Amazon Ordered Color Kindle Tablets, Expected Before Holidays

[John F]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

No, it was not a joke. Amazon in general is considered to have some of the best CS out there. Sounds like the Vine program has their own Rep and I can't comment on that, but don't see what it has to do with their Kindle Support folks.

...

I'm a Prime member, and I would say their service is average. I have to contact them a couple times a year, and usually get the run around.

IMO.

[boswd]

I take all customer service stories with a grain of salt. Customer service is only as good as your own experience.

For as many stories of people complaining you have 10X as many who have had happy experiences. And 90% of the time the people complaining are usually leaving out major pieces of information that might make them look like they don't have a case and/or expect the world to bow down to their every whim.

People don't seek out forums to say " Wow I just had great service."

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by boswd

I take all customer service stories with a grain of salt. Customer service is only as good as your own experience.

For as many stories of people complaining you have 10X as many who have had happy experiences. And 90% of the time the people complaining are usually leaving out major pieces of information that might make them look like they don't have a case and/or expect the world to bow down to their every whim.

People don't seek out forums to say " Wow I just had great service."

actually we HAVE had people come into the kindle forums for the first time for EXACTLY that reason! we have had numerous first posts saying along the lines of; "first time here, had a broken kindle, called CS, had a new one the next day...." or something very similar. and these are not one trick ponies, they have hung around and become active in the forums. on the other hand, afaik, we have only had a very few bad stories, and usually those were agenda driven and more than likely not terribly truthful

[astrodad]

Count me in those who have worked with Amazon CS and have a GREAT experience. It's one of the reasons why we decided to upgrade to a K2 and keep our prime membership.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

actually we HAVE had people come into the kindle forums for the first time for EXACTLY that reason! we have had numerous first posts saying along the lines of; "first time here, had a broken kindle, called CS, had a new one the next day...." or something very similar. and these are not one trick ponies, they have hung around and become active in the forums. on the other hand, afaik, we have only had a very few bad stories, and usually those were agenda driven and more than likely not terribly truthful

That's good to hear. I know my wife love's BN's customer service. She was an early adopter and got her's within a month of it's release. She was a victum of the early design flaw that caused the page tuning arrow to crack. She called CS, was on within a couple of mins. They said, Ok, sent her a brand new nook in the mail that came two days later, with a return box for her broken nook. So she was never without it.

If you ask my wife what she thinks about BN's CS she'll say it's fantastic.
So CS is as only as good as your own experience.

[PG4003]

I know nobody knows for sure, but what's a guess as to the price of an Amazon tablet?

[TheJohnNewton]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

As I've said, the argument that they've got a lot of services they can push to a tablet is a little bit weak. Any Android tablet, including a $100 Chinese knockoff, can access the same applications once you root it (which you would probably have to do with the Amazon tablet anyway).

Basically, the problem I see for Amazon is that they're reduced to selling to people who haven't already been sold on the Nook Color, and if they can't discount the price significantly, I don't see what's going to bring these people into the fold.

There were ereaders before the Kindle but the Kindle seemed to really make them take off. Why? IMO, because of the Amazon name plus how easy they made the experience. Turn it on, buy book, read, done. I think they could be successful doing the exact same with an Amazon tablet. Buy it, turn it on, buy apps/ebooks/videso/music, use them, done. One stop shop at a store you know and trust. The typical user they would be after would have no need or desire to root. Everything they want would be at Amazon out of the box. These are not people who would buy NC to root them they are average Amazon customers who would like a Kindle that can do more.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by PG4003

I know nobody knows for sure, but what's a guess as to the price of an Amazon tablet?

Depends on if it's meant to compete directly with the Nook Color or if it's more meant to compete directly with the iPad and 10" Android tablets.

[PG4003]

Originally Posted by TheJohnNewton

There were ereaders before the Kindle but the Kindle seemed to really make them take off. Why? IMO, because of the Amazon name plus how easy they made the experience. Turn it on, buy book, read, done. I think they could be successful doing the exact same with an Amazon tablet. Buy it, turn it on, buy apps/ebooks/videso/music, use them, done. One stop shop at a store you know and trust. The typical user they would be after would have no need or desire to root. Everything they want would be at Amazon out of the box. These are not people who would buy NC to root them they are average Amazon customers who would like a Kindle that can do more.

LOL, you just described me

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Amazon's customer service maybe?

I can't see that as a reason to buy a device. Any device. It's always good to have good customer service, but if you need customer service for your device, the device already failed, to some degree.

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I personally hope it isn't something to compete with the NookColor specs wise. The NC is nice for what it is, but it could use more horsepower when used as a full tablet. It would be nice if Amazon's tablet were bigger than the NC, but priced less than the iPad.

This is a big problem for Amazon. The Nook Color is an e-reader you can turn into a decent tablet. That's why it's not expensive. If Amazon releases a tablet that's actually a tablet (not just an e-reader you can turn into a tablet) that's going to mean it needs to have higher specs, be unlocked, and maybe even run Android Honeycomb. Naturally, they'd end up with a good tablet, but they wouldn't end up with something that could compete with the Nook Color on price. It would probably be priced more like an unsubsidized Galaxy Tab.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Honestly, I've never considered the utility of tits on a boarhog.

You are wasting your spare time.

[Richey79]

Originally Posted by TheJohnNewton

I'd bet a newborn boarhog would find them quite useful.

The male of the species doesn't tend to lactate. How useful would a newborn baby find your parched dugs?

Unless TheJohnNewton is built ... differently.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by PG4003

I know nobody knows for sure, but what's a guess as to the price of an Amazon tablet?

Too many variables.

For example, size. What if the Kablet is the size of the KDX? Drives the price up. But if it's a six incher, keeps the price down.

Or take touchscreen. That drives the price up. But what if they continue with the button/drivestick setup? Keeps the price down.

But if you look at market segment positioning, I'd guess they will produce something that they can sell for $225-275. They might even have two models - a low end with wifi only, and a high end with wifi & 3g.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Too many variables.

For example, size. What if the Kablet is the size of the KDX? Drives the price up. But if it's a six incher, keeps the price down.

Or take touchscreen. That drives the price up. But what if they continue with the button/drivestick setup? Keeps the price down.

But if you look at market segment positioning, I'd guess they will produce something that they can sell for $225-275. They might even have two models - a low end with wifi only, and a high end with wifi & 3g.

awesome!

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Too many variables.

For example, size. What if the Kablet is the size of the KDX? Drives the price up. But if it's a six incher, keeps the price down.

Or take touchscreen. That drives the price up. But what if they continue with the button/drivestick setup? Keeps the price down.

But if you look at market segment positioning, I'd guess they will produce something that they can sell for $225-275. They might even have two models - a low end with wifi only, and a high end with wifi & 3g.

I can't picture them producing a tablet without a touchscreen. In what sense is a computer a tablet, without a touchscreen?

I think the sweet spot for a tablet has to be at least 7". The 5" tablets I've seen have gotten some criticism for being between a tablet and a smartphone in size, and I think 6" isn't a significant enough difference there.