People giving it a 5 star rating obviously have never used any other tablet and bought it for the price point only so have no frame of reference to give it an accurate rating.
Either that or they are:
Amazon employees so are obliged to give the 5 star rating
While at Best Buy yesterday I saw a Kindle Fire for the first time. Oddly it was configured so you can't really do anything with it. Every time you tried to browse the web it instead fired up a demo slide show explaining how the great the web browser is but it wouldn't let you actually do anything. I tried firing up apps on the home screen and it took you to a demo slide show explaining how great apps are but it wouldn't actually let you do anything. Another problem was the home button which is done in software and is not displayed on the screen at all times. I would frequently wonder how the heck you get back to the home page. I didn't have any of those problems the first time I touched an iPad in the Apple Store where it was setup to be fully functional.
Apple put a lot of effort into producing a polished, well-made tablet and brought this rather polished first version to market at a price that competitors simply couldn't beat. Apple came out of the gate running, if you will, and will simply continue to up the ante with each annual update.
The competition just doesn't get it. They have been intent not on bringing out better products but on bringing out products that seem to have an edge on paper. The problem for them is that people wind up taking their half-finished products and try to make extensive use of them in their daily lives. Apple doesn't release a product before its time. The original iPad wasn't perfect but its flaws were exceedingly minor. It was ready for prime time which is why it was so wildly successful. Each version is just that much better. It's not so much about convincing consumers that Apple's products are a cut above the competition because that's a bar that is set exceedingly low. Rather, it's about making products that are so enjoyable to use on a daily basis that consumers keep coming back for more.
Let us not forget that Apple was trying with the original iPad to establish a new category and as such it wasn't a matter of offering something better than the competition but rather about convincing the average consumer that the tablet form factor was something highly desirable, that using a tablet could be an enjoyable, productive experience. Tablets failed before the iPad and would have gone on failing had the iPad not come along. This is because no one other than Apple has produced a tablet worth owning. Too many compromises.
Competitors think it's about timing and they're wrong. With the iPad setting the bar exceedingly high, it's about bringing to market a compelling product that consumers will be glad they purchased. If that means holding off on a product until it's as ready for daily use as the iPad, then that's what you do. Rushing bad products to market will only play into Apple's hands and further enhance the company's reputation. All the Fire is doing is convincing consumers that they should have bought an iPad instead. Ditto for the Playbook. What was RIM thinking. Would it have been so bad for them to have waited nine months, a year, whatever, so the Playbook they did bring to market was a more polished device. All they've managed to do is damage their reputation and lose millions. I doubt RIM will ever be able to compete in the tablet space again.
The bottom line is that consumers just want stuff that works. Apple delivers that far better than the rest and is wildly successful because of it. This is great news for consumers because it's in our best interests for excellence to be rewarded. We want companies to figure out that providing us with decent products is the way to become incredibly wealthy.
By the way, if I'm not mistaken wasn't there a recent comment from someone high up in the Sony food chain to the effect that they want to revolutionize TV because no one is making money selling TVs as we know them today. There's the problem. Sony is focussing on making a profit and Steve Jobs was focussed on revolutionizing the TV form factor. Making money and making better products are not mutually exclusive. It's the key point that most corporate types simply don't get. Make consumers happy and the rewards will be many. Focus on turning a profit and you will pay the consequences.
I like how this update makes no mention of fixing the problem where your kids can easily click and buy damn near anything b/c there are no parental controls. If you keep logged out, you can't make use of Prime streaming, which is one of the primary draws for many families.
Amazon just has to hope that profits from online sales - losses from productions costs - heavy return rate (mhoo) = some profit.
Sure, v2 will be better than v1 and so on and so on and so on... but you have to be making money at some point.
If they actually sell 5 million Fires (I very highly doubt it) then how many of those devices have to show a profit for Amazon to break even. There isn't anyone anywhere who can convince that every Fire sold will even come close to downloading enough content for the device to become profitable.
At some point or other Amazon has to show a profit with this scheme or there will be a shareholder revolt. Let's see how it goes for the next 3 earnings announcements.
I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.
Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.
The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.
Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"
Some things to consider…
Amazon may have HW issues it can't resolve until v2.
