Amazon announces $499 Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE with $50/year data plan - Page 3

Well it makes more sense to buy this than an iPad. The 32 gb model of the iPad shouldn't cost 200 more than the 16 gb version... and the data fees are crazy. I'd say Apple has to lower the price of the 32 gb and 64 gb by atleast 100 dollars per upgrade to maintain market dominance and add an option to have unlimited shared data with carriers for the iPad.

Except this is a terrible piece of hardware that runs terrible software.

 

And, well, Amazon's version of Android sucks more than stock Android, I mean, it's just terrible.

Well said!

I posted in the other thread that Bezos' describing their offerings as more of a "service" (a portal to content) than a device -- could be a brilliant marketing strategy.

I totally missed that the $10 store credit was a $10 credit each month.

The $49 per year caught my eye... This is attractive!

What Amazon/Bezos are doing is classic marketing and selling...

You determine what people want and provide it as best you can... And take away buyer objections (reasons for saying no).

The device may turn out to be average, or even sub-par... But the package is attractive, and should sell well against current competive offerings.

The biggest downside is that it is US only, and they, likely, cannot remedy that before the competitors step in with their next offerings.

Kinda' makes recent Sammy, MS, Google offerings look like yesterday's news.

How often does that happen? There are also video player apps on Android that let one limit the buffer size to prevent the entire video from behind downloaded.

Question is would you like living in a world in which Apple killed its competitors?

It happens lots. Surprised? Get yourself an LTE tablet and see first hand. Or tether your laptop to an LTE device.

 

Intelligent buffering, eh? I guess others see it as a problem, too. It would truly be helpful to have intelligent buffering be standard/ubiquitous, not something one has to worry about installing and using.

I have an iPad (3) + Cellular. I never turn cellular off. I never turn 4G LTE off. I live in a LTE covered area. I have yet to use close to 250MB in a month. So why don't you think my purchase which I find very useful not to make sense?

Prices will naturally come down, but remember HD != retina.

Get a refurb. iPad 3 right now from Apple for $150 more.

Anybody know if the Fire HD is LTE only (i.e., no 3G or EDGE)?

I find it hard to believe that you Mr I use 100 GB a month uses less than 250MB a month on your iPad.

What blows my mind is that these will be out end of November. Why is Apple the only company that can announce a major product, and have it available on shelves within a week or 2?

 

I'd want to live in a world where all competitors cannot be killed simply by one company lowering the price of their YEAR AND A HALF OLD PRODUCT, that's for sure.

 

Two words: Tim Cook. Thank the greatest operations man of the modern age.

 

Because if your device doesn't turn the tablet market completely on its head, it'll get lost in the iPad's very, very, very long shadow. 

 

These market dynamics are volatile. 

 

 

How much time are you away from WiFi?

 

Do you have iTunes Match turned on?

 

Do you listen to streaming music or watch YouTube, movies or TV shows?

 

Do you sync exchange accounts?

 

Do you use Dropbox, Skydrive, iCloud or other cloud services.

 

On my iPhone 4 I do all these things and use around 1.5 GB a month, before iTunes Match it was around 1 GB a month.

 

I have these things, I like using them, I don't want to feel restricted by not having enough data for my needs, it is something I don't mind paying for.

 

All I can say on this 250MB allowance, is that Amazon or AT&T, whoever will handle customer complaints, had better be prepared for customers with bill shock.

 

You get what you pay for and $50 a year might sound like a bargain but if you want to use the full potential of something like this, it isn't really.

1) Often, but I tend to use a tablet in areas with WiFi. Do you think the average tablet user is not going to have access to WiFi?

2) I don't have iTunes Match. If I did, I wouldn't stream music to my iPad because I don't listen to music on my iPad. I have my iPhone for that.

3) Nope. No exchange accounts. Why is this an issue for a Kindle Fire customer?

4) I do. I have apps installed. Never been a problem.

5) No one has denied that it's possible to use more than 250MB a month. No one has stated you don't use more than 250MB a month. I've been as high as 100GB in a month, albeit with a jailbroken iPhone with unlimited/unlimited data tethering to a Mac that was running a torrent app. You still haven't shown that 250MB is so egregiously low that the average user would find it impossible to go about his daily tasks without reaching that cap in omeone claimed 4 minutes or something equally ridiculous earlier in the thread).

6) Do you get bill shock with the iPad or iPhone? I never have because I know they will let me know when I near my quotas. I think there are 2 or 3 warnings. I think with the iPad it'll stop allowing you to use more data before paying the $10 for an additional 1GB so I can't imagine how there would be bill shock.

Apple operates that way in order to maintain sales, just as any manufacturer would want to do. Amazon was compelled to announce long in advance of availability in order to stave off purchases of Apple products. Prices for a given level of technology tend to drop exponentially over time, too, so the low price makes a much bigger impression right now. Come November 20th, the Amazon prices won't seem so cheap. If mid-November had been the announcement date, the pricing wouldn't garner the same headlines.

