THE KINDLE FIRE – A NEW GADGET NICHE IS BORN!

Okay boys and girls, I’ve been a little quiet on the blog lately, but I’m ready to get back to work and chat it up about the new Kindle Fire by Amazon. I’m very bullish about this device, and I’ll tell you why…

First of all, Amazon hit my hot button with the price of this device. At $199, I’m already thinking of adding this to my Christmas list. I would be happy to get this alone… well, and maybe a 6-pack of fresh Fruit-Of-The-Looms, because that’s always a great score on Christmas morning.

Amazon actually surprised me with the price point. I really saw this coming out with a $249 price tag. That would have made it quite a profitable device. But at $199, reports from the Wall Street Journal state that Amazon is only bringing in a profit of $50 per device sold. I am impressed that they sacrificed front-end profits to get the device in more people’s hands by making it affordable.

I think it’s very fair that Amazon make a profit on this device, even though U still believe they could pull it off as a loss-leader (as I once predicted and wrote about). But this price will keep Amazon in business. I’m glad to see that they aren’t going to do an Hewlett Packard-like move and give these things away for a loss. We see where that got HP.

But the new Fire tablet will be something of a revenue generator for Amazon, because they are the kings of content. If they sell this device, they’ll continue to profit from that original sale even though there’s no continuing contract to go with it. Amazon has over 18,000,000 (yes, 18 million) items you can spend your money on that the Fire will be able to utilize.

You will be able to buy books, magazines, games, special applications, MP3’s, and more using this device, and you don’t even have to worry about local storage. You’ll get to keep everything in the Amazon Cloud storage space for free. Not bad at all.

What also impresses me is that Amazon isn’t trying to make this a traditional tablet computer per se, like the Barnes & Noble Nook Color (a great low-priced Android tablet device). This little gadget is going to be running on an Android kernel, but from what I am reading, it’s really geared towards connecting with Amazon’s own content with its own custom interface. I think that was a smart move.

For people like me who aren’t looking for a powerful computer-tablet like the iPad, this is perfect. I don’t really have a use for any type of tablet computer that my computer will cover, or a laptop. Without a keyboard, I just see tablets as completely impractical. But I’ve said it since day one, if a tablet came around at a cheap enough price, I would jump on one for using as a reading device or video content provider.

I use my iPhone 4 to read tech blogs each and every day, and I use the iBooks app plus the Barnes & Noble Nook app to read books, magazines, and other special reports. But the screen on my iPhone is just too small. I’ve often complained about that, and I want a smartphone with a jumbo screen to serve as a better reading device.

I also use my iPhone 4 to watch a lot of video content. I stay so busy that I don’t get to watch TV much at all. I watch more movies and television shows on my Netflix app than I do on the LCD TV in my family room. But I’ve just dumped my Netflix account because I don’t even watch enough video content to justify the $7.99 monthly fee.

With Amazon’s Kindle Fire, I would be much better off watching movies or television shows on a one-time basis with all of the $0.99 special rentals. I would possibly even opt for the Amazon Prime service for $79 a year, because that would give me much more content than Netflix at an even lower price (not to mention free 2-day shipping on certain items bought at Amazon).

For tapping into an even more infinite content source, the Kindle Fire has its very own optimized “cloud accelerated split browser” called Silk. It’s supposed to run faster for this device than an ordinary HTML browser, but I guess we’ll have to wait to see that in action before we get too excited about it. But with the Kindle Fire being Flash enabled, that too will make it a very usable device for web surfing.

Lastly, I’m impressed with the dual core processor and the high res 7″ capacitive touch screen display that doles out 16 million colors and in-plane switching (IPS) capability for viewing at extreme angles (it’s supposed to be as good as an iPad in that regard). I think there’s plenty of CPU and memory horsepower that you won’t have much of a problem zipping through applications and web content.

Overall, I would say that the Kindle Fire would have great utility for me. It’s small enough that I could take it everywhere, and I would be able to access the Cloud through its wireless capability for no extra Internet charges. Who knows… maybe I’ll pre-order one like my co-worker and fellow gadget addict Engineer Dan did today. It’s supposed to ship out in November, just in time for the holiday season.

