Amazon to capture "entertainment" tablet market

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by taustin

If the price does come out to be comprable to the color nook, I doubt that Amazon will grap that much of the market with a heck of a fight. On the other hand, B&N has done a fairly poor job so far at servicing any market other than ebooks with the color nook, and Amazon is a tough competitor, so a heck of a fight might be just what they have in mind.

Indeed, Amazon has a lot of tools to fight with:
ebookstore, appstore music and video stores, video streaming service, Cloud Drive, and Prime itself, which may or not include a lending library.
PCWorld has some interesting math in mind:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/24057...heres_how.html

By their reckoning, the mythical Amazon tablet would have an "effective price" of US$171, since they expect it to come bundled with a year of Prime.

It seems a reach, but the same kind of logic underlies the KSO and that sucker moves like zero-calorie hotcakes.

[L.J. Sellers]

I'm thinking of buying Amazon's tablet as a two-for-one device: e-reader and internet "toy" to get me out of the office chair sometimes.
L.J.
[Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

Then there is this "Amazon is so different from Apple because their plan is to make money from content", etc etc, as if the iTunes store does not exist.

Amazon may not release numbers, but Apple do, so we know that the iTunes store is not a major part of their revenue, and as for profitability, last year they described iTunes content sales as running a bit over breakeven.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Amazon may not release numbers, but Apple do, so we know that the iTunes store is not a major part of their revenue, and as for profitability, last year they described iTunes content sales as running a bit over breakeven.

Interesting. I'm surprised that they don't do better with it, considering the cut from content sales.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Amazon may not release numbers, but Apple do, so we know that the iTunes store is not a major part of their revenue, and as for profitability, last year they described iTunes content sales as running a bit over breakeven.

Indeed-from last quarter:
Apple's total revenues: 28.6 billion.
Total profit: 7.3 billion.
iTunes Store revenues: 1.37 billion.
Profit: unknown
That includes music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps. We know they make 30% on apps, but music was estimated at around 10%. No idea about the movies and TV shows.

The iTunes Store is maintained to drive hardware sales, and it's tough to estimate what the Store is worth in terms of hardware sales.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MsCG1

lol

What?

My preference in a tablet is a 7" Android device, because it fits my definition of portability. When the 10" HP TouchPad went on sale for $99, I bought one. Why? Because it was $99. Do I now consider it to be my tablet? No; it's a $99 toy that'll be used in the living room to replace my netbook. Would I ever pay full price for a 10" tablet? No.

[MsCG1]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

My preference in a tablet is a 7" Android device, because it fits my definition of portability. When the 10" HP TouchPad went on sale for $99, I bought one. Why? Because it was $99. Do I now consider it to be my tablet? No; it's a $99 toy that'll be used in the living room to replace my netbook. Would I ever pay full price for a 10" tablet? No.

Well, I bought a couple of Touchpads as well (32gb though), but I would never set that as a STANDARD for any current, top of the line tablet. That's not even realistic, the Touchpad was a once in a lifetime event--we were witness to a leading manufacturing tech company going up in flames. Hardly a market norm.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MsCG1

Well, I bought a couple of Touchpads as well (32gb though), but I would never set that as a STANDARD for any current, top of the line tablet. That's not even realistic, the Touchpad was a once in a lifetime event--we were witness to a leading manufacturing tech company going up in flames. Hardly a market norm.

The thing is, I don't need top of the line in desktops, laptops, or tablets. I'm quite happy in the low to middle range. Anything more is just wasting my money.

[djulian]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Reading this article makes it sound like Amazon will have two video services. The Prime video service only had a paltry 10,000 videos, while the non-Prime Amazon Instant Video service has over 100,000 videos. At least that is the way I read their press release.

This is not news--they have had exactly this model for a few years. If you go to their website, you can stream 10,000+ for free w/ Prime, or many more for cost on the Amazon Instant Video service. Really new releases run about $2-4. I've enjoyed it; it has content almost equivalent to Netflix for Prime, and content similar to the Redboxes for AIV. Only, no trip to the Redbox with the all-too-common "they're out of copies" experience.

[kartu]

Originally Posted by stonetools

If you look at the Kindle, its specs are no better than the other e-ink readers and its design is like something out of 1985.Yet it connects smoothly and simply to the world's best ebook store. That's why it dominates.

You think that ads / low price have nothing to do with it?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kartu

You think that ads / low price have nothing to do with it?

I bought a Kindle 3 because it was black and the Nook was white.

[MsCG1]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The thing is, I don't need top of the line in desktops, laptops, or tablets. I'm quite happy in the low to middle range. Anything more is just wasting my money.

I can't imagine what a regular non fire sale 10 inch tablet would buy you. But hey, more power.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by MsCG1

I can't imagine what a regular non fire sale 10 inch tablet would buy you. But hey, more power.

A larger app store, maybe GPS. Nothing worth paying full price for; especially since my preference is for a 7" device.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by L.J. Sellers

Near the end of this article, the author makes the case that most tablet users don't buy the device for business use, and that Amazon is poised to capture those consumers through price.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/te...ines&emc=tha26

HELLO!!! The Nook has been out for a year at half the price of the iPad. This is nothing new. The Nook sold well and the Kindle Fire will sell well. Neither will have taken the consumer market away from the iPad.

Lee

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by charmian

I agree with the skeptics, though. The smaller screen is a definite "no" factor for me. I might have considered it if it had been 10". IIRC, the processor is one of the most expensive parts. Will Amazon offer graphics and processing power comparable to the iPad's?

In my case, 10" is too big for an ereader. I use my 7" Android tablet and like it but it still feels a little big and awkward for holding at some angles while reading in bed. So I am thinking of also getting a 5" or 6".

A 10" tablet is great for movies, web browsing and reading online news and perhaps textbooks on an table, but it is not easily held in one hand while reading with no support.