Ghost of a flea: Kindle Fire

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September 29, 2011

Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire, full colour 7" multi-touch display, wifi tablet is, at time of launch, only available for pre-order in the United States. Sucks to be you, Canada!

I did not get a heads up through the Amazon Associate program but, given the Kindle Fire is reported to be a very similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook*, I assume this is content rights issue and not a hardware issue.

... unlike the BlackBerry tablet or the many struggling Android tablets on the market, Amazon gives you many many reasons, right up front, as to why this tablet matters. As Amazon puts it: "18 million songs, movies, TV shows, books, magazines, apps and games." Not that you get all of those free with purchase, but the device is purpose-built as a conduit for media, whether you pay for an Amazon Prime streaming subscription, subscribe to periodicals or buy books, music or movies a la carte.

If you can make money off the back end you can afford to get your tablets out the front door as a loss leader. With Windows 8 tablets just over the horizon, it's a combination that spells serious trouble for firms dependent on hardware sales for their margins. Ahem, Apple.

It doesn't have all the iPad's features but... so what? It's one hundred and ninety-nine dollars.

35 percent of respondents to a Staples survey said they use their tablets in the bathroom. I'm just saying, wouldn't you rather that be a $199 tablet than a $500 tablet?

Related: The birth of the Kindle Tablet and the death of the public library.

* BlackBerry just knocked $200 off all PlayBook models, btw.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at September 29, 2011 06:28 AM