I received my kindle fire earlier today and took it for a spin. Here are my initial thoughts...
Think Mass Market
While the relatively low price of the iPad has made it a more approachable consumer device it still starts at $499, and that at least to me is quite a bit of money. $199 is definitely lot less than $499. Right from the moment you receive the kindle fire, you are almost reminded that this is a mass market device, without the bells and whistles. So don't be surprised if it doesn't have all the features that the iPad has; it does seem to have "just enough" features to make it a fairly usable device at that pricepoint.
Think Out of Box Experience
kindle fire shines as a very a simple device and its simplicity is highlighted by how the device is designed and more importantly how the consumer's out of box experience works. The only thing that the user has to do with the fire, is enter their WiFi password. The fire comes preconfigured with your Amazon account and if you have a prime membership, out-of-the-box you can play Amazon Prime Videos. If you have used Amazon App Store for Android on other Android devices, those applications are also instantly available for you to download on your device.
Think Cloud
It is very clear that Amazon created this device to truly a cloud based device. All your apps, music, books are in the cloud and when you need to you get them in your kindle fire. the out-of-box experience coupled with simple software that is built in, makes this transition to the cloud fairly smooth. Of course, you may want to forget storing a bunch of videos on your device, but again, if Amazon can strike the right distribution agreements with the studios, why do you really need to store it there anyway?
Think Small
chances are that if you have been using an iPad or a similar size device, you will find the kindle fire to be quite small. Yes, it has the benefits of being able to slip in a purse or a pocket, it does feel small, at least for web browsing and even some apps. books seemed fine as you should be able to read text on this fairly seemlessly, but if you are considering fire, you are definitely interested in beyond books. For instance, for me, the landscape mod, especially typing was non-usable except for watching videos (more on that later).
Think "Books + Video + Games" and not "Productivity"
I believe kindle fire has a suitable form factor + performance combination for making it into a bit more multi-purpose device. Books render great on the device, videos looked just fine (i only tried Amazon Prime Videos) and some of the games played just fine. While there are some productivity applications on the device, they weren't really optimnal from both a performance perspective as well as IMO, the screen size perspective. For instance QuickOffice HD, the application that allows you to make changes to office docs, worked but i can't seem myself doing a lot of it.
Think Mobile Browsing
On my iPad with some web applications, i have seen that I tend to like normal-web versions, vs. the mobile web variants. This is partly due to the additional real-estate, but also because currently for most sites/portals/apps the mobile web version is really designed for mobile phones and not devices like iPad (there are some exceptions). On the kindle fire though, I believe the mobile browsing context feels just right. For instance, i really enjoyed Facebook's mobile web view on the kindle fire.
and finally,
Think Amazon!
kindle fire IMO will be quite succesful largely because of Amazon and the ecosystem that it brings to the table - kindle books, Amazon Prime and other Videos, Music Library, Amazon App Store and last but not the least the very attractive $199 price. While the kindle fire may look like a Blackberry playbook, this one delivers on promise and more. I believe Amazon can make it work.
So well done, Mr. Jeff Bezos, you have given us a good alternative tablet. it may not be for everyone taste, but it will definitely do fine for many..
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