Amazon just finished its press event, and as a friend said, “after watching that live stream, I need a cigarette.”
Like any good seduction, Amazon started slow. The Kindle Paperwhite, a $119 e-reader is impressive, yes, but that’s ssuming you’re willing to spend that much on a a one-trick pony. Sure, the Paperwhite looks amazing, but if I want an e-reader, why not just get the plain old Kindle, now reduced to $69? Sure, the Paperwhite has a touchscreen and insanely crisp screen, but it’s still just an e-reader.
Anyone want a jack of one trade?
Amazon followed up with some details on its Kindle Direct Publishing program, something of interest to wannabe novelists like myself. Said interest was then enhanced more by the new Amazon Serial line. Amazon now offers serialized stories, priced at $1.99 and auto updating. Appropriately, Amazon Serial will kick off with a free Charles Dickens story; appropriate, as he was a serialized novelist. This has potential.
But wait, there’s more hardware. Amazon announced not one, but two new 7″ Kindle Fires. The Kindle Fire 2012 clocks in at $159, beating Google’s price point for the Galaxy Nexus. Sporting a faster chip, longer lasting battery, redesigned WiFi radio and antenna, as well as a front-facing camera, the Kindle Fire 2012 (or Kindle Fire SD, as Amazon is calling it internally) is looking to be the choice for budget shoppers.
Willing to spend a tad more for seven inches? Then the Kindle Fire HD may be for you at a reasonable $199 for a 16 GB Fire tablet. No news on what makes it HD, but we do know that it’s up for pre-order now and will be out on September 14. This may be a quality, cheap tablet that’s good if you need to be sated right away. An Amazon source informed me that the HD has the smoothness and fluidity that some users complained was lacking in the original Kindle Fire. This is good news for those who want a $199 tablet, but don’t want to compromise on power.
There has been a lot of talk that Amazon would challenge Apple more directly with a 10″ device. Instead, the e-tailing giant chose the less common screen size of 8.9″ for the larger Kindle HD. Amazon also listed a ton of new features in its ecosystem that will run on the device; X-Ray to give you info on books and movies, Whispersync, and the FreeTime, which is a dedicated “play area” for kids. I also caught mention of multiple user accounts, something I’ve been dying to see implemented on a tablet. Those should also be in play on the 7″ model. The most tantalizing feature, though, was the price. A cost of $299 for an 8.9″ tablet that’s connected to an entertainment ecosystem that rivals Apple? Oh my, yes. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos went on about how the company could afford to price tablets so low because the company isn’t selling a gadget, but a way to access Amazon Services. This is a business model that has been paying off for them so far.
Except Amazon wasn’t done yet. After asking what it would take to release a $499 tablet, the answer was given in the form of the Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE. As you can tell from that last batch of letters, this is a Kindle with high-speed wireless. Running on AT&T’s 4G network, this 8.9″ tablet’s most impressive feature is the data plan. For $50 a year, Amazon will give you 250 MB of monthly data, 20 GB of Amazon Cloud storage, and a $10 Amazon App Store credit (this is what we meant about Amazon Services). This isn’t enough for most data hogs, but it’s certainly not bad, especially considering what your average cell provider charges for such a plan. For those who need more, there’s always Wi-Fi.
Those waiting for a 10″ tablet to rival the iPad or a Kindle Phone to replace the iPhone will just have to wait. Still, the 8.9″ Kindle Fires may be enough to singe Apple’s bottom line.
Im still rocking my 2 generations or so now old kindle with keyboard :P I love the thing. I would get a fire but those are just to distracting and then I would never read.
Any idea on the release date for the Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE?
Now I really feel like I backed the wrong horse buying a Nook.
It will be very interesting to see if Amazon can take away market share from Apple in the tablet arena. The upcoming holiday shopping season will be a war of the tablets.