[Rumor] Scoot over nook, the Kindle want some of that Android tablet action.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Piper_

Did Bezos say he wasn't going to develop a tablet at all, or that he wasn't going to make a tablet e-reader instead of the eink Kindle?

My recollection is that he said that he's not interested in going into Apple's space (or words to that effect). After the iPad was released, there were a lot of comparisons going around, and he was trying to counter the idea that the Kindle and iPad were competitors.

Frankly, I think Bezos is smarter than to take Apple on in the tablet space. Amazon is a great company, but companies with more technical prowess than Amazon have tried to go against Apple, and they've all (so far) ended up flat on their a**es, in terms of sales.

[kennyc]

I fail to understand why you believe this is a fight between apple and amazon. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apple is nothing compared to Amazon in the book selling market. The intent here is not to compete with the iPad, it is to provide another avenue to sell books.

Amazon does not have a color reader. The nook is kicking butt in that space. The intent here is to offer that option to the kindle community.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I fail to understand why you believe this is a fight between apple and amazon. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apple is nothing compared to Amazon in the book selling market. The intent here is not to compete with the iPad, it is to provide another avenue to sell books.

I understand that. Amazon's intent is to sell books. That's why it would be (IMO) foolish for them to go into the tablet market. They've already got software that runs on Windows 7, iOS, and Android. And WebOS is coming soon. How will selling their own tablet help them sell a single e-book that they couldn't have otherwise sold?

If Amazon releases a tablet, the only purpose for it would be to compete with the iPad. Otherwise, the whole exercise is pointless, as far as I can tell. It would be like a car stereo manufacturer selling cars to increase business.

The most I can see them doing is releasing a color LCD reader that you could turn into an Android tablet (a la Nook Color). That's not a terrible strategy, except that Amazon's gone all in on e-ink devices (for themselves), and there's already a Nook Color on the market.

[kennyc]

None of the existing tablets are kindles

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by kennyc

None of the existing tablets are kindles

All of the existing tablets (except, as I said, the TouchPad, at the moment) are Kindles, to the extent that a tablet can be a Kindle. The biggest differentiator between a Kindle and a tablet running the Kindle software is the e-ink screen, isn't it? If you keep the e-ink screen, it's not going to be much of a tablet, and if you get rid of the e-ink screen, it's just a tablet with an Amazon logo, as far as I can tell.

I just don't see the advantage for Amazon with this.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

All of the existing tablets (except, as I said, the TouchPad, at the moment) are Kindles, to the extent that a tablet can be a Kindle. The biggest differentiator between a Kindle and a tablet running the Kindle software is the e-ink screen, isn't it? If you keep the e-ink screen, it's not going to be much of a tablet, and if you get rid of the e-ink screen, it's just a tablet with an Amazon logo, as far as I can tell.

I just don't see the advantage for Amazon with this.

Because amazon also sells a lot of music, rents and sells a lot of digital video, etc? Remember that Amazon is not just about selling books.

They don't have to make much on such a gadget. They need a tablet or ipod touch clone that they can use to help suck away sales from iTunes.

Why else would they have done the Amazon App store? It's certainly not just to serve people with hacked Android tablets and for people to manually install on phones.

Plus, as a small bonus, they will help fight losing book sales to people who want shiny tablet gadgets for reading (iPad and Nook color owners).

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

They need a tablet or ipod touch clone that they can use to help suck away sales from iTunes.

I think they see those devices as complimentary to their business.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

Because amazon also sells a lot of music, rents and sells a lot of digital video, etc? Remember that Amazon is not just about selling books.

They don't have to make much on such a gadget. They need a tablet or ipod touch clone that they can use to help suck away sales from iTunes.

Why else would they have done the Amazon App store? It's certainly not just to serve people with hacked Android tablets and for people to manually install on phones.

Plus, as a small bonus, they will help fight losing book sales to people who want shiny tablet gadgets for reading (iPad and Nook color owners).

I think the problem with that theory is that they're not losing sales to other devices. Again, they've got software (for music, storage, and books) on every device imaginable. They've even got their hooks into the iPad. They've got all kinds of platform-agnostic software. I don't see what they need their own device for. They're already accessible on everyone else's.

And if you were releasing a tablet, would you really want everyone to be able to access your app store, regardless of whether or not they own your tablet? The beauty of the Android Market is that it basically doesn't care what hardware you run it on, as long as you're running the right version of Android. And you can even get the Market working on devices that Google didn't intend it to run on (like the Craig tablet I bought). If Amazon was seriously considering releasing their own device, they'd put the Android Market on it. They wouldn't bother with their own, and then release it for everyone to use.

It's cheaper and easier (and leaves them less vulnerable) if they let people buy Kindle books on someone else's tablet.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by =X=

Personally I don't think Apple is their concern. I think it's really is B&N. With B&N having more than 3Million ereaders(mini android tablets) and an app store on it's way they are very concerned.

I tend to agree with that. Face it, while everyone is chasing Apple for a share of the tablet market, they're all forgetting one thing - their tablets are all overpriced and don't serve the average consumer. A $250 Android tablet like a rooted Nook Color or Amazon's hinted at tablet are all the average person needs. Most people don't conduct business on laptops/tablets. All they need is a portable entertainment device with net access at WiFi hotspots.

I really hope Amazon produces one. We need more quality tablets in this price range. Something that will more than serve the needs of the average person.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

Because amazon also sells a lot of music, rents and sells a lot of digital video, etc? Remember that Amazon is not just about selling books.

