The Apple iPad introduced the so-called “tablet revolution” into consumer electronics. A tablet is a miniaturized computer, complete with touch screen technology and a liquid crystal display (LCD) backlit by light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
The features that a tablet can sport include surfing the Internet, reading books, viewing movies and TV shows, and other media or entertainment opportunities. The main thrust of the advertising surrounding the iPad and its successor the iPad 2 is the ability to essentially hold the Internet in the palm of your hand. This is the driver of the tablet revolution as other companies make and market their own devices to capitalize on the idea that Apple has introduced.
Amazon, the world-famous online retailer, has now entered the fray with the pending release of the Kindle Fire. The release of their best-selling Kindle electronic reader has catapulted Amazon directly into the ring of top contenders in that market. Now the Kindle Fire holds out the possibility of denting Apple’s position as the undisputed king of the tablet mountain. The Kindle Fire is radically cheaper than the iPad 2, to the tune of over $300 less in price, but it does not boast the same amount of features.
The Kindle Fire uses an operating system based on Android. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has plans for the Kindle Fire to be the first step in a series of end-to-end services designed and made to deliver media content from Amazon to its customers. So far, it is going extremely well. When Amazon announced the Kindle Fire on September 28, 2011, it sold 95,000 units in pre-orders, more than any other of Amazon’s e-readers combined. The Kindle Fire continues to dominate all electronics sales on Amazon, having captured the number one position in the Top 100 list.
The hope of the Kindle Fire lies in its radical premium to the price of the iPad 2. A difference of $300 in favor of the Kindle Fire may be enough to convince Apple iPad 2 owners and would-be owners that a viable alternative exists. Millions of customers may choose to buy the Kindle Fire instead of the iPad 2. Jeff Bezos knows it is foolhardy to take on Apple directly. A byline he used during the announcement of the new Kindle Fire last week was “we are building premium products at non-premium prices.” Apple’s market domination allows it to sell high quality products at quality prices.
This reveals the strategy of the Kindle Fire’s attack plan. Instead of going head-to-head and charging up the tablet mountain directly, Bezos hopes to dig away at the side of the mountain in the hope of collapsing the mountain altogether. It is like tunneling into a hill in order to collapse it due to the loss of structural integrity. The million-dollar question is: Will it work?
Apple has an enormous advantage due to its Apple stores scattered around the world. When the original iPad was announced in the spring of 2010, Apple had 300,000 sales on the first day of release in April of that year. Amazon does not have a chain of stores ready to sell its products. Staples and Best Buy have announced plans to carry the Kindle Fire, but the fact remains that Apple has something Amazon lacks: a dedicated physical store infrastructure. Nevertheless, with 95,000 pre-orders the first day, the Kindle Fire looks to give the iPad 2 some healthy competition.
Customers who want to enjoy the benefits of mobile entertainment without paying the price for the iPad 2 will definitely be attracted to the Kindle Fire. The device sports a brand-new web browser, the Amazon Silk, which uses Amazon Web Services, the company’s unique cloud computing architecture, to speed up performance. A dual-core processor provides all the number-crunching power the Kindle Fire needs to handle whatever the user wants done. The Kindle Fire has a LCD LED-backlit touch screen with full-color displays. Through the Kindle Fire, users can access over 18 million books, magazines, movies and songs.
Wireless Internet has never been so enjoyable than with the Amazon Kindle Fire. Amazon Prime members have access to over 10,000 unlimited instant streaming movies and TV shows with this device. Customers who have wanted to get into the wireless Internet game can now do so if they cannot afford the iPad 2. Apple may have to deal with an upstart new contender for its title. The Amazon Silk promises to bring Internet surfing to a new level that may give Apple pause. Wireless Internet in the palm of the customer’s hand has been given new life thanks to the Kindle Fire. When it is finally released on November 15, Apple may be faced with a new chapter in its history. Jeff Bezos has created what will likely be a worthy opponent for one of Apple’s most popular products.
This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert where you can find high speed internet providers in your area and compare prices on different deals for your wireless internet necessities.
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