With the Kindle Fire dramatically
picking up sales on Amazon, we look at the impact the new models could have on
Android tablets
Instant expert
Kindle Fire HD
·
Seven-inch versions available in the UK, 8.9-inch
versions (including one with 4G) also available in the US
·
The device displays ads on the lock screen, but these
can be disabled for $15
·
Based on Android 4.0.3, but with a completely redesigned
user interface and no Google apps
·
Includes movie streaming in the UK via LOVEFiLM, the
first time the service has been available on Android
·
Comes with free unlimited cloud storage and a
cloud-accelerated web browse
Kindle
Fire - the Tablet from Amazon
First the Google Nexus 7, now the Kindle
Fire. Or is it the other way around? Certainly for those in Europe, the wait is
over: Amazon has finally unveiled its much heralded tablet outside of its
launch territory of America and it has also given US buyers a boost with a
great addition to the range. The Kindle Fire is Amazon’s salvo in a battle
against the iPad that really hotted up when the Nexus 7 arrived. Suddenly there
are some compelling technology turn heads around which provide a lower-cost
alternative to Apple’s baby. Where other pretenders to the iPad crown have
tried to either prlce-match it or go so low that the screens and Innards have
suffered, both the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire deliver on quality in abundance and
at a very reasonable cost.
For a start, you can pick up a seven-inch
Kindle Fire for just $206.4 or go HD for $254.4, both of which seriously
undercut even the Nexus 7. Buyers in America can also grab the Kindle Fire HD
as an 8.9 inch version costing $299 which, as you can see, is around half the
price of the comparable iPad.
And yet we shouldn’t be talking about
either of these tablets in such terms. All stand alone as brilliant products in
their own right, albeit aiming at different markets. Where the Nexus 7 is
highly expandable, full of apps and aiming to be a portable, more powerful
computer that runs on the most advanced Android operating system out there, the
Kindle Fire is more of a consumer device with its features hard-wired into the
tablet. It aims to deliver magazines, newspapers, books, films and music via
Amazon’s enviable service and it dispenses with features such as a camera. The
Fire is not that kind of device. Instead Its features make reference to the
number of movies, TV shows, songs, books and games that can be bought (a
staggering 22 million) and it talks of the one-month free LOVEFiLM streaming.
It discusses email and the web, Skype and cloud storage. It doesn’t go Into the
apps which extend the capabilities nor too much geeky technological detail.
To that end, it perhaps won’t be much of a
competitor for either the Nexus 7 nor the iPad. It stands alone in its own
market to some extent. This would be underestimating the power of the Kindle,
however. In the year since it launched in America, it has captured 22 percent
of tablet sales and it has become Amazon’s top-selling product. The threat to
Android and the Nexus 7 comes in a different way: for every Kindle Fire sold,
the less likely someone would be to buy Google’s tablet.
It is that threat which Rob Enderle,
principal technology analyst at the Enderle Group, says Google must take
seriously. “The Kindle will remove much of the demand for Android tablets
because their fan base and customer loyalty is far smaller and weaker,” he
says. “This may be game over for Android tablets, which is interesting given
Google should have been able to get where Amazon is first. It may show that
Google’s model, at least for tablets, never was really competitive.”
His theory Is that Google is trying to
compete with Apple on Apple’s terms. Amazon, however, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
unveils the new Kindle Fires is trying to change the game and force Apple to
compete on Amazon’s terms by moving to a services-focused revenue model. Amazon
has said it aims to make its money by selling entertainment rather than the
tablet.
“It isn’t the hardware, as good as it is,
that is the magic of the Kindle Fire," continues Enderle. “It is the depth
of the services. The result is a compelling, comparatively inexpensive package
of hardware, software and services that on paper provides a substantially
better value that Apple and Google may find it nearly impossible to match.”
“It
isn’t the hardware, as good as it is, that is the magic of the Kindle
Fire,"
Amazon has included enough In the Kindle to
make it an attractive proposition, from stereo speakers and an HDMI port in the
HD models, the latter allowing for the tablet to connect to a television. The
touchscreen is laminated which reduces sun glare. Connectivity is important
too, with the Kindle having two Wi-Fi antennas and multiple-input and
multiple-output radio wave technology.
And yet, far from fearing the introduction
of the Kindle out on October 25 in the UK in terms of the future of Android
tablets, we should be embracing it. More people will turn to tablets, Google
and Apple will compete to produce better products - it can only be good for
consumers.
“Competition is always welcome,” says Matt
Sims, the business development director at app developer Ziconix. “The Kindle
Fire will force the other tablet manufacturers to lower their prices and
produce better tablets for that price. There is no doubt the Kindle Fire is
impressive and I believe that, as the Kindle devices become better, there won’t
be much, if anything, that will distinguish it from any other Android tablet.”
Games developers also appear happy to see
the current tablet wars and they say Android tablets have a very rosy future.
“I’m notan expert but if I’m reading the specs correctly, Nexus 7 is still
better than the Kindle Fire HD,” says Machinarium creator Jakub Dvorsky. “I
think the Android future is secure.” And rather than fragment the market, many
feel the plethora of tablets coming to the market appear
to be opening up fresh opportunities. “This
year we’re set for an almighty battle with Nexus 7, iPad mini, and Kindle
Fire,” says Playrise CEO Nick Burcombe, the company behind Table Top Racing and
Hungry Baby? Happy Baby!. “Amazon’s offering is looking very strong but Apple is
coming with some big guns and Google is hitting a price point that surely makes
the Nexus 7 one of this year’s number-one sellers for the holiday season.
Playrise, for one, is very excited by this
healthy competition, because it provides even more fertile ground for our
games.”
Whatever happens over the next few months,
the consumer will be the winner. Android tablets have already cemented their
place in people’s hearts and there will be a bumper Christmas of iPad, Kindle
Fire and Nexus 7 sales supplemented by Android devices from other
manufacturers.
Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 sales
supplemented by Android devices from other manufacturers.
Each will carve out their own strict fan
base and each will be well catered for. It’s not often we take our hats off to
Apple in this magazine but the ball they started rolling with the iPad has
produced exciting possibilities, and you can bet we'll be following the twists
and turns for many months and years to come.
