Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
No, it's not really much like that, I don't think. It's much more like Amazon selling Kindles, so you'll buy more Kindle ebooks. That seems to have worked out well.
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If it's just like Amazon selling Kindles, then it's a stupid thing to do, since Amazon
already sells Kindles. Amazon also already gives away the Kindle for Android software, and the Kindle for PC software, so they have everything they need (except for the Linux client, which they arguably don't need, since the K4PC client runs under Wine) to run the Kindle software on every tablet in existence (including the iPad). The
only thing Amazon seems to gain here is selling the actual hardware. If that's their plan, then the hardware better be better than anything else in existence, at a lower price point than comparable offerings. Even
that doesn't guarantee they don't get their asses kicked by Apple. They're apparently entering a market with a 1600lb gorilla, and they're not it. That's not an enviable position to be in -- especially when the low end of the spectrum is already taken by capable tablets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
I really think Amazon selling a tablet is just an extension of their already proven Kindle strategy. That actually worries me a bit, in that it may lead them to attempt to lock the device down. I hope I'm wrong though.
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I see their Kindle strategy as something different. In the e-reader space, they sell e-books in a format you can only natively read on the Kindle. Amazon is also much larger in this arena then they are in the tablet space (because they didn't get in early in tablets). They've got name recognition going for them, but they're going up against the Nook and the iPad, both of which have good name recognition in the field, and one of which is pretty much a cultural phenomenon equal to or surpassing the Kindle.
Unless there's something extra special about the Amazon tablet (and a screen with a 180 degree viewing angle isn't going to be it, IMO), they've really set themselves up to be destroyed in the tablet space.