Thursday, September 29, 2011

Kindle my Fire

Yesterday, Amazon Inc revealed its new Ipad killer, the Kindle Fire. At just USD 199.00 it is about 50% cheaper compared with the Ipad at RM 1499.00, I am betting the Amazon offering will eat into Apple's tablet market.

Already the stock market is reacting to this news. Yesterday Amazon shares closed 2.5 percent higher while Apple shares dipped 0.6 percent.

Amazon's founder and CEO , Jeff Bezos expects to sell 3 million tablets this Christmas. While this won't topple Apple's position as the number one tablet maker, it will bring Amazon to number two.




Specifications

The Kindle Fire runs on the Android operating system. This means there are plenty of apps for it. Downer is that apps which require a camera might not work on the Fire (which has no camera).

Sports a 7-inch screen, free data storage over the Internet (but probably only for Amazon related stuff). The Fire has 8Gb on board storage and a new Amazon Silk browser touted to be one of the fastest. The displays ia multi touch IPS (in-plane switching). This technology developed by Hitachi allows wider viewing angles and more vibrant colors. So if you view the Fire from off-center you will still have a good image. (Try this with your notebook, move your head to the left or right. Does the screen look washed out and illegible?)

The Fire is powered by a dual core processor and weights in at 15.6 ounces. Compared with an IPad it has no camera , GPS or bluetooth but at USD 199.00, who cares? Its kind of strange anyway, watching someone using their iPad to take pictures. It's like taking pictures while holding a book. If I need pictures I'll buy a proper camera.

The Kindle Fire starts shipping November 15th. At this price point, I am already considering placing my order for one :)

3 comments:

GilaChess said...

iPad killer? That's blasphemy. :)

Jimmy Liew said...

Apple fanboy :)

The Chess Ninja said...

Pretty much every single Apple product that I have has been a disappointment. The value is definitely not worth the price. All style but no substance :)

Much like someone we know. Come to think of it, maybe no style also.

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