The big news from Amazon? Depending on what you read and who’s writing, the Amazon Kindle Fire is an iPad killer, an Android tablet killer, a Barnes & Noble Nook killer, one of the above, or none of the above.
Finally, Compelling Differentiation
For a new product to succeed against a prevailing market leader, it must bring compelling differentiation. Same features, lower price. Or, better features, same price. A new product cannot compete against a market leader without doing something profoundly better, or do the same thing, but profoundly cheaper.
The Fire is Amazon’s newest toy, a Kindle of sorts, a $199 Android-powered device with a 7-inch display. Is it an iPad killer? Or, will it damage the prospects of other tablet wannabes in the iPad arena?
What’s the compelling difference? Price. The iPad starts at $499. The Kindle Fire is $199. That’s an attractive differentiation. Is it enough?
The Fire’s hardware: smaller screen with the same resolution, slightly thicker but not as heavy, similar memory but less storage, lower battery life. On the negative, there’s only Wi-Fi. No camera, no GPS, no Bluetooth, no microphone. So, hardware specs are slightly less, and the price is notably less.
The Fire’s software: Amazon has gone to great lengths to hide the Android heritage. The web browser is a custom WebKit version (similar to the core of Safari and Chrome) with ties to Amazon’s cloud servers. Speaking of ties, everything Amazon is built-in, making it easier to buy and use media from– drum roll, please– Amazon. Music. Movies. Books. No Skype. Few games. Few apps.
If Android devices exist for Google to sell ads (whereby you are the product), Amazon’s Fire exists to sell Amazon products to you. Other than price, what’s the Fire’s advantage over an iPad?
Silence?
How about: Smaller? Lighter?
Other than the disadvantage of price, what’s the list of advantages of an iPad over the Kindle Fire? That’s a healthy list, which starts with camera and microphone and FaceTime and Skype. Both will play movies and music and TV shows. Both will allow you to shop online, including the Amazon Store. The advantage goes to the iPad for app and game selection.
Nevertheless, the Kindle Fire price tag is a compelling differentiator. Perhaps less so for the iPad than for the Nook or other Android-based tablets. Amazon is likely to sell a good number of the new device during the holiday buying season; especially since prices of other Kindle models are even lower.
I find it interesting that Amazon never releases Kindle sales numbers, while Apple always lists iPads sold each quarter since launch. Android tablet makers keep mum about their sales figures (if numbers are mentioned at all, it’s units shipped vs. sales).
Who wins? Apple, Google, or Amazon? Time will determine whether the Fire will impact Apple’s hot selling iPad, but Google appears to be the loser (along with Barnes & Noble). Android tablets were not selling well prior to Amazon’s Fire, and it may be difficult for many prospective customers to tell the difference between a Xoom, Galaxy, or Playbook and a Kindle Fire– other than price.
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