Let The Tablet Wars Begin - Fire VS Ipad
Over the past couple of years, Apple Computers Inc. has enjoyed their position atop the gadget world. About a decade ago, they introduced the world to the ipod, their revolutionary MP3 player that sent the rest of the electronics manufacturing sector scrambling to come up with something to compete, they never really have.
A few years later, Apple ported existing ipod technology into the iphone and the world of mobile communications hasn't been the same since. The iphone was actually responsible for what we're now witnessing in cellular phone competition, a fierce competition to develop the baddest, most feature rich smart phone on the planet.
Then a couple years ago, Apple introduced their ipad to the gadget buying world and somewhat revolutionized a market that had been around for a while, the tablet computer. The ipad proved to be hugely popular, but with it's launch, spurred the same reaction that most of their other innovative products have, a lot of competitors trying to compete with similar products.
One formidable competitor, which already has a big slice of the handheld computer market, is Amazon. With their recent product announcement for their Kindle Fire, Amazon is setting themselves to be a major player in this already competitive tablet computer market.
I'm at a loss as to why Apple, and Microsoft also I might add, has refused to include Flash functionality into their flagship tablet computer products. There are some web features that almost become so mainstream that to not include them causes more headaches than to put the effort into including them. Flash by Adobe is one of those apps.
Games, video, and tons of utilities on websites use the flash plugin. It may not seem like a big issue, but many ipad users have expressed their dismay about not having a computer system not running it.
Major competitors have capitalized on this small issue to wedge themselves into Apple's tablet market. Blackberry has hit the nail on the head, I'm sure Amazon will too.
With a base price of $200, Amazon has made a play that should alter the market greatly. The Ipad 2, with double the local drive space of 16 GB retails for about $625, a huge increase to pay for only twice the storage. Bearing in mind that Amazon's untested Cloudfront is supposed to make up for the lack of storage, and you can see the huge price difference might not be worth paying.
Another aspect of the competition for tablet buyers that Apple may have underestimated is the fact that Amazon has been in this market for quite some time and have had the opportunity to tweak the tablet products they offer to suit their customers. Usability is one area that the original Kindle gets high marks. The Fire is cut from that cloth and has been designed to fit in the hand and be dead simple to use.
Many tablets have adopted the "7 inch form factor" and Amazon's is no exception. Their choice of Android as an operating system makes for quality graphics in a smaller screen size. In fact, the 7 inch models make an ipad seem more like a laptop nowadays
A few years later, Apple ported existing ipod technology into the iphone and the world of mobile communications hasn't been the same since. The iphone was actually responsible for what we're now witnessing in cellular phone competition, a fierce competition to develop the baddest, most feature rich smart phone on the planet.
Then a couple years ago, Apple introduced their ipad to the gadget buying world and somewhat revolutionized a market that had been around for a while, the tablet computer. The ipad proved to be hugely popular, but with it's launch, spurred the same reaction that most of their other innovative products have, a lot of competitors trying to compete with similar products.
One formidable competitor, which already has a big slice of the handheld computer market, is Amazon. With their recent product announcement for their Kindle Fire, Amazon is setting themselves to be a major player in this already competitive tablet computer market.
Reason 1 - Fire Runs Flash Ipad Doesnt
I'm at a loss as to why Apple, and Microsoft also I might add, has refused to include Flash functionality into their flagship tablet computer products. There are some web features that almost become so mainstream that to not include them causes more headaches than to put the effort into including them. Flash by Adobe is one of those apps.Games, video, and tons of utilities on websites use the flash plugin. It may not seem like a big issue, but many ipad users have expressed their dismay about not having a computer system not running it.
Major competitors have capitalized on this small issue to wedge themselves into Apple's tablet market. Blackberry has hit the nail on the head, I'm sure Amazon will too.
Reason 2 - Kindle Fire Costs Less Than Ipad
With a base price of $200, Amazon has made a play that should alter the market greatly. The Ipad 2, with double the local drive space of 16 GB retails for about $625, a huge increase to pay for only twice the storage. Bearing in mind that Amazon's untested Cloudfront is supposed to make up for the lack of storage, and you can see the huge price difference might not be worth paying. Reason 3 - Kindle Fire Is Smaller And Easier To Handle
Another aspect of the competition for tablet buyers that Apple may have underestimated is the fact that Amazon has been in this market for quite some time and have had the opportunity to tweak the tablet products they offer to suit their customers. Usability is one area that the original Kindle gets high marks. The Fire is cut from that cloth and has been designed to fit in the hand and be dead simple to use.Many tablets have adopted the "7 inch form factor" and Amazon's is no exception. Their choice of Android as an operating system makes for quality graphics in a smaller screen size. In fact, the 7 inch models make an ipad seem more like a laptop nowadays
