∞ The Amazon tablet

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MG Siegler has the scoop:

Again, the device is a 7-inch tablet with a capacitive touch screen. It is multi-touch, but from what I saw, I believe the reports that it relies on a two-finger multi-touch (instead of 10-finger, like the iPad uses) are accurate. This will be the first Kindle with a full-color screen. And yes, it is back-lit. There is no e-ink to be found anywhere on this device.

I think Amazon’s tablet will be successful because of the brand. People trust Amazon, so they’re likely to buy.


  • Peter Cohen

    I wonder if the Amazon tablet is going to exist in its own ecosystem, though. There’s a lot of talk about how many iPads Apple moves versus Android tablet makers – fact is, no one has a reliable estimate on how many Kindles are in the world because Amazon doesn’t say. So Amazon’s tablet could sell as crappy as any other Android tablet and they can still call it a huge hit if they want.

    • Vamsmack

      That’s a really good point and I think we will be waiting a long time for those numbers given their track record with reporting sales. 

      It seems odd that for a company who is publicly traded to remain so tight lipped about their sales figures of the one product they make and sell. 

      Mind you supermarkets here in Australia are now selling the Kindle so it looks like they’re trying to push into the mainstream or away from their online only sales for the Kindle. 

      • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

        Amazon’s device will confuse the industry (and most “journalists” covering it) even more than it already has, considering the specialized business model that will drive its functions, IMO. Amazon has never played precisely the same game as Apple.

  • Gustav

    Hmmm… People buy the Kindle because of the e-ink display. Why wouldn’t I just buy an iPad and use the Kindle app now?

    • http://whatblag.com Chris Martucci

      I suppose because of the price difference. Also, there are some people who don’t care too much about the e-ink. I’m not one of those people. Personally, I love the e-ink display, and I am disappointed that this new Kindle will not be using one.

      Ultimately, I agree with you. I do not think this can hold up against the iPad. It may do well early on due to the low price and hype, but eventually, people will realize that they should have just saved up for an iPad. And when they do, the Kindle Tablet will start collecting dust.

  • http://godlikenerd.com/ Derik

    That would be my thought.  Personally, I bought my girlfriend an iPad and I got myself a Kindle.  My purchase was because I wanted a dedicated e-reader.  When I decide I need a tablet, it will be an iPad.

    On the other hand, Amazon bringing some quality competition to the tablet scene could be just what the industry needs to give Apple a kick in the butt to keep innovating.

    • http://whatblag.com Chris Martucci

      That’s possible. I’ll look forward to hybrid touch/e-ink displays, as Siegler mentions.

      I’m on the same boat as you. I use my Kindle because it is a dedicated e-reader — light weight, easy to read, minimal, long-ass battery life. I don’t need a tablet right now, but when I do, I will buy an iPad.

      I was hoping that the new Kindle would be an e-reader with apps. For example, an RSS reader and Instapaper would be great, and it wouldn’t compete directly with the iPad.

    • Steven Fisher

      You think Apple needs a kick in the butt to keep innovating. Why, is this based on Apple’s years and years of neglect to the iPad?

      It’s the second year, man. The iPad 2 offers twice the CPU power, less weight, dual cameras, extra sensors, and is thinner.

      YES! Let’s kick Apple’s butt so they do something exciting!

      • http://godlikenerd.com/ Derik

        I think domination of any market breeds complacency, particularly in tech markets.

        While the iPad 2 is a nice overall update, it wasn’t innovative.

        Competent competition is a good thing and I think Amazon has the potential to bring something good to the table.

        • Steven Fisher

          It’s not that I think the tablet computer is done, but it’s a tablet computer. We know a few things about it. It’s flat, light, not too big. It works by touching it. It has sensors to detect changes to its orientation, position, and other things around it. It can draw pretty graphics, including 3D.

          The tablet is settled. Possible improvements are getting faster, lighter, brighter, and more aware of their surroundings. (The last one, incidentally, is actually quite exciting and has huge potential. So I’m certainly not saying there’s nothing more to do.)

          If there’s something revolutionary to be done, it’ll probably be a different form factor. The Amazon tablet won’t grow legs and go for a walk; then it wouldn’t be a tablet anymore.

          Reign in your expectations. Innovation in tablets is making it better by leaps and bounds, not making something radically different.

          • http://godlikenerd.com/ Derik

            With that type of thinking, computers and operating systems wouldn’t have progressed beyond their text-based, command-line driven roots.

            There’s always room for unexpected innovation.

            The kind of complacency you’re suggesting is exactly the kind I hope Amazon’s competition might be able to defeat before it really takes root.

          • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

            Apple could use genuine competition, yes. But they’ve been doing amazing work without it for almost a decade. Setting their own long-term goals is part of the culture Jobs created over there.