Amazon has OS/SW issues that affect the UX in a tremendous way.
Even though it's not in the iPad's league it will inevitably be compared to it so getting hte basically usablity aspects right before shipping is important.
No one expects it to be an iPad, but everyone does expect that for $200, the cost of an iPod Touch or iPhone (on contract) that basic touchscreen features work about as well.
Sure, frequent updates are expected with a new OS. I predicted this would happen just last week if the sales were good enough to warrant the push. I now predict an even bigger update coming in January. The only problem with that type of release where the basic usage isn't ironed out sufficiently is that you can lose potential users if you don't resolve it fast enough.
There release schedule is great, but so is B&N. They have a better ecosystem, mindshare, and 20% lower price over the Nook Tablet, but that won't be enough if they can't get ahead of these high-level usability issues.
As for being in the hands for Christmas, there is some truth to that depending on the circumstance but it's not the guarantee win that people make it out to be. What's the dominate tablet on the market? The iPad, of course. When was announced and demoed? Late January, 2010. When was it first sold? The WiFI version in early April, and then the WiFi+3G in late April. Now imagine if Apple decided to release it the previous November simply to make the Christmas rush and users had to wait a half a year for the SW (or worse, v2, for the HW to be right). I think it would have been a flop.
As for being in the hands for Christmas, there is some truth to that depending on the circumstance but it's not the guarantee win that people make it out to be. What's the dominate tablet on the market? The iPad, of course. When was announced and demoed? Late January, 2010. When was it first sold? The WiFI version in early April, and then the WiFi+3G in late April. Now imagine if Apple decided to release it the previous November simply to make the Christmas rush and users had to wait a half a year for the SW (or worse, v2, for the HW to be right). I think it would have been a flop.
Speaking of Christmas... I'm guessing that come January the Fire will go wanting for buyers.
Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.
A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.
Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.
And they both will be.
It is interesting to note the relative satisfaction ratings of the Kindle Fire & iPad
If we analyse the Amazon user Star ratings as a proxy for Satisfied/Dissatisfied we come to the following results
2236 5 Star = Very Satisfied = 47.1%
907 4 Star = Satisfied = 19.1%
Total Very Satisfied + Satisfied = 66.2 %
415 2 Star Dissatisfied = 8.7%
610 1 Star Very Dissatisfied = 12.9%
Total Very Dissatisfied + Dissatisfied 21.6%
Note. There were also 577 3 Star, which I have rated neutral i.e. neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied. This takes the total No. of ratings to 4,745 = 100%. According to Amazon only bone fide buyers of Kindle Fire, so the results may accurately reflect buyer/user satisfaction.
The above user satisfaction ratings do not compare well with the iPad as can be seen by the following survey results for the first iPad.
On 21 Sept 2010 it was reported that the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) found that Apple scored an overall 86% satisfaction ratings. There were no specific numbers for the iPad but ACSI commented “People said they find the iPad more satisfying than the Mac,” ACSI’s managing director David VanAmburg told me. “And that helped goose Apple’s ranking.”
I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.
Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.
The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.
Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"
You're being way to kind to the Fire and Amazon. Your bias is pretty obvious.
Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.
A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.
Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.
And they both will be.
It is interesting to note the relative satisfaction ratings of the Kindle Fire & iPad
If we analyse the Amazon user Star ratings as a proxy for Satisfied/Dissatisfied we come to the following results
2236 5 Star = Very Satisfied = 47.1%
907 4 Star = Satisfied = 19.1%
Total Very Satisfied + Satisfied = 66.2 %
415 2 Star Dissatisfied = 8.7%
610 1 Star Very Dissatisfied = 12.9%
Total Very Dissatisfied + Dissatisfied 21.6%
Note. There were also 577 3 Star, which I have rated neutral i.e. neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied. This takes the total No. of ratings to 4,745 = 100%. According to Amazon only bone fide buyers of Kindle Fire, so the results may accurately reflect buyer/user satisfaction.
The above user satisfaction ratings do not compare well with the iPad as can be seen by the following survey results for the first iPad.
