Microsoft spends. Windows 8 looks like it's going to be an appalling Frankensteinian mess of the Metro UI that nobody has taken a shine to, bolted onto plain old Windows. The old analogy of Lipstick on a pig couldn't be more appropriate. Now do you understand?
yoshipod
on Sep 29, 2011
New reports claim that Amazon is losing $50 per unit. I guess thats how they got the price low. If that is true, they need to worry about anti-trust issues with predatory pricing.
jersey72
on Sep 29, 2011
@Tayme- I've heard Grandma's is a lot of fun. I'd love to get out and do it some year. Mine was the San Diego RnR.
infiniteloop
on Oct 1, 2011
@Waethorn: Why wait for iWindows 8? Everyone can run all their Windows Apps on a Windows Tablet today. They've been around for years, apparently. I Wonder why hardly anyone wants one?
chuckb84
on Sep 28, 2011
@tayme, " find it interesting that you & infiniteloop choose to use the term "iPad killer"," I'm quoting and making fun of the phrase. The "xyz killer" has been used in reference to the iPod, the iPhone and now the iPad. It's stupid, first, and second, the Fire is no iPad killer. I think it's a completely different type of device for a different audience. @waethorn, good call on the international issue. You're right.
jersey72
on Sep 28, 2011
This was just too funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq-e0getf4M And more than a little true. :-)
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 28, 2011
@infiniteloop - "Their software efforts barely function and their hardware attempts are laughable." Exchange functions very well...as does SQL Server and SharePoint. Windows has been meeting the needs of the business world for a very long time. I've used MS keyboards and mice that are elegant and more functional than what most other companies produce. I guess that I don't get your point. Again - you are making things up as you go. @ModernDislocation - Speaking of making things up...show me where in this thread I used the term iPad killer prior to asking chuck and infiniteloop why they feel that for Apple to succees all others must fail. I must have missed that.
MSTAYLOR
on Sep 30, 2011
@infiniteloop - Nice try at saying that you meant someting other than what you asked. That's an old trick. You are just too easy...and predictable. Feel free to continue trolling Paul's sites and being freakishly obsessed with pompous old me.
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
forkieboy: I explained why the two separate posts on the same topic. The first time I posted, the site did not register it, and lost my type, which is why I typed it again. Hence the difference. When I posted the second time, both appeared. Clear now? Not sure why you're bothered.
forkieboy
on Sep 29, 2011
infinite. I like pricking your balloon because you are so pretentious. You defend your mistake while choosing to ignore the comment about deriding tayme for a similar mistake.. You stated in a comment some days ago that you come to this site for a bit of fun. You seem to enjoy having it at others expense. Why shouldn't I have the same right ? Absolutely clear.
infiniteloop
on Sep 29, 2011
@Waethorn: That's why Windows 8 will have TWO versions of IE. One for the Metro interface and one for the traditional desktop, on the same computer. Like I said before, a real Frankensteinian mess.
forkieboy
on Sep 29, 2011
infinite. So quick to defend the reason for your "mistake", no response to your deriding of tayme for a similar error. You said in a post some days ago that you come here for a bit of fun. Why shouldn't I ? When you are so pretentious, you shouldn't be surprised if someone wants to prick your balloon. Quite clear thank you.
jersey72
on Sep 29, 2011
Cute. Infiniteloop calling out someone else for lack of knowledge of IT.
Waethorn
on Sep 30, 2011
"Have you worked out how you're going to plug a mouse into that late to market but on it's way iWindows 8 tablet, y'know to get all those legacy Windows Apps working properly, yet?" It's called USB. You might have heard of it since Apple had it on their computers first, but now charge $29 for the privilege to use on their computer wannabe...what's it called again? Something to do with your Auntie Flow?

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