I guess they’re not going for the “iPad killer” strategy here. It looks like both the Kindle Fire and the iPad 2 (or 3) can coexist without being in direct competition with each other. But it’s really gonna be lights out in my opinion for anyone else trying to bring a new tablet concept to market with Apple dominating the high-end and Amazon now locking up the low-cost end.

So I say BRAVO Amazon! I’m loving what you’re doing! Maybe I’ll be a proud Kindle Fire owner by the end of the year!

What are your thoughts about the Kindle Fire? Do you think Amazon will lock up the lower-end tablet market with this device? Is this something you would find great use for? Or is it too narrowly focused on the gigantic Amazon content farm? Let me know what you think!

Carlton Flowers
Hot For Kindle Fire

AND NOW FOR A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS…

Just kidding, but I’ve always wanted to say that! As you all know, the CZ Blog is a proud promotional partner of Amazon.com. I’m thankful to promote items on Amazon to help fund the continuing costs of running the blog site. So if you would like to pre-order and purchase your Kindle Fire like Engineer Dan so easily did, please click the link below and jump to Amazon right now and get ‘er done!

Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi

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IS HP REALLY THIS GRACIOUS, OR ARE WE ALL BEING PLAYED?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I thought that HP executives were either incompetent or stupid when they decided to jettison the entire TouchPad inventory for less than market value before even giving the device a chance.

I have been scratching my head ever since.

Why would a company as successful as HP make so many stupid moves in such a short period of time?

Why would HP spend $1.2 billion on webOS only to mothball it and liquidate the first legitimate webOS device?

To add to the madness, HP just announced that it will be ordering up 100,000 to 200,000 more TouchPads to sell at a loss again!

Their reasoning?

They don’t want to leave the parts suppliers hanging with all that extra unused inventory.

When was the last time a company in distress made a decision to continue losing money just to help their suppliers? It just does not happen!

The more this whole ridiculous situation develops, the less it makes sense.

That is, unless we are the ones being played for stupid…

I’m sorry folks, but I am not falling for this.

We just read reports of HP losing over two hundred bucks a pop each time a TouchPad is sold at the $99 and $149 price.

I am very gullible, I will admit… but not that gullible that I would believe that HP would volunteer to lose another $41.2 million ($206 x 200,000 orders) just to help ease their suppliers off the barbed financial fishhook.

Personally, I think there could be a bit of guerrilla marketing strategy going on here. Do you think this is a coincidence that HP is flooding the market with a high quality tablet at a price that undercuts the Apple iPad by as much as $500? What do you think this will do for iPad 3 pricing?

I don’t think this is a coincidence at all. I think someone at HP has a master plan, and they are going for the Apple jugular.

Well that is my official master techno-conspiracy theory interpretation of this series of events. Have I lost my marbles?

Carlton Flowers
Flat World Society

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HP CONTINUES TO BAFFLE AS TOUCHPAD LIGHTS UP THE WORLD IN SALES

I had high hopes that HP would make sense of their decision to jettison the HP TouchPad last weekend while slashing the price to $99. Unfortunately, they have released not a single valid reason to back up their decision, and they still look… stupid.

You’ve got to hand it to HP… they obviously did their homework and did extensive market research and product launch planning to make this happen (for those who didn’t catch it, that was pure sarcasm).

The TouchPad was slated to be released for $599 (32Gb version) and $499 (16Gb version) to compete with the iPad. So what do they do after all of the buildup? Slash the prices to $149 and $99 respectively, after deciding to dump the entire line. Makes a whole heckuva lot of sense to me.

Check out this post from iSuppli as they break down the cost of making the TouchPad. These things cost $306 and $328 to manufacture! That means they are losing $207 and $179 for each and every sale at the rock bottom get-rid-of-the-inventory-fast price.

I guess HP is in the business of giving away money. Maybe they should be commended for their act of goodwill, for flooding the market with a great device at an amazing price at the expense of the company. As a matter of fact, if I’m not mistaken, I believe the TouchPad has become the top selling computer device this week as a result.

So to walk away from this entire fiasco with no benefit whatsoever, I can only conclude that the leadership of Hewlett Packard company is stupid. That, or just plain ole incompetent.

