"Amazon may enter tablet fray in second half of 2011"

[rockymtnhigh]

And another article on the same theme..

Can a Substantial Kindle Fire Software Update Silence Its Critics?

 

[diogen]

Not exactly Apple's gazillion-per-minute sales numbers, but respectable nonetheless...
Kindle devices selling at a rate of one million a week ahead of holidays -- Engadget

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Amazon Kindle sales are credited with resurrecting the rumor about a DOA-size iPad to be in the works
‘iPad mini’ with 7.85-inch screen rumored for late 2012

I hope Amazon patented the size range...

Diogen.

 

[John Kotches]

Amazon Kindle sales are credited with resurrecting the rumor about a DOA-size iPad to be in the works
‘iPad mini’ with 7.85-inch screen rumored for late 2012

I hope Amazon patented the size range...

Diogen.

doesn't really matter as Apple has patented the word Mini so they are good to go

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Not exactly Apple's gazillion-per-minute sales numbers, but respectable nonetheless...
Kindle devices selling at a rate of one million a week ahead of holidays -- Engadget

Diogen.

This says Kindle devices per week, not kindle fires per week. Big difference. Considering it includes $79 and $99 kindles. We simply do not know how many of each; like Apple, Amazon keeps specifics to itself.

Also see Amazon Sells 1 Million Kindle Products Each Week

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[diogen]

...the rumor about a DOA-size iPad to be in the works.

If this ever happens, I'd be really interested how the decision was made.
I really doubt it can happen, at least for the next few years...

According to Isaacson's biography of Jobs, there are essentially two people that could have anything to do with such decision: Cook and Ive.
But Cook is "not a product person, per se" (S.Jobs) and Ive is visibly pissed (in the book) at Jobs taking credit for some designs.
Considering Jobs labeled 7" as a DOA form factor, I can't imagine who would have the guts (and push it through) to resurrect it...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Kindle marches on
Amazon Kindle Fire impressions jump 19 percent: Millennial

... the growth of the Kindle Fire “has slightly outpaced that of the iPad when the iPad launched in early 2010,” says the report.

So much for "There is no tablet market. There is only an ipad market!"

Diogen.

 

[mike123abc]

Kindle marches on
Amazon Kindle Fire impressions jump 19 percent: Millennial
So much for "There is no tablet market. There is only an ipad market!"

Diogen.

Perhaps better adapted as no tablet market but a content market.

Amazon and iPad are content pushers, the others are still floundering around. Maybe a big entertainment company like Sony could pull it off if they get their own and others content to push on a tablet.

 

[diogen]

Maybe a big entertainment company like Sony could pull it off...

I think they have a better shot at the TV market (combined with other gadgets) than compete directly with Amazon and Apple...

And personally, I like the existing setup.
Two companies sell their tablets to lock you in. And going by the numbers (units and/or $$$), are quite good at that.
Others leave you out in the cold. With the freedom to do (almost) whatever you want with your slab.
And at least some of the players in this group are not suffering either.

If not for the cacophony of "Apple uber alles!" noise it would be a perfect world.
But with some effort that latter annoyance can be filtered out...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Maybe Amazon will join other tablet makers and start supporting hackers... .

Not yet.
The latest update breaks the one-click root. Most likely won't stick for long.

Doesn't apply if you're already running CM7 or so.

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Edited.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Why would Amazon want to support hackers? Their purpose is to make money, not to provide low-cost 7" generic android tablets? If I were Amazon, I'd be working to close those holes too. Its different from a smartphone, where the product itself is being subsidized by the carrier, with the Fire (or the Nook), the product is being subsidized below cost by Amazon, as a way to sell a lot of them, and make a lot of money on content that they provide. A rooted/rommed phone is still a phone, and other than people trying to get free tethering, does not have a huge impact on the carrier, and even less on the manufacturer.

That same logic fails with something like the Fire. And lets be honest, its probably a fraction of a percent of Fire users who are actively trying to turn their new multimedia Kindle into a 7" Android device. Yeah, geeks like those here, but not the vast majority of buyers.

 

[diogen]

Why would Amazon want to support hackers?

Because the question whether Nook Color owes its success to easy hackability has not been answered.

...its probably a fraction of a percent of Fire users who are actively trying to turn their new multimedia Kindle into a 7" Android device.

Then why do you keep coming back to this question?

Diogen.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Yeah, the Nook owes its success to the hacker population. Talk about Apple people drinking the kool-aid?

Why do I keep coming back to this? Because, you keep going on an on about hacking it. AND more importantly, because I raised an important issue about the rationale underlying why Amazon or any company does what they do. It was a direct response to explaining why Amazon might take steps to close hacking loop-holes. Really not rocket science.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Amazon has released a software update for the Fire.

