Amazon just launched their USD 199.00 tablet named the Kindle Fire. Aimed at the growing tablet market, Kindle Fire could potentially put a dent into the growing iPad 2 sales, and the upcoming iPad 3. Some say that other Android tablets might be affected too. What do you think?
Will it be sold in Malaysia? Will Tech shops or camera shops be keen to pick it up? Â Will the current state of credit card fraud in Malaysia cause Amazon not to sell the Kindle Fire to Malaysia? These are question we all ask, and we’ll look into it for you.
Update : For a quick background, Amazon had to launch their own version of a tablet once it was clear that the Apple iPad was wildly successful. After all, Apple started encroaching the territory of Amazon by selling e-books via iBooks. Being an e-commerce store, the Kindle Fire was Amazon’s way to ensure mind-share of tablet users. And due to that strategy, Amazon has positioned the Kindle Fire at a low price, some say at cost.
The Kindle Fire is powered by Android Gingerbread 2.3 OS. Amazon has done a good job in creating it’s own app store, where the Kindle Fire users can purchase their apps from, instead of the Google Playstore. After all, Google doesn’t really support forks of it’s OS.
The Kindle Fire also features the amazing Amazon Silk browser, which decides which content to process on Amazon’s EC2 architecture and which to process on board the tablet itself, reducing loading time and load on the tablet itself.
Is the Kindle Fire a replacement for the iPad?
Probably not. Especially with Apple’s vertical business model, where it not just produces the hardware, but have their own suite of software including the iWork suite for you to do your work. Pages, Â Numbers and Keynote, while not as fully featured as Microsoft’s own Office Suite, is there for you, linked to your Macbook via iCloud.
Who then is the Kindle Fire for?
If you’re on the budget and don’t need the bells and whistles that the iPad brings, the Kindle Fire is a strong competitor in the Tablet region. Quality hardware for a very affordable price makes a potent combination.