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The 'tablet war' heats up with the Kindle Fire
The new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet is displayed at a press conference in New York, September 28, 2011.
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Steve Chiotakis: In a little over an hour, Amazon will introduce its new tablet computer. It's really an updated Kindle, its electronic reader. The new gadget will be called the Kindle "Fire." Like BlackBerry, Lenovo and Samsung, Amazon is gonna try to take on the Apple's iPad. But Amazon is looking to protect itself as well.
Marketplace's New York Bureau Chief Heidi Moore is with us live to talk about it now. Morning Heidi.
Heidi Moore: Morning, Steve.
Chiotakis: What does the market for tablets look like right now? Why would Amazon get into this?
Moore: The market for tablets can be described in four letters: "iPad." Apple's iPad has a lot of fans -- so many fans, in fact, that the company dominates the market for tablet computers. For every 10 tablets sold in America, seven of them are iPads. Almost every other computer company has come out with a tablet, but they don't sell.
I talked to Roger Kay. He's the founder of Endpoint Technology Associates.
Roger Kay: Many have tried and many have failed in the tablet wars. So Amazon comes to a field already littered with bodies.
Chiotakis: So then -- littered with bodies -- why is Amazon even trying?
Moore: Well they have to go out on that field -- they don't have a choice. Amazon has to take on the iPad or see its customers just walk out the door.
Here's Kay again.
Kay: The main thing is that it's a defensive move in the sense that it doesn't want Apple, which offers a Kindle app, to take away its customers.
Still, it's a long shot. Apple announced a new iPhone next week, actually -- on Monday. And the company has a way of upstaging its rivals, as we know.
Chiotakis: As we do know. Marketplace's Heidi Moore in New York. Heidi, thanks.
Moore: Thank you, Steve.
I have a Kindle and an iPad; I use the iPad for everything and the Kindle for when I need (a) something smaller, (b) to not worry as much about whether it will get damaged or stolen, like at the beach or pool, or (c) to let someone else use my iPad, whether it's letting my kids play a game or my husband check the scores. I firmly believe that Amazon should stick with the Kindle and making improvements to it and not try to be the next iPad. I don't think they can beat the iPad and i think there are plenty of people like me that will use both. In fact, the iPad Kindle app has been key to my keeping the Kindle.
"MOORE: Well they have to go out on that field -- they don't have a choice. Amazon has to take on the iPad or see its customers just walk out the door."
I couldn't disagree more. Amazon's profits on e-readers are not from sales of the readers themselves, but the books bought in what is by far the largest e-book marketplace. Purchases made on amazon.com sync automatically no matter the device, and so I imagine that ipad sales have actually been a boon for kindle apps and likewise kindle books. I don't think that they have to enter the tablet market at all.
