UPDATE September 2012:
Original older post below.
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Leaked data indicates Amazon is selling more than 2,000 Kindle Fires per hour! What is the Kindle Fire? More details on this and other new Kindle products below.
Amazon announced new Kindle products
It also sounds like Amazon has invested a lot of money and research into improving its IT backend, enabling cloud computing innovations that will help the user’s experiences with storing and accessing movies, and even simply browsing the internet faster than ever before.
Kindle Fire
Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi
Some Features: 7-inch display, dual-core processor, 14.6 ounces. Full color touch display and access to Amazon’s licensed video and music content–100,000 movies and TV shows, 17 million songs, access to Android Appstore, Kindle books. The user interface is supposed to be custom–not just the plain Android interface. Ultra-fast web browsing. Cost: $199
[UPDATE: Here’s an unboxing video of the Kindle Fire.]
Kindle Touch 3G
Some Features: Built-in 3G, works in 100 countries, no annual contract nor monthly fees. It’s free 3G wireless. Holds 3,000 books. Cost: $149
Kindle Touch
Kindle Touch, Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
Some Features: no keyboard, no buttons–has IR touch system. lighter and smaller than current 3rd gen model. Holds 3,000 books. Built in Wi-Fi. Cost: $99
Kindle
Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
Some Features: New version of the classic Kindle–with buttons. Is 30% lighter–weighs less than six ounces–18% smaller than the Kindle 3. Built in Wi-Fi. Cost: $79
It sounds like some of these products won’t ship until November, but they are available for pre-order today, and I suspect they will sellout quickly. According to leaked data, Amazon is currently selling over 2,000 Kindle Fire pre-orders per hour! This is staggering, and suggests that you’d better get your order in sooner than later!
Verdict
I don’t think these products are direct Apple iPad competitors, but then again I don’t think they were meant to be. However, the Kindle Fire is half the price of the iPad, and with a larger selection of books, it may be an attractive alternative to the iPad for some people. Also, these products do greatly improve the experience of people who want an inexpensive way to access great book, movie, TV, and music content.
The fact that the Kindle Fire is built on Android adds great potential to the platform and can only benefit the user, since competition in the app arena will foster innovation and quality increases for the user. Great improvements to the classic Kindle lineup as well.
With these new gadgets, and the raising of the bar for technology hardware and software innovation, this is an awesome time for book readers, book authors, and anyone who wants increased opportunities to enjoy movie, music, and TV show content.