Amazon goes on the offensive with new Kindle Fire ad

By Oliver Haslam on Feb 9, 2012

Amazon has gone on the offensive in the company’s battle for tablet supremacy by taking a price-powered swipe at its only real competition – the iPad.

The ad, which follows similar Kindle ads we have seen by showing a young lady in a bikini reading a book, shows both the new Kindle e-reader and the Android-powered Kindle Fire in use, while taking a stab at the iPad’s lofty price.

Needless to say Amazon’s iPad alternatives come up trumps in the new 30-second spot, with one poor chap finding himself shot down in more than one way when he approaches the woman in question… Read More

 

The Kindle Fire Did Not Affect iPad Sales

By Oliver Haslam on Jan 25, 2012

Amazon’s Kindle Fire was expected to have a detrimental effect on Apple’s iPad sales leading up to the Christmas season, but according to the company’s CEO, that isn’t actually how it panned out.

During Apple’s quarterly earnings call yesterday, new CEO Tim Cook shared that he has been keeping a close eye on iPad sales since the release of Amazon’s competing product just in case it managed to take a bite out of Apple’s sales.

According to Cook, that didn’t actually happen. In fact, the Kindle Fire didn’t affect iPad sales at all… Read More

 

19% of Americans Now Own a Tablet

By Oliver Haslam on Jan 23, 2012

The Christmas period is always one where technology sees a huge increase in sales, and the 2011 holidays were no exception. According to one report, in fact, the Christmas period has seen tablet ownership in the United Stated jump dramatically.

The report, compiled by Pew, shows that tablet ownership amongst US adults rose from 10% to 19% over the holidays, with e-readers also seeing a growth in ownership figures.

Pew’s figures also suggest that there is little overlap between the two… Read More

 

Microsoft Joins the iPad Accessory Game With a $50 Keyboard

By Oliver Haslam on Dec 16, 2011

Microsoft is on something of an Apple jaunt at the moment. The Windows and Office king has already been releasing iOS apps quicker than anyone else over the last few days, and it has now decided to join the lucrative iOS device accessory market with the Mobile Keyboard 5000.

Despite pushing its upcoming Windows 8 as the true tablet operating system, Microsoft has announced a new Bluetooth mobile keyboard for use with the iPad. It will also in theory worth with Android tablets and presumably future Windows 8 devices (it will not work with the Kindle Fire, by the way).

As far as hardware keyboards go, this offering from Microsoft doesn’t look bad at all, assuming you can overlook those Windows keys. Read More

 

Steve Jobs Was Right, Tablet Size Does Matter

By Oliver Haslam on Dec 6, 2011

When Apple decided to bring the iPad to market it came to the conclusion that a 9.7-inch screen was the way to go after testing various different sizes and dimension ratios. Steve Jobs later famously declared that a 7-inch form factor was simply too small to be usable, but that didn’t stop the likes of Samsung and RIM from releasing tablets with a screen that size.

Amazon has recently joined the group of companies to release a tablet, and it also went for the smaller form factor for the Kindle Fire. Was that a wise decision?

According to usability fiend Jakob Nielson, Amazon’s tablet is simply too small to be truly useful, lending credence to what Jobs and Apple have been saying for the last two years… Read More

 

Kindle Fire Becomes One of Best Buy’s Top Selling Tablets… But Wait…

By Sebastien Page on Nov 29, 2011

TechCrunch is reporting that the Kindle Fire is becoming Best Buy’s best -selling tablet.

Amazon’s first foray into the tablet world seems to be a runaway success. The Fire has occupied the top spot on Amazon’s best sellers list for weeks even prior to the device shipping. Now, at Best Buy, the $199 Fire sits higher the 16GB iPad as the top selling device in the hot category. Yep, it’s safe to say that Amazon is well on its way to officially winning the Android tablet wars.

So yes, if you look at it, the Kindle Fire holds the #1 spot. The reality is that there is only one Kindle Fire and there are 12 different iPad 2 models. Mind you, out of the 10 best selling tablets at Best Buy, 5 of them are iPads. At any rate, it’s good news for Amazon.