I don't buy that. I think these devices can sell well. Apple may lose some market share but only because the market got bigger, they'll still sell a record number of iPads and way more than the competition.

I really think it has to do getting their devices talked about before Apple makes their rumored iPad announcement.

Because it's not a year and half old product they're buying into but the ecosystem they're already heavily invested in. The most marvelous tablet in the world couldn't compete with that.

 

I somehow doubt that.

How does it work with 10 different carriers yet AT&T is the one providing the service?

 

Same way Straight Talk works without building any towers of their own.

Then what would you believe the reason to be? There are plenty of people that would like a second or third iPad but won't spend the money or someone with an iPhone that wants a iPad but can't see themselves spending that much money.

Funny how everyone focus on price, hardware and features...I don't see how this can come close to being "ipad killer"... Apple isn't interested in selling you cheap low-end tech unless they can walk away with 40-50% profit per item. I would be amaze if Amazon isn't losing money or coming out even on these new Fire HDs. If the mini-ipad is coming, I would be surprise to see it price below $300... Until I see a side-by-side test/comparison, I'm not convinced 7" Fire HD is better than Google's Nexus 7 either. It's always fun to read about the initial reactions after a product launch. Seems everyone forgot about Amazon's weak app store, it's crappy "Silk" browser and over-simplified Android OS...the custom crappy OS part alone still irks me...

 

There are plenty of tablet choices right now, if anything, Amazon's goal is't trying to compete again tech companies, they want to secure their existing customer base and enhance their digital experience. If I'm B&N, I would really worry right now...they haven't refresh their NOOK line in a while.

 

I can see just as many people buying an Apple product for the first time as doing that. iPad 2 is the most affordable iPad right now, and it offers far more at its price point than many of its competitors and against many devices that pretend not to compete with it. 

 

Someone burned by the $79 Android tablet at Big Lots isn't going to be buying el cheapo stuff again.

 

Whatever gives you that idea?

 

 

Just seen an article on Electronista which states that all Kindle Fires will include lockscreens with ads showing 'special offers and sponsored lock screens'. The ads will also appear on the lower left hand corner of the home screen at all times:

http://www.electronista.com/articles/12/09/06/amazon.opts.for.ad.supported.model.for.new.kindle.fire.range/

 

I don't like the sound of that!

Ad-support tablet...great idea except now you have to wonder if your tablet usage is being monitor? Failed on arrival for me!

Power users will never want to be tie down to a close ecosystem. You should wait and see how fast people would wants to hack this thing so they can get ride of this custom android weaksauce os. Amazon has to to go after customers willing to spend on content after getting the "cheaper" tablets. Their entire ecosystem has to link  up or it's a fail attempt. I do see them with great success with existing customers, especially those Prime members. I'm not convince they can pull Apple or other Android users from the current market. 

 

I don't understand why Apple needs to get sucked into a race to the bottom. Their business model is different than Amazon's. If Apple sets an artificially low price on a smaller iPad that will basically devalue their brand. Is there any hard data that shows Amazon selling cheap hardware is profitable for them? This past quarter they barely eaked out a profit and said the following quarter they might incur a loss. Wall Street is eating it up right now but how long can that be sustained? Amazon's P/E is 306. That's just crazy.

 

Does that mean it is world mode. Could Amazon sell this tablet to (almost) any country and it would work with their LTE implementation?

If so, could it be an indication for the new iPhone?

I"m 17 days through my iPad cycle and have used 49MB.

I'm not sure what you saying about 100GB. I did that only a couple of times with Unlimited/Unlimited data with tethering to my Mac and running torrents. I recall grabbing 30 years of NOVA episodes.

It might. It depends if they are talking about 10 operating bands for LTE or not. 10 would be a hit number of countries. I hope Apple and Qualcomm have something like this or we could see the first iPhone that is built with different HW for different countries to support various LTE operating bands.

I'm confused as to how Amazon can offer LTE access for $50 per year. Is some carrier taking a huge pay cut? Why would any carrier allow Amazon to do this, when they are getting way more money with Apple?

 

Unless once again, Amazon is selling things at a loss...

Depends on how you look for it. AT&T charges $15(?) for 250MB a month on the iPad but higher tiers cost significantly less. I think it starts to average out to $10 per GB. This is basically a pre-paid for a year plan that is only 3GB in total but costs $50, which is over $16 per GB. It seems like a very clever set up to me.

 

The vast majority would be at home, on his WiFi network or at a hotspot.

You gotta laugh at how hard Besos tries to pull of the Steve  Jobs Keynote presentation experience.

 

Actually, it has to do with what made Tim Cook so respected--getting all supplies and assembly structures in place and hitting on target outputs upfront with a continuous turnover adjusted on a daily basis. Apple spends billions getting the backend working first and then when they come out and present it's ready to roll off the assembly line in large quantities.

Where did you find 30 yrs worth of Nova episodes and better yet where did you store them? oh and thats exactly when i remember you saying you used 100GB