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

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The field may be crowded in the overpriced business range (iPad, Galaxy Tab, Xoom, PlayBook, etc), but it sure isn't crowded in the consumer range (Nook Color).

We need more $250 tablets. Amazon would be wise to exploit this open market.

(sorry, fresh out of karma)

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The field may be crowded in the overpriced business range (iPad, Galaxy Tab, Xoom, PlayBook, etc), but it sure isn't crowded in the consumer range (Nook Color).

We need more $250 tablets. Amazon would be wise to exploit this open market.

I think it's going to get a lot more crowded there, too. You can already get a tablet for $100. It might not be a Nook Color, but it'll work for a lot of people. I think there's going to be a whole range of tablets at different price points with varying capabilities. I don't think the mere fact that you slap an Amazon logo on a Galaxy Tab means they're going to sell 100,000 of the things. Not unless you sell them for a Kindle 3/3G price or below. And manufacturing isn't magic. There's only so low you can go without it becoming not worth the effort.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

So in succinct terms: why does Amazon need it's own media device/tablet?
...
And why don't the other Android Phones/Tablets work for them?

And also. Remember that Apple is pushing to take a big hunk out of in-app purchases. Why depend on another company that wants to take a share of your money when you are big and powerful enough to do it yourself?

With Amazon's appstore, they make money on apps from other people (like Amazon and Google). That's surely the position Amazon wants to be in. A marketplace for others. Not a seller conforming to other's rules and giving part of your profits to someone else.

Imagine that, an Amazon marketplace where they are the provider of service and multiple vendors sell, and Amazon makes a profit on it all. Man, where have we heard of that?

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The field may be crowded in the overpriced business range (iPad, Galaxy Tab, Xoom, PlayBook, etc), but it sure isn't crowded in the consumer range (Nook Color).

We need more $250 tablets. Amazon would be wise to exploit this open market.

That's exactly it. You can either spend a ton for a business range tab, or spend about $100 for a cheap tab with a resistive screen but there's nothing like the Nook Color out there.

We need more mid-priced tabs with a good screen - and except for the NC (which needs rooting if you want to take full advantage) there just aren't any out there.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Whatever they do, I hope there's at least a WiFi only model. Most people don't need 3G and the fees associated with it.

As to 3G, I don't see why any tablet maker has to partner with a provider. Just include the capability and let the consumers seek out their own plans.

One of the reasons for partnering with a provider was to bring the initial price of those tablets down into a range that was competitive with the iPad.

When the "no contract" pricing of those tablets were announced, people were quite surprised at how much more expensive they were than the iPad.

I'm curious as to how Amazon produces a tablet. On the one hand, they like to keep things tightly locked down (as is seen by the Kindle). On the other hand, they have a rapidly growing Android market of their own that could really integrate nicely with a rumored Amazon tablet.

Personally, I'd like to see Amazon and B&N team up.

[Barty]

Everybody says what a hit the nook color has been and I don't have reasons to doubt it, but are there published numbers?

[OtterBooks]

bhartman's take on this makes sense to me. I don't see why Amazon would risk competing in a market saturated with options, rather than just entering the market by proxy which is what they've been doing. However, just because I can't conceive of it, doesn't mean Amazon doesn't have something up their sleeve that we don't expect.

I don't think Amazon is just content focused, though. As I understand it, Kindle generates huge revenue from hardware sales, and was almost exclusively hardware revenue for a while. Amazon has also been dipping into the computer/AV hardware market. They make Amazon branded cables, accessories, and even some devices like a soon to be released Amazon external DVD drive (that one kinda surprised me.) Then this cloud business...

I don't know what to expect from this company.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Barty

Everybody says what a hit the nook color has been and I don't have reasons to doubt it, but are there published numbers?

Nothing from B&N recently. This one source says they shipped 3 million units since launch. Of course, shipped units doesn't mean sold units.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/28/no...or-3m-shipped/

[ps249]

Bezos needs to eat a plate of Crow. At first he scoffed at B&N for using the lend me program- which Amazon now uses. Amazon is getting the library lending feature. I would not doubt Amazon goes the route of the tablet reader. Amazon seems to be playing catch-up....

[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by kennyc

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.

So Amazon's trying to settle into a niche. But with tablets squeezing into the ereader market from one end, and the Nook Color pushing into the tablet market from the other, that niche is starting to resemble a cubbyhole.

Remember how a year ago the Kindle was riding the crest of a media feeding frenzy into the hearts and minds of mainstream America? All the Kindle-buzz has been drowned out in the tablet roar of the past six months, and if the media aren't talking about it, people aren't thinking about it. Sure, to those of us at MR, the iPad ain't an ereader, but to most consumers it's a distinction without a difference. For Joe Sixpack, eink reading experiences and three-week battery life just aren't compelling reasons to forgo tablets for a device that just reads books and, that, frankly, just isn't as cool as it used to be. No one oohs and aahs over your Kindle on the subway any more because they're all too busy going gaga over that iPad2 three seats back. In the gadgets-and-devices market, the Kindle is last quarter's news.

In short, both technologically (as the Nook Color demonstrates) and as a business model, the dedicated ereader distinction is quickly becoming unsustainable. Price drops have forced ereaders down into commodity territory, and manufacturers have been exiting the arena for a year now. The market isn't consolidating, folks, it's asphyxiating.