On 21 Sept 2010 it was reported that the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) found that Apple scored an overall 86% satisfaction ratings. There were no specific numbers for the iPad but ACSI commented ?People said they find the iPad more satisfying than the Mac,? ACSI?s managing director David VanAmburg told me. ?And that helped goose Apple?s ranking.?
Speaking of Christmas... I'm guessing that come January the Fire will go wanting for buyers.
Maybe we'll see a true Fire sale... $149.
I'm wagering it will have momentum to push it through the year. I'm sure there will be some slow down as the next iPad hits shelves but I don't see them as being real competitors due to their wide price points and capabilities.
Look at the first Kindle. It wasn't a great product and it cost $400 yet sold out in hours. It was US only and they were able to ride that device for a year-and-hald before the Kindle 2 came on the market. Jump to the Kindle Touch which is a great eReader, so even with these rushed-to-market products I think Amazon has a chance to make the Fire a popular device, and eventually a profitable device.
If Amazon's sales are indicative of an eventual economics of scale that could make each unit at least break even then I think we'll be hearing about a major update in January, and within 2012 a larger tablet that's even more full featured.
PS: Does Amazon have a proper SDK built for the Fire or are only letting select devs make 3rd-party apps at this time?
This thing was hyped, intentionally or not, as an iPad killer. Cheaptards, err I mean price conscious consumers thought they were getting an iPad for a third of the price. Now they are finding out different and are complaining? I don't understand.
Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.
A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.
Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.
And they both will be.
The problem with Amazon is that they have to manufacture a few to get it right. Speaking as a former of an iPad and now iPad 2, they were both near as perfect as can be right out of the gate. There were little to no flaws from my perspective.
So maybe the Kindle Fire will better someday, but it will cost Amazon a fortune to keep trying. Apple has already sold millions and millions and have $81B in the bank so they can afford to keep manufacturing the succeeding generations as they keep selling millions and millions. They are on a roll.
By the way, I've never once thought of using my iPad as "lugging" and "wielding". It's been a trusty companion since day one.
I'm wagering it will have momentum to push it through the year. I'm sure there will be some slow down as the next iPad hits shelves but I don't see them as being real competitors due to their wide price points and capabilities.
Look at the first Kindle. It wasn't a great product and it cost $400 yet sold out in hours. It was US only and they were able to ride that device for a year-and-hald before the Kindle 2 came on the market. Jump to the Kindle Touch which is a great eReader, so even with these rushed-to-market products I think Amazon has a chance to make the Fire a popular device, and eventually a profitable device.
If Amazon's sales are indicative of an eventual economics of scale that could make each unit at least break even then I think we'll be hearing about a major update in January, and within 2012 a larger tablet that's even more full featured.
PS: Does Amazon have a proper SDK built for the Fire or are only letting select devs make 3rd-party apps at this time?
The original Kindles and the succeeding updates, including the latest models, do what they're supposed to do and they do it well... and for a very reasonable price.
The Fire on the other hand is much more specialized [with relation to the target audience] and costs twice the price... and doesn't do what it's supposed to do particularly well.
The other e-reader Kindle models... smashing success throughout the coming year... but I still estimate the the Fire will flop badly after the holiday season... update or no update.
The other e-reader Kindle models... smashing success throughout the coming year... but I still estimate the the Fire will flop badly after the holiday season... update or no update.
I'll make you a wager. How about a $25 gift card to an Apple Store. But how do we determine if it will flop or if it will be a success. A new model within a year? info about sales (something they typically don't do)? A new Kindle Fire size next year?
PS:Whatever happened to Pixel QI? That was suppose to be the great saviour for allowing longterm reading on eInk and outdoors, and allowing video playback with color as needed. I assume Amazon looked into it. I wonder what the problem was with that technology.
I like how this update makes no mention of fixing the problem where your kids can easily click and buy damn near anything b/c there are no parental controls. If you keep logged out, you can't make use of Prime streaming, which is one of the primary draws for many families.
Yep. I noticed that as well. The whole lack of even asking for the password to buy something is a very damning issue that Amazon hasn't addressed and it really should be perhaps the first thing on the list.
And if you log out you lose Prime AND many of the downloaded apps, books etc because they need that log in to valid they are legit copies.