After seeing such an overwhelming response to the sale of the TouchPad, why not rethink dropping the line? Surely the thought has crossed someone’s mind at HP, after seeing what the devices are selling for on the secondary market. Since my last report, the TouchPad sales are still going strong on eBay, Craigslist and other sites and they are fetching $250 to even $350 a pop.

The secondary market has shown us what the corrected value is for this product. That proves the fact that the sweet spot for a good tablet device that is running a nice operating system (like Android) is somewhere between $250 and $350 right now. Some people predicted that the demand for tablets at any price above $99 would be destroyed by the liquidation, but it has not.

Right now I am wishing that I was one of the lucky people who sat on the phone for hours with HP, waiting in line to be rewarded with a $99 TouchPad. I have a friend who picked up 3 of them, in fact. He is a former iPad owner, and a big fan of webOS. What a lucky guy.

Will HP rethink their decision and salvage the TouchPad after analyzing this entire mess? Share your thoughts!

Carlton Flowers
$99 Tablet Proponent

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HP DUMPS THE TOUCHPAD – JETTISONS INVENTORY FOR $99 A POP

Either I am stupid, or HP has lost their minds with what has just transpired concerning the HP TouchPad tablet and webOS. Either I am missing some key pieces of the story, or HP has some serious problems in their immediate future.

The company announced that they were dumping webOS powered TouchPad tablet this past weekend due to disappointing sales and the inability to compete with the Apple iPad.

To get rid of the inventory of the first round of TouchPads that were produced, they had a fire sale and cut the price to $99 and caused somewhat of a stampede. Why they chose to sell them for such a cheap price is beyond me. Personally, I think they’re stupid. Why?

Because they never tested the price before making their decision. As soon as the TouchPads hit stores for $99, they were popping up on sites like eBay and Craigslist selling for $200 to $300 each. If you go to eBay right now, you’ll see what I am talking about. They are selling quite strongly at a price more than double of what they unloaded them for.

Who didn’t do their market research and homework at HP before sticking the flea market price tag of $99 on the TouchPad? Somebody would get fired for such an irresponsible business decision if it were up to me. That’s just appalling. It tells me that HP must have money to burn.

You want the real shocker? Get this… HP will be sending a refund check for $300 to any an all customers that bought a TouchPad at the retail price of $399 before the crazy price drop.

Fire sale, then retroacive refund? It’s like they’re saying “we’re too stupid to sell this at the price the device is valued at, and we want to give away all the money we made when we had it priced correctly”.

What the flip is that???

Does HP just not care about the success of their company? Or are they punishing themselves for the massive flop of their new operating system, “webOS”, and the TouchPad tablet? I just don’t get it.

First of all, it seems crazy to me that HP spent $1.2 billion for the Palm company as recently as April of 2010 only to throw in the towel a little over a year later. I guess everyone makes mistakes. But dumping the inventory of their new device at a price less than half of the market value after giving up on it? That is pure stupidity.

If I were a stockholder for HP, I’d be asking for heads right about now. Was this not a completely reckless move? Did anyone think, or did they just overreact? It’s like they have the attitude of a 3-year-old child, having a temper tantrum, who shoves his tricycle out in the street in a fit of rage because they couldn’t get the pedals to work and it gets squashed by a truck.

Looking back, this really saddens me. All the big promises that HP made to Palm customers to continue their product line, make improvements, and provide ongoing support have just gone up in flames. Where is the accountability with these corporations anyway?

I think they quit on themselves before evaluating all of their options. But again, maybe I don’t know the full story. I’m just speculating.

Is it that Apple is just that formidable of a competitor? Are they untouchable like the Godfather? Is the lead that they hold in the tablet market that insurmountable?

Apparently so.

And another thing, I really don’t get the strength of iPad sales considering all of the features that Apple lacks on their breakthrough device (Flash, text reflow, SD card slot, standard USB connector, etc.). I still maintain that the majority of people who purchase iPads are getting them because it is the trendy thing to do.