--Nathanael

[djulian]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

And also. Remember that Apple is pushing to take a big hunk out of in-app purchases. Why depend on another company that wants to take a share of your money when you are big and powerful enough to do it yourself?

This right here has to be the reason.

Amazon stands to lose something like 30% of every book sold on an iPad through their app and it's very likely that Apple will do the same if people try to buy Amazon .mp3's (if Apple will even allow that--I'd be surprised, Apple tends to lock things down pretty tightly when they threaten iTunes).

If they can provide a competing tablet which draws away iPad's media users (if it offers Amazon Video, mp3, books, etc), then they might as well. Better profit margin on sales, additional sales, no loss at all. If they leave things as they are, they just continue to lose profit and possibly sales.

[grumpy3b]

So sorry this turned out so long, but some of it is stuff that just bugs me no end so I vented a bit.

Look, why is a slate device important to Amazon? Because they sell media content other than text in monochrome books. With their on-demand video and music this should not take a rocket scientist to connect the dots.

In fact the move by Apple in their app store was far more likely to have been a preemptive strike against AMAZON than for any other reason. I am sure Jobs is well aware of what Amazon's next move should be and that is to get their content to their customers as fast and in as portable fashion as possible. So Apple decided to drop the hammer on their cut of the pie just because a consumer is using an device that consumer paid for already. But Apple expects their quite usury cut from the sweetest part of the pie.

I would go so far as to postulate that Apple planned this move all along. Apple's plan was very likely to rely on getting consumers hooked on using an iOS device to the point that if an app from a given vendor suddenly went missing the consumer would actually side with Apple and hold the content provider as the villain. By wording their developer agreement the way they did then not saying much of anything about the apps they let slide through the approval process, mind most of the larger (read more popular) approved apps were already in violation in how they circumvented the in-app purchase requirement, but because they represented a potential source of income later Apple accidently-on-purpose let them slide through approval. Then after the fact when Apple is aware of which apps will generate the most income to Apple they selective lower the "it's in the agreement" hammer. Apple is not going to push it on the small app developer but those developers need to take notice that if their app does begin to generate a fair revenue stream that Apple will send the jack-booted folks to collect their tithe or banish them for failing to deliver an app within the terms of the developer agreement. Apple of course say that all the developer has to do is add in-app purchasing that works via the Apple iTunes App store and the developer chose not to so it's not our (apple's) fault. Hey good for Apple if they can get that money. Business is business, it's nothing else. But it's not pretty to see on this scale.

Nobody can defend Apple's move in this area. It's like Maytag demanding a $1 for every load you run through the washer you already paid for. But in this case Apple is doing an end around on the potential consumer backlash for this double dipping. Apple is instead hammering the content provider. This was reason enough to take iPad completely out of potential devices for me. I do not care to support Apple in any fashion because they...never mind that part is too far OT.

Back to Amazon, nobody in this tread has brought up the fact Amazon bought company with a really spiffy touch screen technology last year. It's been mentioned in other threads several times on MR but never was it more germane than here in this thread when discussing the idea of an Amazon slate device. Let me say this simply, Amazon did not buy this company, roll it directly and immediately into their Kindle Skunkworks, lab126(?), to have it wither and die on the vine. The are building a tablet and likely a whole new family of devices all with the idea of attracting more buyers of their content.

It would make no sense in this day for Amazon to trust other companies are not going to try and adopt the same model as Apple. If Apple can get away with it, anyone can and will. So Amazon in developing a slate device is actually doing so out of self preservation than anything else. Additionally I know I need a color device for some of the content I would like to shift from print to ebook format. I was hoping to eventually see the creation of some sort of EPD-LCD hybrid that addresses power as well as the need for a lighted device at times. I still feel we'll see them, only it will be a few years yet. Sadly PixelQi seems stalled for some reason, probably licensing issues.

Anyway, sorry this was long but after reading the thread it's obvious this is a complicated situation. I do wonder about a Samsung device since doesn't Samsung build the iPad or a good portion of it already? And isn't Apple suing Samsung for some patent thing? Sadly since Jobs was obviously beaten up a lot as a child, his main tactic has been to take everyone to court when the refuse to bend over or to his will. Perhaps that might have been the bear Apple did not want to poke and it's time one of the bears poked back. Maybe that bear is going to be Samsung and who better to team up with than Amazon who will never try and stab them in the back as Apple seems to be attempting.

I just want a nice general use computing slate device with full color. If Amazon builds one I will give it a lot of consideration. But I am not like Apple people, I will look at what it fails to provide and decide if I personally need the items left off the brag sheet rather than letting someone else tell me what I need.

[RockdaMan]

This article backs up the premise of many here:

You’ve probably noticed that virtually every PC and phone maker is rushing to put out a tablet this year. The iPad has been a huge hit for Apple, and nobody wants to miss the boat if it’s not just Apple’s individual product but the entire category of slate-style devices really starts to take off.

The latest approach is to create a software and hardware ecosystem so that if you buy all Acer products, for instance, you get more out of the experience.

Amazon already offers its own app store, eBook store, MP3 music store, and a cloud storage service which lets you upload your music collection to the web and listen on an Android device.

What would set an Amazon tablet apart from a Sony, HP, or Acer device is the fact that Amazon has already built a strong ecosystem for purchasing and accessing media across a variety of platforms. Instead of trying to build one from scratch to work with existing hardware, Amazon may be taking the opposite approach of building hardware to showcase its software...

http://liliputing.com/2011/04/why-ev...wont-work.html