I sort of agree with Frontline on the iPad. They are going to lose some market share because their tablet is $200 more expensive than the next best tablet. They could afford to put less into it and get it to the $500 price point. I know Apple is more trendy, and people will pay for that, but the lines are certainly blurring between netbooks and tablets. If Dell, or HP, or whoever else, made a netbook with a touch screen that could flip on its hinge and become a tablet, you're going to get a device that has more power than a tablet, and can run all the programs you've gotten accustomed to on Windows. And if the pricepoint stays at $300 like netbooks are today, are people going to be paying $700+ for an iPad? The cheapest iPad at my local Best Buy two weeks ago was $720. I bought an Asus EeePad Transformer because it was $220 cheaper, included 2 USB docks, a keyboard, and the tablet itself had a microSD card reader. If I saw a Windows tablet for the same price, I would've been all over that. I also bought an Android device to play around with in case Android dominates and I won't be left behind the tech curve. (I already have an Ipod Touch so I know about Apple apps.)
Some of the Windows 8 tablets are going to be like that. What they'll cost and how much the public will like them is unknown. One advantage the iPad has over its rivals (the Kindle Fire is an unknown quantity at this point in time) is that its dead simple to use. Most Android devices aren't nearly as simple. If the Kindle Fire is as easy to use as an iPad, and they have a good selection of apps for it, then it'll eat into iPad sales something fierce. What I'd like to see, but nobody will probably ever make, is a series of devices like a tablet, phone, and desktop PC, which call all run independent of one another, but when you dock them together, they share storage, processing power, and RAM.
The keyboard is getting a well needed update with iOS 5 in a few weeks. It will have the option of using a split keyboard on each side of the screen to make thumb typing easier. I agree with you about the high end iPads being too close to laptop pricing. I said myself in another thread a few months ago that it doesn't make sense to pay almost exactly $900 after tax for the top of the line iPad when you can get the bottom of the line Macbook Air for $1000 and do so much more with it. The only thing the Air lacks now is a built in 3G or 4G LTE connection and I imagine that will be changing soon. And if you don't like Apple there are a whole slue of "Ultrabooks" that are coming out starting around the holidays that are Windows based and some Windows/Chromebooks that look really nice that are all sub $1000. The iPad is really only a decent buy if you get a 16GB 3G model, maybe 32GB but the price point is just a little too high for me. I got mine through a job so I'm glad I have it, not sure I would buy one now even though I enjoy them so much.
You've had a bunch of PC based products that fit that form factor. The problem has been Windows XP, Vista, and 7, which when used in tablet form requite stylus based input. So no sizzle, just fizzle. However with the upcoming Windows 8 this may change significantly. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Really? Depending on how it is executed, it should help a lot. We use ancient Samsung UMPCs for work. The think I like about them is the split physical keyboard. Personally Im on the look out for either the Fujitsu or Motion Computing offerings for work.
You need to contact the people who own the rights to the Heinlein books and tell them to get on the ball. Oh and why you're at it tell them to drop their prices. The man is dead. He doesnt' need to charge $9.99 for Starship Troopers.
Just got an email from Bestbuy directing me to their site so I can pre-order a Kindle. Okay, I can maybe understand buying an Amazon product from Bestbuy if you want something TODAY and don't want to wait for Amazon to ship it, but why would you preorder from them?!? [edit] Nevermind, forgot this was America. This kept bugging me so I clicked the link in the email to go the Kindle section of their website and under every Kindle it said "See Financing Options." Considering how BB was (is?) handing out store cards like Candy to anyone with a pulse, I imagine that's the number one reason people would buy from them over Amazon.
The Kindle Fire looks cool. I think I want one for Christmas. But I was trying to figure out how Internet access et at. work on it and lost patience with the site. Does someone say, "Merry Christmas! Here's a gadget that will cost you $45/month!" How do you work out prices and subscriptions (or even figure out what they will be)?
Interesting counter point: Now an interesting counter-counter to this is the possibility that like the original Xbox the Kindle Fire isn't designed to turn a profit at all. At either the front or back end. It's there only as a place holder, to get people introduced to the brand and to start building a supply chain and userbase. This makes some sense to me b/c if Amazon wanted to jump in it needs to do so before the Ipad's lead gets even larger AND before Windows 8 and tablets for it come out. Then next year or the next come out with the big guns.
There are rumors today at the WebOS forum that they might. http://www.precentral.net/hp-looking-sell-webos-amazon-looking-buy
In the last 10 days, make Whitman has taken over HP. This means that a lot of stupid mistakes such as claiming HP is going to spin off its PC division and can a lot of other divisions with seemingly no due diligence done prior to the announcements are on hold. Hopefully, Whitman will make decisions that make sense. The last guy who ran HP ran it like it was a software as a service company instead of a hardware company transitioning to a software as a service company. Look for HP to revitalize webOS. HP will no doubt have partners, but I don't think that it will be the bastard step child Apotheker was going to dismiss it as.
It is a place holder. Because the next thing Amazon releases is going to be a Kindle color edition that can run video and is touch screen and has a super strong battery life and is still way cheaper then the iPad.
No. That Amazon Fire is like any other tablet/iPad. That's part of the reason it doesn't carry the Kindle name. They are going to release an actual Kindle type display that is in full color and can be read in full sun (and it doesn't have an internal lighting system like the tablet or iPad). Plus it is fast enough to run video and it will be a touch screen Kindle. That is going to be a huge savings in battery power. It's going to be based off of this: http://www.mirasoldisplays.com/demo http://www.mirasoldisplays.com/how-it-works
Apple sold 15 million iPads in 2010. 250,000 preorders is impressive, but they will still have to sell 14,750,000 more to meet Apple's 2010 sales. 2011 sales are higher. Can they do it? Perhaps, but they are going to have to have a GREAT product. When iCloud comes out, it will extinguish on of the Fire's greatest assets.
250,000 units for day one (no they probably won't be able to make that target). However at that pace I can eaisly see the sales of the Fire surpassing the iTab in no time flat.
Hopefully in the next couple years. The company that makes the screen recently spent a couple billion making a factory capable of producing the screen but won't mention who their customer is. Amazon has been seen playing with the Mirasol displays and on the Amazon campus the one building you can't go in as a employee unless you work in that building is the Kindle building. It's pretty much a given that it is Amazon.
Something is bound to come along and take some the iPad market share. Apple is holding 80% of the US and 60% of the world. This is because the tablet market is brand new and they got such a jump out of the gate on everybody else. That new display is really kick ass. If Amazon brings that out in a few years I would be willing to make the switch if they can keep the price in the $200 or ballpark. I think tablets will go away as they merge with ultrabook style laptops over the next 5-10 years. It's only a matter of time before the Macbook Air/Pro are merged into a single device and are given a touchscreen. The keyboard will still be there but I picture the really thin lid of the laptop to be able to fold shut with the screen side either in or out, and when it's out it will be iPad like. They may just have the screen break away entirely when you want it to so it is like some of those Windows 8 Tablets that should be out next year. Who knows, Apple is pretty good at designing smooth looking products, they'll figure it out. I'd like to see Amazon and everyone else do the same. I'm a fan of the products we're seeing as a result of the heavy competition in the laptop, phone, and tablet markets.
I'm reminded of when the mini dish satellite systems came out. DirecTV cost $699 for a single room unit, $899 for a two room unit. Now the hardware is free because the real money is in the programming. I wouldn't be surprised if you see "Fire" sales (sorry couldn't resist) at some ridiculously low prices. It's kind of like a pusher giving you the syringes and needles so he can sell you the heroin....
