Amazon's Kindle Fire will fail, says one expert

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Predictions for the Kindle Fire have ranged from it being the iPad killer to its less expensive equal, but one thing the New York Times' David Streitfeld writes almost everyone can agree on -- it has some kinks to work out.

 Consumer complaints, such as the lack of external volume control and a slow touch screen, were recently validated by a post from "usability expert" Jakob Nielsen.

Nielsen wrote last week that the device would be a failure because of how poor the user experience is.

Part of the problem is its size. Nielsen remains unconvinced that 7-inch tablets will be as popular because they are too small. Magazine publishers and app developers need to design their products specifically for the smaller screen if devices like the Kindle Fire are going to catch on.

"The most striking observation from testing the Fire is that everything is much too small on the screen, leading to frequent tap errors and accidental activation," Nielsen wrote. "You haven't seen the fat-finger problem in its full glory until you've watched users struggle to touch things on the Fire."

Much has already been written about how Amazon loses money on the device itself -- it costs more to make than stores charge for it.

But Amazon's game all along has been to make money by treating the device as an extension of its storefront. If you buy a Kindle, you are going to buy your books, your movies and your music from the Amazon store.

That won't happen if people don't buy the device, but so far it seems that is not a problem. Though it declines to release numbers, Amazon says that the Kindle Fire is its most successful product launch ever.

Some analysts have predicted that robust sales will continue for the Kindle Fire next year, but Nielsen thinks that bad reviews from early adopters will slow the strong sales.

Amazon is set to unveil an update soon, so will it quiet the Kindle Fire's early critics?

Reuters.com

Amazon's Kindle Fire Draws Heat From New Nook !

There's a lot of heel-nipping in the tablet market these days.

Amazon.com Inc. just released the Kindle Fire, the most serious attempt yet to take on Apple Inc.'s mighty iPad 2. Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble Inc. has shipped the Nook Tablet, which in turn takes aim at Amazon.
I've tried both new devices and my conclusion is that there's no clear winner. They're both compact, capable color- screen media-consumption devices for budget-minded users who don't need all the features and functions of a full-blown tablet.
There's a lot to like about the Fire. I like the way Amazon has integrated its content services -- books, magazines, videos, music. I like how it uses the Cloud, in this case, Amazon's remote servers, to store content and make it accessible when I want it, reducing the need for a lot of storage. (The Fire only holds 8 gigabytes -- same as the base model iPod touch.)
Most of all, I like the price: $199, less than half the cheapest iPad.
When I booted up the Fire, all my previous Amazon purchases appeared automatically and Amazon made it exceedingly easy for me to add more content. I bought a couple of books, some songs and a movie for a long airplane ride. All downloaded quickly and efficiently. There's also an Amazon site with some 8,500 Amazon- approved apps, far fewer than Apple has for the iPad, but still respectable.
Prime Content
Users of Amazon's $79-a-year Prime service get access to a library of thousands of TV shows and older movies, somewhat akin to Netflix Inc.'s streaming service. The Fire comes with a one- month trial subscription.
So I like almost everything about the Kindle Fire -except, well, the device itself.
The Fire is plain, a chunky black rectangle with a 7-inch backlit color screen. It's shorter than the Nook Tablet, a bit thicker and heavier. In action, it feels sluggish. There can be a noticeable lag when you're turning pages in an e-book or using an app.
I also had trouble with the accelerometer, the sensor that changes the view from portrait to landscape when you turn the Fire. I sometimes found myself looking at an upside-down app for several moments until the Fire sorted things out. And my loaner fell short of Amazon's claimed eight hours of battery life.
Silk Isn't Smooth
Amazon claims that its Web browser, Silk, has been optimized for speed, but in side-by-side comparisons I couldn't discern any advantage over the iPad's Safari browser. A few times the device told me it was connected to a Wi-Fi network while Silk claimed it wasn't. There's no 3G data service for the Kindle Fire, nor are there Bluetooth, a physical volume control, or a camera of any kind.

The Fire runs Google Inc.'s Android mobile-phone operating system. So does the $249 Nook Tablet, whose earlier version, the Nook Color, remains on the market with a newly lowered $199 price tag.

The Nook Tablet, like the Fire, operates only over Wi-Fi and has no camera. In other ways, though, it is the reverse of the newest Kindle. Where the Fire is physically plain, the Nook is sleek and more visually appealing. The $50 price differential buys you not only twice the memory and twice the storage of the Fire, but also longer battery life and a slot for an SD expansion card.

Smooth Scrolling

Barnes & Noble's one-year head start in developing software really shows: scrolling is smoother, the screen reorients itself faster and the device just generally feels zippier.

Where B&N falls short is exactly where Amazon shines -- in the variety of content available and how well it's integrated into the overall user experience.