Comments
Either that or they are:
Amazon employees so are obliged to give the 5 star rating
or
Android users so don't know any better.
FREE* movies & TV
FREE* movies & TV shows for AMZ prime* members
*only $79 a year.
*only $79 a year.
Yep, and I believe that Netflix still has a better selection, so I'd rather use that.
The competition just doesn't get it. They have been intent not on bringing out better products but on bringing out products that seem to have an edge on paper. The problem for them is that people wind up taking their half-finished products and try to make extensive use of them in their daily lives. Apple doesn't release a product before its time. The original iPad wasn't perfect but its flaws were exceedingly minor. It was ready for prime time which is why it was so wildly successful. Each version is just that much better. It's not so much about convincing consumers that Apple's products are a cut above the competition because that's a bar that is set exceedingly low. Rather, it's about making products that are so enjoyable to use on a daily basis that consumers keep coming back for more.
Let us not forget that Apple was trying with the original iPad to establish a new category and as such it wasn't a matter of offering something better than the competition but rather about convincing the average consumer that the tablet form factor was something highly desirable, that using a tablet could be an enjoyable, productive experience. Tablets failed before the iPad and would have gone on failing had the iPad not come along. This is because no one other than Apple has produced a tablet worth owning. Too many compromises.
Competitors think it's about timing and they're wrong. With the iPad setting the bar exceedingly high, it's about bringing to market a compelling product that consumers will be glad they purchased. If that means holding off on a product until it's as ready for daily use as the iPad, then that's what you do. Rushing bad products to market will only play into Apple's hands and further enhance the company's reputation. All the Fire is doing is convincing consumers that they should have bought an iPad instead. Ditto for the Playbook. What was RIM thinking. Would it have been so bad for them to have waited nine months, a year, whatever, so the Playbook they did bring to market was a more polished device. All they've managed to do is damage their reputation and lose millions. I doubt RIM will ever be able to compete in the tablet space again.
The bottom line is that consumers just want stuff that works. Apple delivers that far better than the rest and is wildly successful because of it. This is great news for consumers because it's in our best interests for excellence to be rewarded. We want companies to figure out that providing us with decent products is the way to become incredibly wealthy.
By the way, if I'm not mistaken wasn't there a recent comment from someone high up in the Sony food chain to the effect that they want to revolutionize TV because no one is making money selling TVs as we know them today. There's the problem. Sony is focussing on making a profit and Steve Jobs was focussed on revolutionizing the TV form factor. Making money and making better products are not mutually exclusive. It's the key point that most corporate types simply don't get. Make consumers happy and the rewards will be many. Focus on turning a profit and you will pay the consequences.
Sure, v2 will be better than v1 and so on and so on and so on... but you have to be making money at some point.
If they actually sell 5 million Fires (I very highly doubt it) then how many of those devices have to show a profit for Amazon to break even. There isn't anyone anywhere who can convince that every Fire sold will even come close to downloading enough content for the device to become profitable.
At some point or other Amazon has to show a profit with this scheme or there will be a shareholder revolt. Let's see how it goes for the next 3 earnings announcements.
I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.
Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.
The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.
Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"
Some things to consider…
- Amazon may have HW issues it can't resolve until v2.
- Amazon has OS/SW issues that affect the UX in a tremendous way.
- Even though it's not in the iPad's league it will inevitably be compared to it so getting hte basically usablity aspects right before shipping is important.
- No one expects it to be an iPad, but everyone does expect that for $200, the cost of an iPod Touch or iPhone (on contract) that basic touchscreen features work about as well.
Sure, frequent updates are expected with a new OS. I predicted this would happen just last week if the sales were good enough to warrant the push. I now predict an even bigger update coming in January. The only problem with that type of release where the basic usage isn't ironed out sufficiently is that you can lose potential users if you don't resolve it fast enough.There release schedule is great, but so is B&N. They have a better ecosystem, mindshare, and 20% lower price over the Nook Tablet, but that won't be enough if they can't get ahead of these high-level usability issues.