Amazon Updates Kindle Fire Software: Fixes Some Nagging Issues | PCWorld

Amazon is pushing out a free over-the-air software update for the Kindle Fire, that fixes a batch of problems with the tablet. The update comes just over a week after Amazon vowed to address users' complaints with the $200 low-cost iPad alternative.

The Kindle software update version 6.2.1 is meant to “enhance fluidity and performance” and “improve touch navigation responsiveness,” two problems with the tablet that contributed to a flurry of negative one and two-star reviews on Amazon’s website. More than 3 million Kindle Fires were sold so far, Amazon said.

Other big gripes with the Kindle Fire addressed by the update are the new option to choose which items display on the carousel, and the ability to add a password lock on Wi-Fi access. It’s still unclear whether the password lock fixes the lack of security and parental controls that can lead to children viewing inappropriate content or racking up huge content bills.

Good fixes.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

And Amazon isn't banking everything on the Fire, even though they have sold 3 million of them.

They have just released a significant update for the iOS iPad Kindle app.

Description
The Kindle app is optimized for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, giving users the ability to read Kindle books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks and PDFs on a beautiful, easy-to-use interface. You’ll have access to over 1,000,000* books in the Kindle Store plus hundreds* of newspapers and magazines. Amazon Whispersync automatically syncs your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across devices (including Kindle), so you can pick up your book where you left off on another device.

Get the best reading experience available on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch:
• Shop the Kindle Store by visiting Amazon for the largest selection of books people want to read: over a million books, including over 800,000 at $9.99 or less.
• *New for iPad*: Customers now have access to the huge selection of over 400 magazines and newspapers that are available on Kindle Fire. Magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Popular Science and many more are displayed in rich full-color pages. Customers can buy a single issue or subscribe to popular magazines and leading newspapers and have them wirelessly delivered to the Kindle for iPad app.
• *New for iPad*: Read print replica textbooks including rich formatting and layout of the print editions and support for notes and highlights, zoom and pan, and linked table of contents.
• *New*: Email PDFs & other documents to your new Send-to-Kindle e-mail address and we deliver them to your device. The documents are automatically archived in the Amazon Cloud and available for re-download on your iOS or supported Kindle devices. You can also read PDFs from Mail, Safari, or by transferring them from iTunes.
• Get free book samples – read the first chapter free before you decide to buy.
• Read hundreds* of newspapers and magazines including The Economist and Reader’s Digest with high resolution color images. Visit the Kindle Store to subscribe to a newspaper or magazine and have each edition automatically delivered, or purchase individual issues.
• Customize your reading experience by choosing the background color, font size, and either portrait or landscape format.
• Instant dictionary word lookup with 250,000 entries and definitions. Tap and hold a word to view the definition. Use the Google and Wikipedia links to get more information.
• Search inside the book to find a character, topic, or section you want to revisit.
• Simply tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages.
• You can also read your Kindle books on your Kindle, Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, PC, Mac, Android-based device, and Windows Phone 7-based device. Our Whispersync technology syncs your last page read, notes, bookmarks, and highlights across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.

Full access to 400 magazine like on the Fire, but probably a lot easier to use on a 10" screen; AND print-replica textbooks. As a college prof, this could be huge.

This perfectly reinforces the fact that Amazon is NOT trying to "kill" the iPad; it is a company out to make money, and yes, it offers a very reasonable, very nice 7" specialized Kindle/tablet, but it is also trying to reach the much larger and extremely lucrative iPad market. Its about the benjamins. And Amazon knows how to make a lot of them. I will be curious to see how the magazines work on the iPad app compared with other iPad magazines.

 

[John Kotches]

i would expect Amazon to continue work on the Kindle reader across many platforms. what company wouldn't they want a low cost path to distribute more content digitally?

they seem to have their Tech act together over at Amazon.

probably stating the obvious though.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

[rockymtnhigh]

i would expect Amazon to continue work on the Kindle reader across many platforms. what company wouldn't they want a low cost path to distribute more content digitally?

they seem to have their Tech act together over at Amazon.

probably stating the obvious though.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

Agreed. 100%. It makes total sense for them, and it enables them to compete with Apple's iBook (which I don't personally like).

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Downloaded/subscribed to a magazine on the Kindle iPad app. Very nice. Pretty much the same as Zinio. Full-page image of the magazine (pretty sure it is a PDF), which can be pinched to zoom. Having played with similar type things on a 7" GTab for four months, I'd say this will be even more user-friendly then the exact same magazine on the Fire. Good move by Amazon.