4 ms·

By all accounts Amazon makes something like the 4th best tablets but they have managed a solid second place sales showing because of their dedicated distributio

by Steko 14y ago

By all accounts Amazon makes something like the 4th best tablets but they have managed a solid second place sales showing because of their dedicated distribution channel, heavy marketing, loyal and affluent base and reputation for customer service. It will be interesting to see if they can carry this over as strongly to phones because the distribution is heavily dependent on carrier stores. Even the iphone, which is widely available from Apple's website and retail shops as well as Wal-Mart/Target/etc and Amazon itself, still relies on carrier stores for something like 65% of it's sales in the US. Amazon is either going to settle for low numbers with 90%+ of their distribution through Amazon itself or ... they will be competing hard against Samsung to get promoted at carrier stores. I hope it's the latter because Jeff Bezos is very smart and knows that 4th place hardware and special offers aren't going to cut it against the summer flavor of the Galaxy S.

naner 14y ago
they have managed a solid second place sales showing because of their dedicated distribution channel, heavy marketing, loyal and affluent base and reputation for customer service. And pricing.
- Steko 14y ago
  Absolutely. I think I was originally trying to say something about how the other factors were very apple like but they combined it with a pc vendor mentality (rock bottom prices, licensed os) and got lost trying to make sense of it.
randallu 14y ago
It is so incredibly depressing to watch Amazon blow an amazing opportunity with shitty software. They can outsell anyone, but the Kindle Fire OS work is dreadful -- if they could manage to build a competitive UI then they could probably march way ahead of Android-proper on browser usage metrics (as well as whatever they use internally to measure engagement). They seem to spend a huge amount on Kindle Fire, they're competitive with Barnes & Noble but not Google or Apple. I'm betting that most of the Kindle Fires that Amazon do sell end up "in desk drawers" and don't drive many further sales for them -- and it's entirely because the software is so awkward to use (the first Kindle Fire was pretty clunky in industrial design, and the new ones aren't wonderful but at least they're competitive excepting the hard-to-use power switch).
- Turing_Machine 14y ago
  Sure enough. Amazon does backends like no one else, but the KF doesn't look or work all that well. On the other hand, the UI on the eInk Kindles works pretty well. It may not be a thing of beauty, but it's highly functional. Of course, there's a big difference between a special purpose UI designed to do one thing well and a general purpose UI that's intended to do many things.
- jseliger 14y ago
  >It is so incredibly depressing to watch Amazon blow an amazing opportunity with shitty software. They also seem to habitually make unforced design flaws. I have a third-generation Kindle (I think), which works well enough, but the Kindle Paperwhite looks attractive. But it only allows flipping pages through a finger swipe; there is no dedicated button. That's a recipe for a screen covered with finger prints and schmutz. On my current Kindle, I probably use "page forward" about 49 times for every one time I hit any other button. A single, discreet "page forward" button would be a huge UI win. When I played with one in a Staples, this was an obvious flaw—so obvious that I sent an e-mail to kindle-feedback@amazon.com to tell them as much. An iPad or iPhone are much more general devices, but a Kindle is mostly for reading. Leaving this obvious, easy button off the Kindle is really annoying, and I think it's symptomatic of Amazon's a) Apple envy, which b) leads them to make design decisions that try to ape Apple without necessarily doing it well, or without recognizing what problems Apple is trying to solve and what problems Amazon is, or should be, trying to solve.
  - atrus 14y ago
    > But it only allows flipping pages through a finger swipe; there is no dedicated button. While true that there is no dedicated button, a tap will turn the page. Your thumb doesn't have to leave the frame/casing to initiate a page turn.
  - bjustin 14y ago
    I can page turn on my Paperwhite by rolling my thumb just a little bit, and rolling it back. I keep it on the edge of the bezel while reading. I used to think that a button would be better, but the buttons on my third gen kindle were terrible and my Paperwhite is fine without them.

by Steko 14y ago

naner 14y ago

they have managed a solid second place sales showing because of their dedicated distribution channel, heavy marketing, loyal and affluent base and reputation for customer service. And pricing.

Steko 14y ago
Absolutely. I think I was originally trying to say something about how the other factors were very apple like but they combined it with a pc vendor mentality (rock bottom prices, licensed os) and got lost trying to make sense of it.

randallu 14y ago

It is so incredibly depressing to watch Amazon blow an amazing opportunity with shitty software. They can outsell anyone, but the Kindle Fire OS work is dreadful -- if they could manage to build a competitive UI then they could probably march way ahead of Android-proper on browser usage metrics (as well as whatever they use internally to measure engagement). They seem to spend a huge amount on Kindle Fire, they're competitive with Barnes & Noble but not Google or Apple. I'm betting that most of the Kindle Fires that Amazon do sell end up "in desk drawers" and don't drive many further sales for them -- and it's entirely because the software is so awkward to use (the first Kindle Fire was pretty clunky in industrial design, and the new ones aren't wonderful but at least they're competitive excepting the hard-to-use power switch).

Turing_Machine 14y ago
Sure enough. Amazon does backends like no one else, but the KF doesn't look or work all that well. On the other hand, the UI on the eInk Kindles works pretty well. It may not be a thing of beauty, but it's highly functional. Of course, there's a big difference between a special purpose UI designed to do one thing well and a general purpose UI that's intended to do many things.
jseliger 14y ago
>It is so incredibly depressing to watch Amazon blow an amazing opportunity with shitty software. They also seem to habitually make unforced design flaws. I have a third-generation Kindle (I think), which works well enough, but the Kindle Paperwhite looks attractive. But it only allows flipping pages through a finger swipe; there is no dedicated button. That's a recipe for a screen covered with finger prints and schmutz. On my current Kindle, I probably use "page forward" about 49 times for every one time I hit any other button. A single, discreet "page forward" button would be a huge UI win. When I played with one in a Staples, this was an obvious flaw—so obvious that I sent an e-mail to kindle-feedback@amazon.com to tell them as much. An iPad or iPhone are much more general devices, but a Kindle is mostly for reading. Leaving this obvious, easy button off the Kindle is really annoying, and I think it's symptomatic of Amazon's a) Apple envy, which b) leads them to make design decisions that try to ape Apple without necessarily doing it well, or without recognizing what problems Apple is trying to solve and what problems Amazon is, or should be, trying to solve.
- atrus 14y ago
  > But it only allows flipping pages through a finger swipe; there is no dedicated button. While true that there is no dedicated button, a tap will turn the page. Your thumb doesn't have to leave the frame/casing to initiate a page turn.
- bjustin 14y ago
  I can page turn on my Paperwhite by rolling my thumb just a little bit, and rolling it back. I keep it on the edge of the bezel while reading. I used to think that a button would be better, but the buttons on my third gen kindle were terrible and my Paperwhite is fine without them.