They don't have to make much on such a gadget. They need a tablet or ipod touch clone that they can use to help suck away sales from iTunes.

Why else would they have done the Amazon App store? It's certainly not just to serve people with hacked Android tablets and for people to manually install on phones.

Plus, as a small bonus, they will help fight losing book sales to people who want shiny tablet gadgets for reading (iPad and Nook color owners).

And they have android app store, the cloud (where you can store your music for free) anyone thinking of books, videos, etc.?

They need a color tablet for magazines/color books/comics/etc.

They are experimenting with advertised supported kindles -- this likely plays into the mix as well...

They just announced library lending...

etc.

etc.

etc.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

I think the problem with that theory is that they're not losing sales to other devices. Again, they've got software (for music, storage, and books) on every device imaginable. They've even got their hooks into the iPad. They've got all kinds of platform-agnostic software. I don't see what they need their own device for. They're already accessible on everyone else's.

And if you were releasing a tablet, would you really want everyone to be able to access your app store, regardless of whether or not they own your tablet? The beauty of the Android Market is that it basically doesn't care what hardware you run it on, as long as you're running the right version of Android. And you can even get the Market working on devices that Google didn't intend it to run on (like the Craig tablet I bought). If Amazon was seriously considering releasing their own device, they'd put the Android Market on it. They wouldn't bother with their own, and then release it for everyone to use.

It's cheaper and easier (and leaves them less vulnerable) if they let people buy Kindle books on someone else's tablet.

How many i-people buy from iTunes, and how many do you think buy from Apple? Seriously? Amazon mp3 does have pretty decent iTunes integration...but still.

If they had their own wildly popular tablet, with perfect Amazon integration, you think that wouldn't work better than selling Kindle books and music to iTunes users?

It's the same reason that most Apple users buy content from iTunes - far, far, far more than anywhere else - the gadgets are streamlined and designed to encourage them buying from iTunes. I'm sure Amazon would like a piece the same thing.

Just like B&N, they can make a tablet with a very thin profit margin, and make lots of money on content. Except even more than B&N because they have Kindle books, music, movies - far more content than B&N - and by preloading and actively encouraging Amazon customers to use Amazon services and buy Amazon content.

Since the minute they officially announced their own Android marketplace, it's been incredibly obvious a tablet gadget is forthcoming. It's just a matter of time.

[carld]

If Amazon made a 10 inch Android tablet I'd have to seriously consider it over an iPad 2. Unfortunately, from looking at the nook color, I think a 7-incher would be too small for my eyes.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

How many i-people buy from iTunes, and how many do you think buy from Apple? Seriously? Amazon mp3 does have pretty decent iTunes integration...but still.

If Amazon was thinking of a tightly-integrated, vertical solution, their cloud music player makes no sense. Everything about every move they've made so far has screamed, "We don't care whose device you use." Why would they change that now?

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

If they had their own wildly popular tablet, with perfect Amazon integration, you think that wouldn't work better than selling Kindle books and music to iTunes users?

AFAIK, selling Kindle books to iPad/iPhone/iPod users has been working out pretty damn well for them. I don't expect them to get much of the iTunes music market, whatever they do. I think they've been going for the people who don't use iTunes for music. Again, if you can make your app available on multiple platforms, why wouldn't you do that, rather than producing another "me too" tablet that's almost certainly not going to come close to the iPad in features and/or price? Sure, they could produce a $250 Nook-like reader, and let people turn it into a tablet, but the world's already got one of those, and it's been clear for some time now that Amazon didn't want to go the LCD e-reader route. If they'd wanted to, they could've put out such a device after the Nook Color was released.

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

It's the same reason that most Apple users buy content from iTunes - far, far, far more than anywhere else - the gadgets are streamlined and designed to encourage them buying from iTunes. I'm sure Amazon would like a piece the same thing.

What's more profitable: Releasing your app on every platform imaginable to let people download from Amazon, or releasing a tablet with the same software on it that only lets you download from that tablet?

You're talking about out-Appleing Apple. Has that ever worked for anyone? Ever?

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

Just like B&N, they can make a tablet with a very thin profit margin, and make lots of money on content. Except even more than B&N because they have Kindle books, music, movies - far more content than B&N - and by preloading and actively encouraging Amazon customers to use Amazon services and buy Amazon content.

The nature of Android dilutes that advantage, though. What do a lot of people have installed on their rooted Nook Colors? Kindle software. It makes more sense to me to release software for multiple platforms than it does to release a tablet where any other software can encroach on your platform.

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

Since the minute they officially announced their own Android marketplace, it's been incredibly obvious a tablet gadget is forthcoming. It's just a matter of time.

We shall see. Releasing an app store for any Android phone or tablet to use fits more with their "Get our content from anywhere" philosophy than it does with a "Get our content only through our devices" philosophy. If they were going that route, I think they would've released the market on the tablet simultaneous to the tablet's release. With the exception of the Kindle (which I think makes perfect sense, because I think they're in the e-book business first and foremost) their approach seems to be device-agnostic. While an Amazon tablet would be a cool idea from a gadget fan perspective, I don't think it makes sense for Amazon.

[Giggleton]

It's about planning for multiple scenarios. If some hardware manufacturers decide to go into full lockdown mode, Amazon might need to flood the market with tablets within 6 months, predeveloped prototypes would be needed for this to happen.