4 ms·

It kind of is as a secondary function, but it was built as a media consumption/purchasing device, a kind of hand-held portal into the world of Amazon; even thei

by w33ble 15y ago

It kind of is as a secondary function, but it was built as a media consumption/purchasing device, a kind of hand-held portal into the world of Amazon; even their browser relies heavily on their EC2 platform. Compared to the Android tablets on the market, it lacks a lot in the way of expandability and even storage. Even the underlying Android OS was forked to bring it further away from a tablet and more to an Amazon portal. That it runs Android Apps is just a pleasant side effect. To quote Bezos himself, "We think of Kindle Fire as an end-to-end service" http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/29/bezos-in-the-modern-era-of-consumer-electronics-devices-if-you-are-just-building-a-device-you-are-unlikely-to-succeed/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/29/bezos-in-the-modern-era-of-...

jonursenbach 15y ago
Aren't all tablets media consumption and purchasing devices though?
- w33ble 15y ago
  Sure, but none of the Android tablets are really purpose built for that. Samsung, Motorola, Asus and all the others seem to aim to be a kind of more-portable laptop, giving you memory card slots, cameras and to some extent even office type applications. These are the kinds of things that people market as a "tablet" and media consumption is something of an afterthought. The Kindle Fire is the other way around; media consumption is forefront, everything else, including apps to an extent, are an afterthought. This is more along Apple's vision with their iPad, and it's working out pretty well for them too. At the end of the day, maybe I'm just arguing semantics, but the fact remains that this isn't a "tablet" in the same light as other Android "tablets." It's a bit of a subtle difference, and I think it's that difference that is crucial and will spell massive success for the Fire. Their ability to sell it at what I assume is a sizable loss isn't hurting their chances either.
- cavilling_elite 15y ago
  Other tablets have no true purpose or useful content to consume. There is no thought put into the user experience of the Galaxy Tab or the like. They are simply "me too" devices and fall into the meme of "ipad killer". Where, as w33ble put it, the Fire is an Amazon Portal. Apple and Amazon are in the same space but came from two different sides. And Apple is trying to cover the "harder" side, which is server and cloud computing. While Amazon had that down before diving into consumer HW. I do think they are missing an opportunity without a camera. Think about the opportunity to scan bar codes or book covers and instantly see the Amazon price, and purchase right there. Imagine being in Barnes and Nobles and buying the book on your Fire.

by w33ble 15y ago

jonursenbach 15y ago

Aren't all tablets media consumption and purchasing devices though?

w33ble 15y ago
Sure, but none of the Android tablets are really purpose built for that. Samsung, Motorola, Asus and all the others seem to aim to be a kind of more-portable laptop, giving you memory card slots, cameras and to some extent even office type applications. These are the kinds of things that people market as a "tablet" and media consumption is something of an afterthought. The Kindle Fire is the other way around; media consumption is forefront, everything else, including apps to an extent, are an afterthought. This is more along Apple's vision with their iPad, and it's working out pretty well for them too. At the end of the day, maybe I'm just arguing semantics, but the fact remains that this isn't a "tablet" in the same light as other Android "tablets." It's a bit of a subtle difference, and I think it's that difference that is crucial and will spell massive success for the Fire. Their ability to sell it at what I assume is a sizable loss isn't hurting their chances either.
cavilling_elite 15y ago
Other tablets have no true purpose or useful content to consume. There is no thought put into the user experience of the Galaxy Tab or the like. They are simply "me too" devices and fall into the meme of "ipad killer". Where, as w33ble put it, the Fire is an Amazon Portal. Apple and Amazon are in the same space but came from two different sides. And Apple is trying to cover the "harder" side, which is server and cloud computing. While Amazon had that down before diving into consumer HW. I do think they are missing an opportunity without a camera. Think about the opportunity to scan bar codes or book covers and instantly see the Amazon price, and purchase right there. Imagine being in Barnes and Nobles and buying the book on your Fire.