Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire is the new small tablet PC from Amazon. I'm a gadget-geek and technical professional turned writer. In this article, I'll provide my assessment of the Kindle Fire and how likely it is to succeed. 

I've previously written about the rumors of a new Amazon Kindle Tablet. 

Technically the Kindle Fire isn't actually very interesting. I expect it to be a well-designed average spec tablet PC - no more, no less. 

But most people don't care about having cutting edge technology. They want a tablet PC that is easy to use and connects them to all the media and content that they really want access to. For most users the tablet is just a device that allows them to read books, listen to music, play games, watch videos, etc. 

I think this will be the deciding factor for the Kindle Fire. Have Amazon got the user experience right? 

We hear that the Kindle will run a modified version of the Android operating system. Android runs on many phones and other tablets. I'm sure Amazon will have heavily customized the look and feel of Android for the Kindle Fire - I'm expecting lots of orange! And I expect them to have heavily integrated the interface with their media offerings (Instant Video, Amazon App Store, Cloud Player.)

But will my Mom be able to use it? That's what I want to know. My Mom is not tech-savvy but she wants access to digital content. She bought a cheap tablet PC recently, she can do a few things with it, but she has to regularly ask my sister, who lives nearby, for advice. If Amazon can make the Kindle Fire easy to use by my Mom then I think they'll have cracked it. 

My Mom's partner does have a PC but it's in the study. She doesn't want a computer cluttering up her living room or being sat on (or worse ...) by her cats. A small tablet PC that she can pop in a drawer when she's not using it is just perfect. 

Actually, I'm betting that Amazon will make the Kindle Fire easy enough for my Mom to use and that takes care of a big chunk of the market for a tablet PC.

But will they make it easy enough for my Nan (grandmother) to use? My Nan loves to read. She has a newspaper delivered every day and pores over it, taking in every bit of news. My Nan always knows what's happening everywhere in the world. How prices are going up or down, what weather we should expect and what the latest scientific discoveries are. 

My Nan also loves to see photos and videos of her granchildren. At the moment we send printed photos and the videos have to wait until we visit. It would be wonderful if the Kindle Fire was easy enough for her to use to view photos and videos. She would also be able to pop in into her purse when she visits people to show off photos and videos of her lovely grandchildren (two of them are mine :-)

I don't think she would feel comfortable shopping online, but it would be so convenient if she could. It's getting harder for her to get out and she lives in a small village. If she could order things online and get them delivered then that would be wonderful. 

And she does enjoy watching TV. Maybe she would like to watch something different when my Grandad is watching the football (soccer that is.)

My Nan would not accept something as expensive as the iPad (she's be terrified of breaking it!) and anyway I think it would be too heavy for her, and wouldn't fit in her purse. 

My Nan is very cautious about trying new things. She has a microwave in the kitchen that she's had for about 15 years and never used. So I might be setting the bar a little high! But even if my Nan can't use the Kindle Fire, there will be an awful lot of people who will be able to. 

The Kindle Fire price is the other key thing that Amazon needed to get right. The iPad is so far ahead in the easy to use tablet market that Amazon need to do something different. 

They've got for a smaller lower spec tablet which will keep the price down. And they can easily have the Kindle Fire as a loss leader to make money on content. 

The Kindle Fire price is an amazingly low $199. Amazon Prime is needed for instant video access.  So I think people are going to be looking at the overall cost here. 

The Kindle Fire release date November 15th, just in time for Christmas 2011. 

Of course, it's a clever move to get the Kindle Fire out in time for Christmas. If Amazon have got it right then I expect Santa to need extra elves to package up all the Kindle Fire's in time for Christmas day.