As for being in the hands for Christmas, there is some truth to that depending on the circumstance but it's not the guarantee win that people make it out to be. What's the dominate tablet on the market? The iPad, of course. When was announced and demoed? Late January, 2010. When was it first sold? The WiFI version in early April, and then the WiFi+3G in late April. Now imagine if Apple decided to release it the previous November simply to make the Christmas rush and users had to wait a half a year for the SW (or worse, v2, for the HW to be right). I think it would have been a flop.
<snip>
As for being in the hands for Christmas, there is some truth to that depending on the circumstance but it's not the guarantee win that people make it out to be. What's the dominate tablet on the market? The iPad, of course. When was announced and demoed? Late January, 2010. When was it first sold? The WiFI version in early April, and then the WiFi+3G in late April. Now imagine if Apple decided to release it the previous November simply to make the Christmas rush and users had to wait a half a year for the SW (or worse, v2, for the HW to be right). I think it would have been a flop.
Speaking of Christmas... I'm guessing that come January the Fire will go wanting for buyers.
Maybe we'll see a true Fire sale... $149.
Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.
A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.
Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.
And they both will be.
It is interesting to note the relative satisfaction ratings of the Kindle Fire & iPad
If we analyse the Amazon user Star ratings as a proxy for Satisfied/Dissatisfied we come to the following results
2236 5 Star = Very Satisfied = 47.1%
907 4 Star = Satisfied = 19.1%
Total Very Satisfied + Satisfied = 66.2 %
415 2 Star Dissatisfied = 8.7%
610 1 Star Very Dissatisfied = 12.9%
Total Very Dissatisfied + Dissatisfied 21.6%
Note. There were also 577 3 Star, which I have rated neutral i.e. neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied. This takes the total No. of ratings to 4,745 = 100%. According to Amazon only bone fide buyers of Kindle Fire, so the results may accurately reflect buyer/user satisfaction.
The above user satisfaction ratings do not compare well with the iPad as can be seen by the following survey results for the first iPad.
On 21 Sept 2010 it was reported that the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) found that Apple scored an overall 86% satisfaction ratings. There were no specific numbers for the iPad but ACSI commented “People said they find the iPad more satisfying than the Mac,” ACSI’s managing director David VanAmburg told me. “And that helped goose Apple’s ranking.”
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/2...D_yahoo_ticker.
On 2nd Nov 2010 ChangeWave reported the following satisfaction ratings for the iPad
Very Satisfied 72%
Somewhat Satisfied 23%
Total Very and Somewhat Satisfied 97%
Somewhat Unsatisfied 1%
Very Unsatisfied 0%
Total Very and Somewhat Unsatisfied 1%
Don't Know/NA 3%
The above may be they highest satisfaction ratings ever achieved for a new device.
ChangeWave also measure buying intentions of those planning to buy a tablet:
Tablets most likely to Buy
iPad 80%
RIM Playbook 8%
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3%
HP Slate 2%
Archos Tablet 1%
Dell Streak 1%
Sony Dash 1%
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/...-pts-from-may/
I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.
Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.
The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.
Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"
You're being way to kind to the Fire and Amazon. Your bias is pretty obvious.
No, seriously... I think many of us had hopes that Amazon would get it done, given their ecosystem...
Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.
A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.
Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.
And they both will be.
It is interesting to note the relative satisfaction ratings of the Kindle Fire & iPad
If we analyse the Amazon user Star ratings as a proxy for Satisfied/Dissatisfied we come to the following results
2236 5 Star = Very Satisfied = 47.1%
907 4 Star = Satisfied = 19.1%
Total Very Satisfied + Satisfied = 66.2 %
415 2 Star Dissatisfied = 8.7%
610 1 Star Very Dissatisfied = 12.9%
Total Very Dissatisfied + Dissatisfied 21.6%
Note. There were also 577 3 Star, which I have rated neutral i.e. neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied. This takes the total No. of ratings to 4,745 = 100%. According to Amazon only bone fide buyers of Kindle Fire, so the results may accurately reflect buyer/user satisfaction.
The above user satisfaction ratings do not compare well with the iPad as can be seen by the following survey results for the first iPad.
On 21 Sept 2010 it was reported that the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) found that Apple scored an overall 86% satisfaction ratings. There were no specific numbers for the iPad but ACSI commented ?People said they find the iPad more satisfying than the Mac,? ACSI?s managing director David VanAmburg told me. ?And that helped goose Apple?s ranking.?
