The Kindle Fire has a lot going for it that could possibly attract people away from the ever popular Apple iPad tablet. Obviously being priced hundreds of dollars less than the three iPad 2 models is going to swing more than a few sales toward the Amazon product. Also, some people prefer the smaller 7 inch size screen to that of the larger and more difficult to handle 10 inch iPad 2 tablet. And the unlimited Cloud storage which accompanies every Kindle Fire purchase stretches the 8 MB of onboard storage space to a virtually limitless amount.
Thirty days worth of free streaming movie access to over 10,000 television shows and films via Amazon Prime membership is also nice. Well, as if that weren’t enough to draw eyeballs to their product, Amazon announced yesterday that the Kindle Fire tablet will receive the new Netflix Movie application, and Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 will not.
Netflix joined Amazon in making the announcement, which effectively delivers a tablet specific application to the Kindle Fire and not the Apple iPad 2. On sheer features, the Apple iPad 2 is certainly the more polished and prepared product of the two tablets. And in the past, when most of the Tablet PCs offered were offered at a retail price that was basically similar, that may have been enough for Apple. Buy the Kindle Fire for $199.
But at the end of 2011, and for 2012 going forward, the tablet race may be decided less on numbers other than sheer horsepower and features, and more on price and value. For example, the Kindle Fire contains no cameras and retails for $199, whereas the Apple iPad 2 tablet contains both a front and rear camcorder, but costs from $399 to $599, depending on the model and storage space onboard.
Obviously, this lack of cameras has not slowed down the Amazon Kindle Fire, which sold 95,000 pre-order units on its first presale launch date. Its first five days 250,000 units were sold, and if those sales figures keep up, the Kindle Fire will crush the previous launches of both the iPad and iPad 2. It appears that the “no camera” idea was effective, as Amazon placed more focus on access to its digital library and the increasing desire of tablet owners to consume media.
Amazon also recently announced that a Lending Library feature of the Kindle Fire will allow that tablet user to “borrow” books. Amazon also has reached agreements with Hulu to deliver their Hulu Plus streaming movie application to the Kindle Fire, and Pandora and Rhapsody music applications are on board as well. Buy the Kindle Fire Tablet for $199.
