The New Amazon Kindle Fire
Words: Gentleman's Journal
This week saw the launch of Amazon’s new kindle, it was a move that sent shockwaves through the tech world, and it was undoubtedly a forward thinking move from the online retailer.
The question that still remains is can the Kindle really become the number one tablet? With a much more attractive price tag than Apple’s iPad and with an HD screen, all the initial signs look good. The price difference is not a small one either, you can expect to see the Kindle Fire retailing in the UK for £129, significantly cheaper than Apple’s £399 entry iPad. You may be thinking how can Amazon be this competitive, well the fact is, Amazon believe they can make money from the selling of magazines, movies and music for customers to use on their device. This was reinforced when Amazon’s CEO was quoted saying “We want to make money when people use our device, not when they buy our device. You might be thinking, but Apple make their money this way too, and yes you would be right, therefore this is nothing but a very competitive pricing strategy, that might give Apple a lot to think about.
The new kindle fire comes with Microsoft Exchange, meaning that business users can sync their e-mail, contacts and calendars to the device. This will mean that it will become a seriously viable option for business users and businesses themselves, this was a key element that Blackberry’s Playbook was missing.
There is a downside to the Kindle Fire where Apple have the upper hand. This is because out of the U.S. some key elements of the new kindle are either unable to perform or do so with various problems. The video streaming service is only available in the U.S. and Amazon’s cloud storage is incredibly spotty in the U.K. France, and Germany. However the biggest issue that we foresee, which has always been and issue, is the unavoidable and unexpected taxes on books, magazines, and music that are brought outside the U.S.
It still remains that the new Kindle Fire is a serious contender in the tablet market, with their tempting price tag, and even if Apple remains king. Maybe its not Apple that should be worrying, with Microsoft’s new tablet due out soon, it better be very good indeed. amazon.co.uk
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