 

Amazon’s Kindle Fire All Set to be 2nd Only to the iPad

By Oliver Haslam on Nov 21, 2011

The iPad may have had it all its own way since its initial inception last year, but if a new survey is to be believed, then it may finally have some real competition in the form of Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

New data from ChangeWave Research points to Amazon’s first entry into the tablet market being the second most popular tablet on the market, behind, you guessed it, Apple’s iPad.

A November survey of 3,043 people yielded the insight which shows that 22% of those questioned planned on picking up the 7″ Kindle Fire, with 65% aiming to pick up an iPad. Third choice, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, could only garner 4% of the interest… Read More

 

Ask Jeff: Episode X

By Jeff Benjamin on Nov 21, 2011

In the 10th episode of Ask Jeff, I tackle questions pertaining to iPhone theming, iPhone 4S battery solutions, Android tablets, how to attach items to emails, and much, much more.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been 10 episodes, but time flys when you have tons of interesting questions to mull over. Check inside to tune in to episode 10, and be sure to think of some good questions for the next episode… Read More

 

Amazon Expected to Release a KindlePhone Next Year

By Alex Heath on Nov 17, 2011

Amazon recently unveiled the Kindle Fire. The new tablet has seen a fair amount of success, although it’s definitely not an iPad killer. What’s next for Amazon? A phone, of course!

While details on such a device are scarce, it’s believed that Amazon will launch a KindlePhone in 2012. Android is expected to be the operating system of choice… Read More

 

Kindle Fire vs iPad 2: Bootup Times, Web Browsing, and Netflix Streaming

By Jeff Benjamin on Nov 15, 2011

I finally acquired my highly anticipated Kindle Fire this morning, and I’ve been putting it through its paces all day long.

It’s a decent first attempt by Amazon, and it has tons of potential, but it still suffers from the fact that it’s a first generation device.

Even still, we thought it only appropriate to compare Apple’s latest tablet to Kindle Fire. How does the iPad 2 stack up to Amazon’s debut entry into the tablet race? Check out the interesting — yet ultimately unscientific — video comparison inside… Read More

 

Does Apple Need a Low-End Tablet?

By Cody Lee on Nov 15, 2011

For years we’ve talked about the possibility of a lower cost “iPhone Nano” to compliment Apple’s flagship handset. It was argued that the cheaper device would help the Cupertino company address the low-end market, and make inroads with prepaid customers.

Although the rumored Nano wasn’t announced at Apple’s iPhone event last month, Tim Cook’s team did introduce two low-cost handsets: the $99 8GB iPhone 4, and the free iPhone 3GS. The company now covers nearly every smartphone price point possible… Read More

 

Do Device Specs Really Matter Anymore?

By Cody Lee on Nov 15, 2011

There has been one constant among the onslaught of Kindle Fire reviews we’ve seen over the last few days (it launches today): iPad comparisons. Amazon’s new slate has been, and continues to be, constantly compared to Apple’s iPad.

As typical with head-to-head match-ups, reviewers have broken out the spec sheets to see how each device measures up. But do specs even really matter anymore? Several tech writers have been asking this lately, and they’ve been making some valid points… Read More

 

Reviews of the Kindle Fire Start Coming In

By Sebastien Page on Nov 14, 2011

For over a year and half, the iPad has undoubtedly been the king of all tablets. With virtually no competition, it wasn’t too hard for Apple’s tablet to eat a large chunk of the market in a space where no one else seems to get it.

Enter Amazon and the Kindle Fire, a tablet running a version of Android completely tailored to Amazon’s needs, so much so that it doesn’t have anything to pinpoint it as an Android device but the OS name.

The Kindle Fire is officially launching tomorrow, and, as usual, a few tech gurus have had access to the tablet a few days before everyone else. The reviews are coming in, and it’s not as pretty as you’d expect… Read More

 
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