Amazon didn't start the fire, but they are improving on the Kindle

Do we finally have a competitor to the iPad? Ironically Amazon's Kindle was the first (mainstream) tablet on the market. It was purely for reading however and Apple, as usual, took it to a new level with the iPad. Well yesterday Amazon presented its new Kindle Fire and the reviews, for the first time, looked good. From what was originally just a reader the new Kindle has directly taken on the iPad using Android software with access to Amazon's new app store.

So why is this different to other competitors? It stems from Amazon using their competitive advantage. Amazon does not make its profits from selling hardware. This means that they can make the Kindle Fire extremely cheap. The tablet then acts as a gateway to Amazon's online products. They have managed to cut costs by making the screen slightly smaller, skipping on the camera and by not producing a 3G version. This means that the device can retail for an absolute steal at $200. Many analysts reckon that they could in fact be making a slight loss on the product.

Once you have the device you have access to Amazon books, video streaming, music, Amazon App store and their clouding service. It also puts a lot of focus on wireless syncing which allows your Fire to sync all your Amazon products from your PC or notebook to your Fire and vice versa. Amazon is also really pushing itself as the ultimate cloud computing company. It already hosts plenty of content on behalf of other companies and by allowing Fire users to store and share content in the Cloud you gain access to a whole world of shared content.

It all sounds very new but I am pretty sure it will become part of our everyday lives, just like the concept of cell phones 15 years ago. I think it's absolutely fascinating to see these huge technology juggernauts battling it out, all to make our lives better and easier. It is so competitive out there, we are bound to get some amazing products.

Both Amazon and Apple sit on our recommended list but for very different reasons. Apple makes its profits from selling hardware where as Amazon is setting itself up as the biggest online retailer in the world. The fact that they are competing does not worry us. Amazon is using this hardware to help sell their online content. All in all it sounds like a very compelling piece of technology. Hopefully the Rand will play its part so that by the time it gets to South Africa the clincher in the price won't be ruined.