Books aren't the problem. The Nook's selection is impressive and it has some nice flourishes. On-the-go parents, for instance, will appreciate not only the kid-friendliness of the Nook Tablet but also a feature that lets them record a child's favorite story in their own voice.

For many other uses, though, the Nook Tablet relies on third-party apps in place of the one-stop shopping approach of Amazon and Apple. For movies and TV shows, there's Netflix and Hulu Plus; for music, Pandora; and so on. Each requires a separate membership with its own login and, in the case of Netflix and Hulu Plus, credit card information.

Like Amazon, Barnes & Noble has its own app store that pales next to the iPad's in terms of both numbers and quality.

Ultimately, the choice between these two devices comes down to Amazon's lower price and ecosystem versus Barnes & Noble's polish and network of brick-and-mortar stores to provide in- person support. In either case, paying half what an iPad costs will require you to decide which half of the iPad experience you're willing to do without.

SFGATE

A Tablet that Wants to Take Over the Desktop

Cisco has redesigned the Android operating system to make a tablet that also works as a desktop computer—but it takes some control away from users.

The latest entrant in the increasingly crowded tablet computing field, Cisco's Cius, is bulkier than the iPad, and has a smaller screen (7-inches wide, compared to the iPad's 9.7). But it packs a number of tricks all of its own, designed to woo business users. The Cius is designed to integrate closely with Cisco's voice and video phone systems, and it can even replace a desktop computer when docked to a new Cisco deskphone, which connects to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

A Cius tablet makes a user's desk number mobile, enabling a person to make and receive voice and video calls anywhere, if their company has a Cisco phone system. The tablet features HD quality cameras front and back and can be used with a Bluetooth headset for more private calling. The tablet can also be used as a desktop videoconferencing device when docked on a special desktop phone, and can smoothly switch between a WiFi a cellular network connection.

That dock can also be plugged into a monitor keyboard and mouse to act like a desktop computer. "It can replace my desktop operating system," says Tom Puorro, senior director for Cisco's collaboration technologies.
The Cius runs Google's Android mobile operating system, which is used on a rapidly growing number of smartphones and tablets as well. Android is open source, meaning it can be modified by anyone for free, yet so far most companies that have built gadgets running Android have tinkered with it little. The Cius, in contrast, features a radical reworking of Android.
This gives an IT department much greater control over what a Cius user can do. IT managers can shut down access to the Android app market to protect a company from malicious apps. Cisco has also created its own app store, AppHQ, that contains only apps deemed stable and secure by Cisco. Companies can even create their own app store within AppHQ and limit employees to certain applications, or apps built in house.
A WiFi only version of the tablet will be available worldwide from July 31 at an estimated price of $750. Cisco will sell it along with related services and infrastructure, so the cost to businesses will vary, and could be as low as $650. AT&T and Verizon will each offer versions for their 4G networks this fall.
A person can use the tablet's own OS or Windows even via a virtual desktop that runs in the cloud, as Puorro demonstrated at a launch event held in San Jose today. The tablet's powerful 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor allows desktop-like performance when hooked up to a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Although iPads are showing up in workplaces, they can't offer the same integration with everyday tasks like phone calls, and are limited to email, Web browsing and video, says Puorro.
Cisco worked with Google to get advice on its modifications to Android, says Puorro. These modifications enable Android to deal with video and operations like group calling and transferring calls, and make use of a dedicated chip in the tablet that encrypt all its data.
However, the Cius lags other Android tablets in that it uses a now-outdated version of the operating system, code-named FroYo, which was intended only for phones. Cisco say they will catch up, but are waiting for the fall release of Android, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, a version that Google says will seamlessly span phones and tablets.
Ken Dulaney, a VP and analyst with Gartner specializing in mobile devices says that Cisco has likely delivered something that none of the 200 or so other tablets launching this year can match. "Samsung's latest Galaxy Tab has much more advanced hardware," he says, "what Cisco has done is create a special case of Android that adds things the enterprise needs and is a unique combination of phone, tablet and videoconferencing device."
Other companies have hinted at plans for enterprise-friendly revamps of Android, says Dulaney, including Motorola, but none have so far yet delivered.
Although the Cius may not seem competitive with Apple's iPad 2 to consumers, to businesses concerned about their security it likely see distinct advantages. Apps such as MobileIron exist to help IT staff control iPads used by their staff, but Apple's operating system fundamentally limits the extent to which the iPad can be managed remotely, says Dulaney. "With Android, Cisco could go in at a low level and change how the device is managed so a company can manage everything for the user."
Without an existing investment in Cisco phone and communication systems, though, many company may see little appeal. Puorro says that Cisco continues to develop and release iPad and iPhone apps for its collaboration software, a strategy Dulaney says is wise. "Of course Cisco will also aggressively support iPads," he says, "I think they're gonna see how the Cius does, and if it doesn't work out, work hard to support the most popular tablets."

Technologyreview.com