Amazon’s iPad Killer?

It seems everyone is trying to topple the industry leading tablet these days. This should come as no surprise, seeing as Apple’s iPad holds a commanding percentage of a market that is exceeding almost five billion in annual revenue.

After the myriad of Android tablets that failed to garner the same success as the iPad (case in point: see Maylong M-150 reviewed here), it seemed that Apple’s tablet would remain the undisputed choice for consumers worldwide. Now it seems Amazon is ready to take a stab at it with their new Android-based Kindle Fire.

Is it fair to compare the Kindle Fire to the iPad? Maybe not. After all, they are almost two completely different types of devices. The Fire’s interface, although using the Android operating system, bears almost no resemblance to current Android tablets on the market today. The iPad, on the other hand, was designed by Apple as an alternative to the conventional tablet PC. In either case, they will be competing for consumers in the same market, and the fact that Amazon is finally stepping up to the plate should not be taken lightly, especially by Apple. The Fire may be the iPad’s first worthy competitor…not because of how similar the two of them are, but rather how different.

Amazon has a few key ingredients that they can bring to the table that other competitors simply cannot. The first of these key factors is experience. Amazon came out with the first Kindle in 2007, meaning they have had almost five years of experience producing, tweaking, and perfecting their product. This point is especially relevant when you consider their main product line over the past five years has mainly consisted of small, personal, tablet sized e-readers. When people order the Kindle Fire they know the type and quality of the product their buying. Amazon has quite a bit of name brand recognition and that eases the minds of the consumers that don’t quite fit the “early adopter” category.

The second key factor would be the amount and quality of the applications the device is compatible with. After all, what good is a mobile device without decent apps? The Kindle Fire offers direct integration with Amazon’s Appstore. The storefront boasts a wide array of television shows, movies, music, and of course, books.  This kind of integration with a content provider is something that has been sorely missed in many Android based devices. Apart from Amazon’s official Appstore, the Kindle Fire should also be able to take advantage of the ever increasing Google Android Market…although this is still a hotly debated topic as the specific version of Android used may be incompatible with some games and/or apps.

The third key factor to take into consideration would be price. Let’s be honest. At $200, the Kindle Fire is a steal. It’s a fully functional, feature packed tablet PC that’s almost $300 cheaper than the entry level iPad2. Although at this price, there are a few noticeably absent features from the Fire. Most notable of these would be the lack of broadband access, no camera, and no video out port.

It all really boils down to intended use. At $200, Amazon’s marketing plan is to sell the Fire at cost. This means they are unlikely to make much, if any, profit from actually selling the device. Instead, they see the Fire as a way to access their robust Appstore. They look at it as a content delivery system of sorts and hope users will download or rent apps from the store, ultimately generating revenue. The iPad, on the other hand, retains most of the same functionality as a full-sized Mac.

The question still stands, however, at what point do you justify purchasing a device that costs almost twice as much and satisfies many of the same needs? Amazon may have just come up with the perfect combination – a low cost, reliable platform that allows you to seamlessly access high quality, streaming content and displays it on an extremely mobile 7 inch screen.

Tags: Amazon, Fire, iPad, Kindle