Posted by Sir Four at 9:23am Nov 6 '11
Click for Kindle Fire!
It's looking like the Kindle Fire will be the first real rival to Apple's iPad. Amazon is getting 2,000 pre-orders per hour, and they've ordered more production to meet the demand. The main selling feature is it's price: $200 vs. $500 for the cheapest iPad. I suspect there is a huge market out there for a tablet in the lower price range--a lot of people can't justify $500+ for one, especially in this economy. But it would seem Amazon has hit the right price point to expand the market. They're actually selling them at a loss for $200. They'll make their money back selling e-books and other downloadable media.
The Kindle Fire is, of course, not as fully-featured as the iPad. Screen size is 7 in. There is no camera. No 3G, only wifi. It does have a dual-core processor plus a cloud-accelerated browser named "Silk". It runs on a modified Android OS and will run thousands of games and apps.
For someone like me... I just can't justify the iPad's price. With a laptop and a desktop already, the need for a tablet is just not strong enough to shell out that much money. But $200 is within reach. I'm actually getting it for my wife, for Christmas. I think a tablet will be perfect for her to go on Facebook or play a game while watching the kids. I won't be able to share my impressions of the device until after Dec 25, though!
If you're planning to buy anything from Amazon, do so through my link and they'll toss some change my way! Amazon!
Kindle Fire, Pre-ordered - Sir Four