There’s absolutely no doubt about it – Amazon is building a tablet, but like iPad, it won’t be a “product”. It will be an eco-system of products, services, apps, music, video, games, cloud storage, and on and on.
Amazon is the only company positioned to take on the Apple eco-system that has established the compass heading for the post-PC revolution. And Amazon has experience building devices in this genre. The Kindle is a highly successful consumer product – a tablet in its own right.
We don’t know much about the Amazon tablet, but there are some things that are predictable. Out of the gate, everyone assumed (incorrectly) iPad was a content consumption device for consumers; period. The same will happen with the A-tab, but for very different reasons. It will be purposefully built for content consumption and consumer activities, specifically buying products.
The A-tab will out-magic the magic tab by creating an amazing array of consumer experiences. The amazing-tab will make iPad look like a poorly-maintained mechanical cash register from the 1930′s. It will streamline buying processes unlike we’ve ever seen, and it will use threshold effect to make it fun, inviting, and almost irresistible to use many times a day to buy stuff – lots of stuff – much of it we don’t need, but all oit which we desperately want.
Prediction: A-tab Will Be Despised By Businesses
If any CTO ever had the feeling that iPad was likely to be a big distraction to enterprise workers, they’re about to experience the ultimate definition of distraction. Dubbed “satan’s slate” by enterprises worldwide, I predict the A-tab will be hated by organizations within weeks of its availability. Anyone that attempts to justify the A-tab as a business tool will soon be facing a firing squad. It will, however, find a few havens within organizations that utilize Amazon as a supply chain.
Here’s what we can expect…
- Heavily Subsidized – this is made possible by its tight integration with consumer products, frictionless purchasing gateways, and opportunities to share revenues with telcos.
- Android – likely Honeycomb and tightly integrated into their Android App Store.
- Samsung – these fellers will build it for them and they have a pretty good supply chain advantage over other tablet manufacturers.
- Integrated Kindle – you bet, no question this will include the ability to read books.
- Closed OS – absolutely. Amazon will do to Android what Apple has done to iOS.
- Price – perhaps $299.
Just sayin’ …
Bill French on iPhoneCTO
Yes vapourware is always amazing, real products are much harder.
If Amazon’s coming out with a tablet, it better launch like in the next 30 days. Because by then Apple’s iPad 2 production will be at full swing, 7 million or more per quarter, and there will be more than 100,000 native apps. Not to mention some 20+ million users.
Oh, and Honeycomb better be up to snuff- not the crap that shipped with the Xoom.
I don’t think Amazon will be competing for the same tablet dollars that presently go to iPad. Rather, there’s likely serious demand for people that are simply consumers of books, products, music, and media – none of which are likely to ever purchase an Apple product. These customers are unlikely to ever use their tablet for business use. They have lower expectations concerning the mobile experience and far greater interest in buying stuff – digital and physical goods. They are everyday consumers who use computers purely as a means to an end.
Amazon has all the time they need; there is no rush to unveil their strategy because they are creating their own “blue ocean” that’s free of competitors and focused solely on all the tablet customers who are unlikely to ever want an Apple mobile device.
Hey dude where did you get your stuff, does it come cheap, I need some to relief the headache I am now after reading your heady piece of lucy in the sky with diamonds.
I love how a fictitious product is going to just trample all over Apple’s iPad which has been selling in the millions for over a year. Where is Amazon going to get all these components to build enough tablets? There were indications that Apple bought up 60% of the displays in the tablet sector. Everyone was claiming that the Japan disaster was putting a crimp on tablet component supplies. Yet somehow, Amazon is going to manage to throw this huge assault against Apple’s iPad. I’ll admit that Wall Street is definitely favoring Amazon over Apple by giving it a hefty P/E and praising Amazon for every little thing.
These predictions about Android taking over everything are truly amazing. It’s like rapid growth never dies or something. There’s no guarantee that Android is a sustainable business model. Nothing points to that right now. Not for developers, carriers or necessarily smartphone vendors and not even for Google. Apple is in a position, right now, with an enormous cash hoard to basically crush anything Amazon has to offer. Amazon has about 81 million active accounts. Apple has over 200 million active iTunes accounts. So don’t think Amazon’s client base is going to overwhelm Apple’s, either. Claiming that a future Amazon ecosystem will be better than Apple’s iOS ecosystem is pure fantasy. It’s far easier said than done.
I hope that Amazon does try to compete directly with Apple’s iPad and I want to see Amazon take a brutal beating for deliberately stepping on Apple’s toes.
Samsung would be smart not to get too involved with Amazon since those tablets would also compete against Samsung’s tablets.
The Amazon site looks like your typical Dot Com site from the late 90s. They have a rather oblique interface. It doesn’t make purchasing easier. It’s not stelar. Everytime I use it, I regret it. They’re present assets are hardly user friendly or magical. Putting that on a tablet makes no sense. Right now on any tablet you can get to Amazon in a browser. So, you’re saying they’re coming out with their own table, with what OS? Android? Then they’ll have some tacky thrown together app or apps that do the same thing the Web site already does. I don’t see that as a reason for buy a tablet. Wow! It’s got integrated Amazon! Spare me from that pain. I really wouldn’t want a table with the Amazon flea market as the main part of the table. Dedicated e-readers make since. Are their really that many Amazon-aholics that need a dedicated Amazon tablet? I hope not.
So, I’m guessing you haven’t seen Amazon Window Shop?
[...] end of the spectrum is how tablets are being used for business. iPad CTO already predicted that businesses will hate an Amazon tablet. But isn’t this too harsh of an observation–ignored, possibly, but hated?Tablets remain [...]
Businesses tried to ignore iPhone, and then iPad. They were unsuccessful with this approach because consumers are driving device adoption in business and enterprise. Ignoring the Amazon tablet won’t keep it out of the office and IT and managers particularly will have a deep disdain for the A-Tab because it will be so consumer-focused as to be a work distraction that is far more egregious than iOS devices.
[...] end of the spectrum is how tablets are being used for business. iPad CTO already predicted that businesses will hate an Amazon tablet. But isn’t this too harsh of an observation–ignored, possibly, but [...]
[...] end of the spectrum is how tablets are being used for business. iPad CTO already predicted that businesses will hate an Amazon tablet. But isn’t this too harsh of an observation–ignored, possibly, but [...]
[...] other finish of a spectrum is how tablets are being used for business. iPad CTO already likely that businesses will hatred an Amazon tablet. But isn’t this too oppressive of an observation–ignored, possibly, though [...]
[...] other finish of a spectrum is how tablets are being used for business. iPad CTO already likely that businesses will hatred an Amazon tablet. But isn’t this too oppressive of an observation–ignored, possibly, though [...]