But the one good thing that has come out of this is that people will remember that a very decent tablet computer was sold for $99. Watch and see… this could become the new pricing point for tablets in the next year or two. HP might have just destroyed the entire tablet market by doing this alone.

You think I thought tablets were overpriced and useless up until now? This only underscores my belief. I will definitely not be buying a tablet for any reason at prices above $300 or $400 after seeing this happen.

In fact, I think I’d rather do without… until I see another deal like this one drop for $99.

What do you think? Was HP in their right mind by doing this? Is the iPad really going to continue to crush the market for the foreseeable future? Chime in, sound off! Share your opinion in the comments section!

Carlton Flowers
Rabid Tech Commentator

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IPAD 2 DEBUT ROCKS THE WORLD AND CONTINUES TO SET THE BAR

Apple unveiled the iPad 2 today. I still have no interest in buying an iPad, but I will admit that this model is a temptation. If I had a specific reason to use it other than my primary purpose of a keyboard-free laptop, I would seriously consider it. Well, also if I had five hundred bucks handy.

I’m not shocked at the final details, but I am impressed with the improvements that have been made for the iPad 2. There are enough new features that will more than likely guarantee iPad’s continued market domination. But yet and still, several potential buyers may sit on the fence until enough specific uses for this device come about.

While I will continue to complain about the lack of Adobe Flash capability on the iPad, I can admit that the device would be justifiable for specific use instead of only utilizing it as an Internet browsing device or e-reader. For example, If I had a recording studio, I would take the leap to use this for one applicaiton – Garage Band. I would also use it specifically for editing video clips using iMovie. But for now, I’ll stay on the sidelines and watch as future models develop.

There are quite a few things that make me “ooh” and “aah” about this device, such as the following:

• the 33% thinner form factor (yes, it is thinner than an iPhone 4)
• the new dual-core A5 processor’s tremendous computing power and speed
• the front and rear facing cameras & Facetime capability
• the similarity of the form factor to the iPod Touch
• the new “Smart Cover” magnetic wrapper

As great as these new features might be, there are a few things missing that I will need before I jump into one. Some of the things I would prefer to see that are missing are as follows:

• lack of Adobe Flash support (I can’t use it to build my Flash-based blog site)
• no SD card slot (come on Apple, why not?)
• no Gorilla Glass (I am too hard on my devices, I’ll end up breaking it)
• no upgrading to 4G (no biggie, I can wait another year or 2 on that)
• lack of Adobe Flash support (did I mention that yet?)

Now then… if someone wanted to gift one to me, I would not turn it down. I’d be proudly walking around EVERYWHERE with an iPad 2 if I was forced to take one free of charge. But that’s wishful thinking. Until then, I’ll just settle for playing around with my friend’s iPads when I have my geek get-togethers. But I have a tight budget and a family to raise, so I can’t consider buying this strictly as an enjoyment gadget.

Some say that the iPad is a tremendously useful device, and others say that there still isn’t a strong enough reason to call the iPad a “need“. Are you planning on purchasing an iPad 2? Do you have a specific need that this device would satisfy? If so, please share your thoughts and tell me about it!

Carlton Flowers
iPad Fence Sitter
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NOOK COLOR EREADER GETS A CZTV REVIEW

Barnes & Noble hit the jackpot, baby! The Nook Color e-Reader/tablet is a bulls-eye, and anyone who says this 7″ form factor device isn’t a potential hit is crazy.

Let me tell you why I like this thing. First off, it’s the perfect size. I was very surprised at how thin it was. I almost felt like it was a jumbo iPhone 3GS or something. Of course Steve Jobs thinks it’s stupid, but the 7″ 1024×600 color screen just seems like the perfect fit to me. It’s a capacitive screen that responds like a champ. The brightness and crispness was fantastic, and magazines looked great. It runs on Android 2.1 operating system for now, but next spring it’s gonna get a big turbo boost by Android 2.2 Froyo which will allow it to run Flash. That rocks!

Something else I noticed, this is not just a normal e-Reader. It’s halfway like an iPad. You can play interactive children’s books that actually read to you and do fun stuff. You can surf the web and enjoy a full browsing experience (I can’t imagine how awesome it will be when the update gets it Flash-enabled). You can stream music, watch videos, play games, get social, or even type emails. The bottom line is, it is versatile.

