On Wednesday, online retail giant Amazon aimed to set the tablet market on ‘Fire’ with the long-anticipated announcement of the company’s branded tablet dubbed the Kindle Fire. As MMi reported Wednesday morning, the Kindle Fire is an Android-powered tablet that undercuts the majority of competing tablets with its introductory price of $199.
“We’re building premium products at non-premium prices,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said as the new Amazon tablet was introduced. But Amazon stands poised to attract a different type of tablet user than the typical iPad owner. At least that’s according Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities who asserts that the Kindle Fire model reaches a market different from “the market that Apple is addressing.”
So whom is White referring to in this non-Apple market? “Essentially,” White argues, “we believe the Kindle Fire addresses a different market than the iPad 2, a tablet-light user on a tight budget that may not have yet purchased a tablet or already use a Kindle.”
“We find the 7-inch screen too small for a tablet device as Steve Jobs has previously highlighted, while the lack of a 3G connection will keep consumers confined to a Wi-Fi world,” White concludes. “We believe Apple’s long history as both a hardware and software company will continue to drive greater technological innovation in the tablet market versus Amazon. Also, the aesthetics of the Kindle Fire seem tired to us and clearly pale in comparison with the iPad 2.”
Do you think White is correct? Or just might the Kindle Fire extinguish the iPad’s dominance, even if only to a small degree?