          • Steven Fisher

            Oh, don’t be a baby. The list I included actually includes everything that could be reasonably done. And it has HUGE room for better products. What you don’t like is that Apple actually did every one of those things. Not in a major way, but still. But it’s “not innovative.”

            Bull.

            There’s many possibilities for other products on there. But the tablet is, well, a tablet. A TABLET.

          • http://godlikenerd.com/ Derik

            Don’t be a baby?  I was almost enjoying our discussion, but this has clearly taken a turn for the infantile.

            I do find it cute that you think I’m criticizing Apple in some way, when you’re the one that seems to think they’re incapable of making great strides in tablet innovation.

          • Steven Fisher

            “With that type of thinking…” is not an enjoyable conversation, it’s an attack.

            I am saying, again: We know what a tablet is. Something that’s not a tablet is not a tablet. What’s hard to understand here?

          • Steven Fisher

            “With that type of thinking…” is not an enjoyable conversation, it’s an attack.

            I am saying, again: We know what a tablet is. Something that’s not a tablet is not a tablet. What’s hard to understand here?

          • http://godlikenerd.com/ Derik

            You consider analysis of your thinking an attack?  That says more about the strength of your argument.  It wasn’t a personal attack.

            As for knowing what a tablet is, we “knew” what a tablet was back when it was little more than a modified laptop that you used a stylus with.  Things change.  Surrendering one’s self to the current state of affairs is (again) exactly what I’m afraid of.

            I’ll let you ask yourself your own question.

        • Steven Fisher

          It’s not that I think the tablet computer is done, but it’s a tablet computer. We know a few things about it. It’s flat, light, not too big. It works by touching it. It has sensors to detect changes to its orientation, position, and other things around it. It can draw pretty graphics, including 3D.

          The tablet is settled. Possible improvements are getting faster, lighter, brighter, and more aware of their surroundings. (The last one, incidentally, is actually quite exciting and has huge potential. So I’m certainly not saying there’s nothing more to do.)

          If there’s something revolutionary to be done, it’ll probably be a different form factor. The Amazon tablet won’t grow legs and go for a walk; then it wouldn’t be a tablet anymore.

          Reign in your expectations. Innovation in tablets is making it better by leaps and bounds, not making something radically different.

  • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

    Finally a challenger appears.
    I don’t believe the Kindle tablet will give Apple competition in the way tablets like the PlayBook, TouchPad and Xoom tried to (and failed); Amazon will invest in the UX of the device and the UX of their ecosystem and that’s where they’re going to be competing with Apple.

  • Anonymous

    Apple innovates for the future, not because it’s intimidated by competition that exists in the present. it creates products for which no one even knew there was a market for, then everyone else shamelessly jumps on the bandwagon. Seems to me that Amazon is really competing against the Nook.

    • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

      I agree that purpose-wise the Nook seems a more likely target for the Kindle tablet. I also think that Apple doesn’t much care for most kinds of competition, because they’re planning years in advance.

      But I believe that Apple will closely watch the UX that Amazon will create for the entire platform. Besides Apple, it looks like Amazon is the first company that can offer an integrated approach for everything from hardware to software to the ecosystem. This is where Amazon is going to compete with Apple.

  • Anonymous

    Nook Color Android-based tablet/eReader from Barnes & Noble has been on the market for over a year and sold millions of units at $250. Gives Flash, apps, videos, color magazines and ebooks with video inserts, and the best anti-glare coated screen on the market. Technology “giant” Amazon is finally catching up with the book store company by copying their device.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t see any success in Amazon’s future.

    Why doesn’t Amazon announce their own product? Siegler may be spot on, but a short presentation for a ‘priveledged pundit’ isn’t a product intro… it’s flag waving.

    I think Amazon is having problems with their product. So many problems that they’re resorting to this ‘special presentation’ to buy time.

    • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

      This is what we call an industry leak. I don’t believe that this ‘special presentation’ as you call is was mandated by Amazon’s c-level.

      I don’t think Amazon has problems with the tablet; on the contrary, the fact that they’re taking a page out of Apple’s playbook, by trying to keep it under wraps until it’s done, suggests that they’re making progress, but on their own schedule.
      If we are to believe John Gruber and his sources at Amazon, an Android tablet has been in development in their skunkworks department for a while now.

      • Anonymous

        Great, I hope their efforts pan out.

        The flags that this industry leak waved looked to me to reveal a few issues.

        Panning poor page turning on a premier Kindle device. :(

        Giving up on 3G, 10″ form factor, & new hybrid screens :|

        Getting compared to the Playbook and the Nook :)

        Also, HP is saturating the main Amazon customer space (bargin hunting techies) with overstock of touchpads.

        Fortunately, Amazon has time and content channel alternatives to iOS on its side. That counts for a great deal.