Amazon tablet announced

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So, the rumours were true..Amazon today announced the Kindle Fire, a 7 inch tablet running on Android (funny, can't see any mention of a version in the press release).

Since my previous post yesterday, I've had some second thoughts about what this new tablet means to the marketplace. As an Android user (both my phone and tablet) I find the OS superior to Apple's. The Android system gives me, as a user, a much greater degree of flexibility; be it modding the interface, file transfers, USB plug ins...the list goes on, so it continually annoys me to read the press in Australia fawn over the 'i' products (pad, phone, pod) and use terms such as 'wannabe iPads' as I saw in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

I wait with bated breath (what does that expression mean anyway?) for the moment where something comes to the market that finally makes gadget writers of the mainstream press kneel down in front of and declare the ‘IPAD KILLER’ (possibly a good name for a future serial killer?). As I said yesterday the Kindle Fire is not it, but now I realise that's not a bad thing.

My fundamental mistake in yesterday's post was thinking the war was Amazon v Apple where in Amazon's mind it is clearly Amazon v Barnes & Noble. The Fire has been produced to compete against B&N’s Nook. The Nook has been eating into sales of the Kindle in the US (Amazon’s biggest market) as it is basically a colour Kindle. This does not surprise me in the least as my first thought when I saw a Kindle was – “but it’s black & white – who would want that?” It just felt to me like a step back akin to going out and buying a 10 inch B&W TV set.

Expect to see a shedload of these new tablets in people’s hands on trains, buses, trams etc when they come out, particularly if the pricepoint is as low in OZ as it will be in the US. With a library of over 100,000 movies and TV shows, 17 million songs, 1,000,000 books and Amazon’s android market for games and apps who wouldn’t want one?

This can only be a good thing for Android users everywhere as the more people wanting Android apps, the more developers will concentrate on providing products. Then maybe those Apple fanboys will stop bleating about how many more apps Apple have vs Android once and for all.