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/2...D_yahoo_ticker.
On 2nd Nov 2010 ChangeWave reported the following satisfaction ratings for the iPad
Very Satisfied 72%
Somewhat Satisfied 23%
Total Very and Somewhat Satisfied 97%
Somewhat Unsatisfied 1%
Very Unsatisfied 0%
Total Very and Somewhat Unsatisfied 1%
Don't Know/NA 3%
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/...-pts-from-may/
Speaking of Christmas... I'm guessing that come January the Fire will go wanting for buyers.
Maybe we'll see a true Fire sale... $149.
I'm wagering it will have momentum to push it through the year. I'm sure there will be some slow down as the next iPad hits shelves but I don't see them as being real competitors due to their wide price points and capabilities.
Look at the first Kindle. It wasn't a great product and it cost $400 yet sold out in hours. It was US only and they were able to ride that device for a year-and-hald before the Kindle 2 came on the market. Jump to the Kindle Touch which is a great eReader, so even with these rushed-to-market products I think Amazon has a chance to make the Fire a popular device, and eventually a profitable device.
If Amazon's sales are indicative of an eventual economics of scale that could make each unit at least break even then I think we'll be hearing about a major update in January, and within 2012 a larger tablet that's even more full featured.
PS: Does Amazon have a proper SDK built for the Fire or are only letting select devs make 3rd-party apps at this time?
Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.
A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.
Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.
And they both will be.
The problem with Amazon is that they have to manufacture a few to get it right. Speaking as a former of an iPad and now iPad 2, they were both near as perfect as can be right out of the gate. There were little to no flaws from my perspective.
So maybe the Kindle Fire will better someday, but it will cost Amazon a fortune to keep trying. Apple has already sold millions and millions and have $81B in the bank so they can afford to keep manufacturing the succeeding generations as they keep selling millions and millions. They are on a roll.
By the way, I've never once thought of using my iPad as "lugging" and "wielding". It's been a trusty companion since day one.
I'm wagering it will have momentum to push it through the year. I'm sure there will be some slow down as the next iPad hits shelves but I don't see them as being real competitors due to their wide price points and capabilities.
Look at the first Kindle. It wasn't a great product and it cost $400 yet sold out in hours. It was US only and they were able to ride that device for a year-and-hald before the Kindle 2 came on the market. Jump to the Kindle Touch which is a great eReader, so even with these rushed-to-market products I think Amazon has a chance to make the Fire a popular device, and eventually a profitable device.
If Amazon's sales are indicative of an eventual economics of scale that could make each unit at least break even then I think we'll be hearing about a major update in January, and within 2012 a larger tablet that's even more full featured.
PS: Does Amazon have a proper SDK built for the Fire or are only letting select devs make 3rd-party apps at this time?
The original Kindles and the succeeding updates, including the latest models, do what they're supposed to do and they do it well... and for a very reasonable price.
The Fire on the other hand is much more specialized [with relation to the target audience] and costs twice the price... and doesn't do what it's supposed to do particularly well.
The other e-reader Kindle models... smashing success throughout the coming year... but I still estimate the the Fire will flop badly after the holiday season... update or no update.
The other e-reader Kindle models... smashing success throughout the coming year... but I still estimate the the Fire will flop badly after the holiday season... update or no update.
I'll make you a wager. How about a $25 gift card to an Apple Store.
PS:Whatever happened to Pixel QI? That was suppose to be the great saviour for allowing longterm reading on eInk and outdoors, and allowing video playback with color as needed. I assume Amazon looked into it. I wonder what the problem was with that technology.
?I would have expected things to be even worse at this point,? he said,
Wrong again, Munster.
I like how this update makes no mention of fixing the problem where your kids can easily click and buy damn near anything b/c there are no parental controls. If you keep logged out, you can't make use of Prime streaming, which is one of the primary draws for many families.
Yep. I noticed that as well. The whole lack of even asking for the password to buy something is a very damning issue that Amazon hasn't addressed and it really should be perhaps the first thing on the list.
And if you log out you lose Prime AND many of the downloaded apps, books etc because they need that log in to valid they are legit copies.