The best thing about the Nook is the price. For $250, you’ve got one heckuva powerful little tablet that has serious potential. You can use it as it is, or if you are a hacker, you can root it to modify it to your hearts content. But hacking is not even necessary now, because Barnes & Noble released a Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Nook Color which will allow 3rd party developers to create applications for it!

My overall assessment of the Nook Color is that this thing is a home run. I’m getting one as soon as my piggy bank gets fat enough. Do you own a Nook Color? Post your comments about your experience with this device below!

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek Extreme
www.carltonzone.com

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WHAT EXACTLY IS THE PERFECT SIZE FOR SMART PHONES AND TABLETS?

Tablets and smart phones are all the fuss these days. Everyone seems to be arguing about what the “perfect” size is for a display. iPhone owners say Evo 4G is too big. Droid X owners say iPhone is too small. iPad owners say the Galaxy Tab is a stupid idea because 7″ is way too small for a tablet. But what is the perfect size for what you want your device to do?

I own an iPhone 4. I have many friends who own iPads, and have a handful of buddies who have the Evo 4G and the Droid X. iPhone loyalists claim that the Droid X and Evo 4G displays are too big, and the phone is not practical for stuffing in your pocket. But at the same time, they claim the iPad is the perfect size at 9.5″. Steve Jobs claims that 7″ is a stupid size for a tablet, and nobody will ever want such a size.

My opinion? My iPhone 4 is too small. The crazy-good resolution of 960 by 640 pixels is wasted on a screen that is too small for practical enjoyment. No text reflow means you cannot enjoy using your iPhone as a reading device. Movies look great, but they sure would look better if the display was the size of the massive Droid X or Evo 4G. In a time that newer devices are going the 4″-and-larger route, who was it that came up with the idea that micro-sizing a smart phone was a good thing?

I have been searching for a tablet device and hope to make a purchase by spring of 2011. I’ve thought about the iPad, and even more about a 7″ Android-based tablet (eat your heart out Steve Jobs). I would prefer to have cameras and Adobe Flash capability, so that rules out the iPad. 7″ is a good size to me, because I want to use the device mainly for reading technical and marketing blogs, and to write blog posts. But do I really need an iPhone AND a tablet device? How expensive will it get if I find that I need 3G service on two separate devices?

Recently, I was drawn to the Dell Streak. The Streak is a device that I initially thought nobody would buy or have any interest in. I thought it was a tablet computer. As a tablet, the 5″ size would be stupid. Why would you want to waste your money on a tablet less than 7″ when so many are available? Why does it have to be that small?

Then I discovered the fact that the Dell Streak is a phone, not just a tablet. All of the sudden, the Streak looks like the perfect device. This could serve as my smart phone and tablet device, thus eliminating the need for separate 3G service contracts or hauling around 2 different devices.

Looking at the Streak, it is like a Droid X on ‘roids. But not only does it have a larger display than the Droid X, it also has a front-facing camera. The Evo 4G has a front-facing camera and 8mg rear carmera, but switching to the Sprint network is not an option for me. Verizon is also not an option because I will not be willing to downgrade to lesser capable CDMA network as opposed to GSM. Dell Streak is on the AT&T network, so this looks like a no-brainer.

When I originally dropped my iPhone 4 and shattered the screen, I decided that this was the one thing I needed to finally make the transition to Android and get away from Apple once and for all.

But after looking at the smart phones available through AT&T, I discovered that none of them have a front-facing camera. I can’t go backwards on that after enjoying this capability on my iPhone 4. So I decided to keep my broken iPhone 4 and wait for the next generation to come out and upgrade… unless I pounce on a Dell Streak instead.

The Dell Streak is the only device that does everything my iPhone 4 will do (that I deem important, of course). And with the monstrous display, this would knock out the need for buying a tablet device in the future. I’d be perfectly satisfied with my jumbo 5″ smart phone. For that matter, bigger is indeed better.

What is your optimum size for a smart phone? How about a tablet? Post your opinion below and let us know!

