Andrew from Retrevo has some peeves about tech. As always, none of them make sense. Here they all are… totally debunked.

After thinking about it, here’s how I feel about the Amazon Fire. This just might be cool for what it is.

The much rumored Kindle update was announced today. There are four new models on the way. They are a wide variety of capablities, but Amazon has worked to keep the price point low. There is something for everyone. However, some questions have been raised by potential consumers already. analysts and pundits are already discussing which existing tablet will be unseated from its current position in the market as well.

First is the most cost effective at $79. No color, no touch, Wi-Fi only. This is Amazon’s attempt at ubiquity. At $79, they can put a Kindle in the hands of everyone that’s ever wanted one. The digital e-ink technology makes this a prime candidate to take over as the standard e-reader for everyone. It has a 6” screen with no keyboard so portability is this device’s biggest claim to fame.

Next up is the Kindle Touch, which comes in 2 flavors - Wi-Fi and 3G for $99 and $149 respectively. It is black and white e-ink on a 6” screen that supports multi-touch. The 3G is provided for free, but keep in mind that the experimental browser means much less data consumption, which is why Amazon can afford to provide it.

The big news of the day was the Kindle Fire ($199). This is their first entry into the color tablet market. It is run on the Android platform and sports a 7” LCD screen. First, a 7” screen is actually roughly 45% smaller than any 10” tablet (See HERE for explanation). Also, being LCD, it loses the e-ink technology which has been a winning point for the Kindle all along. This is no longer an Amazon e-reader. It’s merely another tablet in a long line of discount, smaller tablets. It is Wi-Fi only with 8gb of storage. There’s no camera anywhere on the device as well. It syncs wirelessly which Jeff Bezos used at a dig at Apple (even though iOS 5 which will be out in about a week, does the same thing). It is also running its own custom browser called Amazon Silk.

While this device runs on Android at its core, it has a custom UI layed on top, just like most Android devices. In reality, this is Amazon’s entrant into the tablet space. They Kindle has done well for so long for a couple of reasons. The first is the e-ink, which isn’t being abandoned just year, but Amazon no longer offers that exclusively with the LCD on the way. E-ink offers the ability to read in sunlight that no LCD screen does. The other major attraction is the simplicity of a single use device. Some people are just resistant to tablets. They want to read, in a cost effective manner that saves space on the shelf. This makes Amazon another player in a nearly saturated market (in its current iteration). 

The early adopters and Anti-Apple folks will jump all over it, but the fanfare will die down quickly and this will be not hold much sway in the space, just like all those before it. It all goes back to the fact that is just no real tablet market out there. There is an iPad and that’s it.

Good on Amazon for thinking outside the box and coming up with options at extremely affordable price points. However, I think they should have eliminated the Fire from their lineup and just stuck with what works best for them. Some people flocked to them just because the DIDN’T have a tablet and kept it simple. 

I often get questions asked to me directly about gadgets and technology. Below is a response to one such question. The exact question was:

“Are e-books worth the money? My wife reads 2 books per week.”

Well I guess it depends on what you’re reading them on. The iPad, for example, could be cool but it’s like reading on a screen which is an issue on the eyes.

Now an actual e-book reader like a Kindle, Nook or the Sony has what’s called e-ink. This is just an alignment of particles to represent a page. It looks like paper which is easier on the eyes, causing less strain. Additionally, since it’s not a backlit LCD, OLED or IPS screen, the battery life is excellent.

Real books have the price of the book only but they take up room, they’re heavy, they get worn, etc.

The e-book reader has the expense of the unit up front but you have no clutter whatsoever and you can store tons of books on one. The books are generally a little cheaper on a device and some are even free. Again, you have to pay for the device itself. The Kindle by Amazon, for instance, keeps the books on it or in their database. So you pay once and read. If you delete it midway through you can re-download again later for free and it even saves your page. Some have built-in dictionaries or a thesaurus or allow you to make margin notes or highlight certain parts.

The libraries are awesome so almost any book you want can be found. I would do a cost to value analysis. How much are you spending in books? How badly do you want the physical copy? Are you prepared to spend the money on the device? Weigh both sides and see what fits you best. I would have bought a Kindle but I think I’ll wait for an iPad. It’s an e-book reader plus all of the other functions it serves. The lack of e-ink technology sucks but it’s not a deal breaker for me.

Over the weekend, the big news in e-books wasn’t the new iPad’s lack of e-ink or what digital tablet maker was going to show up with a new reader/slate combo or even the business of the iBooks store Steve Jobs flaunted last week.

This weekend it was all about a war between two existing giants: Amazon and Macmillan publishing. Here’s how it played out. Amazon said that nothing will be priced over $9.99. Macmillan said they wouldn’t agree to that and it was unreasonable for new bestsellers and books still in hardcover. That appeared to be the stalemate early on.

Amazon fired back by pulling the plug on Macmillan books altogether. It was clearly a show of force by Amazon who wanted it to be clear just who ran the Kindle store. Amazon almost immediately recanted and put the books back on the virtual shelf. Macmillan is one of the six big US publishers. People would have noticed them missing. Maybe even more so if they ended up on the iPad.

So Macmillan books are back on the Kindle, albeit at a higher price than Amazon had hoped for, but no books were harmed in the settling of this deal.

Where’s the underbelly? There’s always an underbelly. Everyone wins in this situation and the whole thing may have been a little contrived.
-Macmillan win: their books are for sale again (at their prices)
-Amazon win: the image that they tried to save the customer money and in the end wanted the customer to have the best selection
-Customer win: not losing pre-purchased books and $13-15 is still cheaper than in print
-e-book win: when is the last time books were talked about this much in the news?