Survey Suggests, Kindle Fire Will Not Heat Up Competition for iPad

By Lory | October 5, 2011 | 11 comments

Amazon Kindle Fire Was I the only one that was slightly disappointed in the Kindle Fire product announcement? For months now, this secret tablet was being championed as the “first real competitor for the iPad.”

Well, I guess it can be considered a competitor if you base that information solely on its outrageously low price. In my opinion, just like Amazon’s e-reader, the Kindle Fire is not even in the same category as the iPad. Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks so.

According to Sodahead, the web’s largest opinion-based social community, a recent poll revealed that 61 percent of consumers believe that the iPad will maintain its lead over all other tablets on the market and only 39 percent believe the Kindle Fire will rise to the top and become the number one tablet.

The informal poll also revealed that consumers that are 45 years old or younger favor the iPad by 66 percent while those over 45 years of age are more interested in the Kindle Fire by 51 percent. This information may suggest that the low priced Amazon tablet may be appealing to those on a tight budget as they get older. The poll also indicated that consumers whose income is over $100,000 didn’t even consider the Kindle Fire as a possible purchase by 94 percent. Those with lower incomes, $25,000 and below, still wanted an iPad by a 73 percent margin. Middle income consumers, between $25,000 and $100,000, closed the gap with 54 percent preferring the iPad and 46 percent interested in the Kindle Fire.

Sure, the Kindle Fire is significantly less expensive than the iPad, but it is also half the machine. Right now at Apple.com, you can get a refurbished iPad (first generation) for $399. This specific iPad model has twice the memory, a larger screen and ten times as many apps for exactly twice the price. The Kindle Fire doesn’t have a camera or a microphone, has less battery life and is subject to Amazon’s policy of handing out your personal browsing information without your express permission. There is no 3G capability and no larger memory capability. Sodahead’s poll just confirmed my personal opinion that Amazon’s big unveiling was for a reduced version of an amazing tablet. There is no competition here. Who’s got the next “iPad killer”? Bring it on.

About Lory: Writer of all things app related, traveler of the space-time continuum, baker of really great cookies. Follow me @appaholik

http://twitter.com/jayray78 Jaime Lefebvre

This has to be the most retarded article I’ve ever read. Which do you think there are more of…people who make over 100K and want a tablet or people who make under 100K and want a tablet. Analysts expect the Fire to outsell existing iPad sales in one quarter. 250K units have already been reserved. The reason the Streak didn’t sell was its a piece of junk. $200 is the magic point for tablets.

PS. The iPad also has 20x the amount of fart apps.

http://twitter.com/justmeblue5ft3 blue5ft3

Ipad is also in use by the Military, many large corporations, where my husband and daughter work they were given one, look it up, and it has GREAT apps if you bother looking, many professional uses for the Ipad, and it’s being used widely in schools. Be fair Amazon said it was like the Ipad go look at their page, and We sent to back to get I Ipad for the same cost for our son. Income has nothing to do with it, it’s what you will use it for and the QUALITY.

jayray78

Did you even bother to read the article or just come on here to argue?

http://twitter.com/justmeblue5ft3 justblue5ft3

5 months old check your dates

http://www.nerdshowandtell.com nerdshowandtell.com

lol – Riiight.. keep telling yourself that this wont hurt the iPAD – i know a LOT of parents who will now spend $200 per kid instead of buying 1 single ipad for kids to share.. That right there is a HUGE market that iPAD will be losing.. Not to mention, once someone gets a Kindle FIRE – they will really see no need to spend more $$ later to get an iPad, when the fire is “good enough” to get all their media content, etc. I agree they are not in the same category, however people wont even look at the iPad category of devices if the fire is “good enough”..
http://zadl.org SuperZADL

Remember all those products that were touted as “iPod Killers?”

Yeah, neither does anyone else.

Gonna be the same with the iPad. Watch.

Brian Hartman

I think the Kindle Fire has a lot more staying power. It’s not just the price. It’s what it can do.

What do most people use the iPad for? Games and media. What does the Kindle Fire excel at? Again, games and media.

Joe G

I bought the original iPad.I think it is a technological wonder. When iPad 2 came out, I didn’t upgrade. Why? Because the original does what I need it to do. Watch Netflix in bed, read a novel, and listen to music and surf the net.I don’t need a faster processor for this. And I certainly don’t need a camera. If you use facetime, maybe it’s useful. But I have yet to see anyone carrying an iPad 2 and taking pics. I just bought my wife a Kindle fire for Christmas.She will probably use it for the same reasons I use the iPad for. And if my iPad dies, I may consider the Kindle myself.
Jimmy

I don’t think anyone really believes this will be an iPad killer (if there ever will be something like that), including Amazon. This device is nothing more than an extension of Amazon services. If you like Amazon’s video-on-demand, music, and books then it’s for you. If you’re looking for something to increase productivity this is not it.
Anonymous

- Kindle Fire doesn’t have microSD slot that, for example, Nook Color has thus
it is stuck with 6 GB usable internal storage unlike Nook Color that can get up
to 32 GB card in. Kindles are made to be almost like a “dumb terminal” of the past to make sure you’re tied up to Amazon’s storage on the web (for which you need Wi-Fi connection to get to) and you can only store content you get from Amazon there, not other files. Quoting Amazon on Kindle Fire: “Free cloud storage for all Amazon content”. Get it, Amazon content?
- The stats of how long the battery can last (Kindle Fire theory is 8 hours) are taken with Wi-Fi off. You can only imaging how much less Kindle Fire battery will last if you use it to access content from their Cloud storage over Wi-Fi.
- Amazon can spy on your web activity through their new cloud-integrated web browser of Kindle Fire.
- VERY IMPORTANT – lack of microSD slot means that if you decide to root your
Kindle Fire, you’ll have to root the actual device thus there will be no coming back. On Nook Color, you can make it boot from a “rooted” microSD card and if you want to get back to the original Nook you can just take out the card and reboot.
- Kindle Fire doesn’t have a camera.
- Kindle Fire has about 70% less usable screen area than iPad 2.
- Kindle doesn’t support eBooks in ePub format that is the most used format in the world.
- Kindle app store contains only Amazon approved apps and it does not include (and will not include) Netflix app that iPad has and Nook Color is getting thus again you’re stuck with Amazon content only.
- Amazon confirmed that you cannot download anything to Kindle Fire when traveling outside US
I’d recommend waiting for a couple of weeks as Nook Color 2 is rumored to be released by Barnes & Noble soon.
http://twitter.com/justmeblue5ft3 blue5ft3

I read on the Kindle Fire promo page it is still there you can look, JUST LIKE THE IPAD! So I preordered it, and back it went quickly, and I cancelled 2 other preorders. I got an Ipod touch instead for the size and features. They could have put in and SD card slot, a USB port, a camera and mic to use skype or other video chats. Sorry it did not cut it with us, son sent his back too.