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek
www.carltonzone.com

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A COMPUTER GEEK’S SMART PHONE DREAM

I want a smart phone made especially for computer builders. It should have the power of an iPhone, screen like a Droid X, a mini USB connector and an SD memory card slot. But most of all, it should be blank. Empty. That’s right, it should be devoid of any data whatsoever.

My dream smart phone would be a device that would require me to load my own operating system. I’d purchase a copy of iOS4, Android 2.2, the current Palm OS, or any other mobile operating system on the market, and I’d load it fresh to a blank flash drive on the phone. I would install my own device drivers just like a computer, and decide what applications that I would install. It wouldn’t matter what hardware accessories I had on the phone, because I would install everything on my own.

If I got tired of iOS4, I could format the flash drive and install Android 2.2 or vice-versa. Or, I might decide to have a dual-boot device that ran both operating systems. I would have the flexibility to monkey with the thing to my heart’s content, because it is just like a miniature computer. Modification would be easy, just as simple as adding new hardware to a desktop computer.

Why hasn’t someone come up with a standard generic smart phone that ships blank and ready for a geek like me to build from scratch? I would be the first in line to buy a raw mini-tablet style blank smart phone. My question for computer builders/hackers/programmers, if you could buy a blank slate of a phone, what operating system would you load on it if it were this easy?

Post your comments!

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WALGREENS TO OFFER A $99 ANDROID TABLET

Walgreens has a waiting list for their new Maylong M-150 tablet PC that comes complete with 7-inch 800×480 touch-screen and Android operating system!

Sure, it’s a stripped-down device with the older Android 1.6 environment, but for people wanting to get their hands on a cheap device to enjoy surfing the web, watching videos, or accessing email, this device is going to foot the bill quite well. Reports say that it is slow to boot and may not have much power, but it does include a digital camera and the ability to add an SD memory card.

I see great possibilities for cheap Android-based tablet devices for industrial uses. These could end up being very handy for tracking, inventory, and compliance purposes if a proprietary interface could be developed for the device. At this low of a price, it would be worth toying around with one.

With a popular carrier like Walgreens offering such a device, I’ll betcha the demand explodes. The result will probably be a flood of cheap tablet devices with features that get better and better over time. My prediction? This market will closely resemble the computer hardware market as far as technological gains and prices going in reverse. What would YOU use a device like this for? Post your comments below!

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COULD THIS DUAL-BOOT TABLET BE AN IPAD CONTENDER?

Tegatech, a company based in Australia, has come out with a fantastic looking super-thin 10.1″ dual boot tablet that definitely catches my eye and earns a place on my tablet wish list. Off the cuff, it looks like it beats the iPad hands down in just about every category for a larger-sized capacitive multi touch style tablet computer.

What I like most about this device is that it is running the full Windows 7 operating system. This is not exactly a big plus with most critiques, because Windows 7 is hardly an operating system geared towards a tablet multi touch device. However, Microsoft has added an overlay that makes the tablet computing experience a bit more tolerable for its full desktop PC operating system. What piques my interest is being able to use a tablet computer as an extension of my desktop PC which is running Windows 7 Home Premium. I don’t want to go back and forth from the Apple iOS platform to Windows. So having perfect functionality on a multi touch tablet with the operating system is not a biggie for me. I just want it to work, and have the ability to access and modify files I am with and creating.

Look-wise, it has the same thin style and dimensions of the iPad, but has everything that Apple failed to include on the ground breaking device that started the tablet craze. Things I am very glad to see on the Tega v2 tablet are USB ports, a front-facing camera, a built-in graphics accelerator, 1080p video, a micro SD slot, and Macromedia Flash capability.

The most interesting thing about this tablet is the fact that it is a dual-boot system! It comes with Windows 7 and Android 1.6. Sure, the 1.6 version of Android is practically worthless, but I think they have plans to update the device soon to run on Android 2.2. That would give this tablet the best of both worlds and more versatility than any device that I see on the market. Sure, there are some downsides to the Tega v2, such as a weak battery, sluggish operation under Windows 7, and an entry price of $799. But overall, there are enough features on this tablet that will motivate me to give it serious consideration when the day comes that I purchase my first ever tablet computing device.

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