Could Amazon's Kindle Fire Steal Some Of iPad's Market?

Amazon releases a tablet and a new Kindle.

One thing I think that everyone in the tech industry can agree on is that tablets and mobile devices are the way of the future. The problem is that the market is being dominated by just one company - Apple. Love them or hate them, the numbers don't lie, and right now, those numbers are showing that the iPad and iPad 2 are getting 90% of the market share right now.

Several companies have rolled out tablets that use the Android platform. Several models have been given excellent reviews from tech bloggers and product testers. Still, none of them have received a great response from customers. There is some debate about why that is, but I think it is all about price vs. value. The iPad 2 (and even the old iPad) is sexy, sleek and works great. From a customer standpoint, a tablet maker will have to give customers a reason not to buy the iPad.

A few months ago, HP decided to discontinue their tablet and slashed the price to $99 in order to sell off their remaining inventory. Surprisingly, those HP tablets started flying off the shelf. I had joked then that maybe HP had finally figured out a way to sell tablets - make them cheap. This gives customers who want tablets, but don't want to shell out the $499 for the iPad a better, cheaper option.

Maybe Jeff Bezos heard me, because Amazon is doing just that. The company announced earlier this week that they are releasing a new tablet, called Kindle Fire. The price point for the device is really great at $199. Of course, the Kindle Fire isn't exactly like the iPad. In true Amazon fashion, they have a completely different take on what people need from their tablet. Here are some of the biggest differences:

The iPad has a 10" screen while the Kindle Fire only as a 7" display.
The Kindle Fire has 8GB of storage (but is designed to work with Amazon's cloud service) - the iPad is offered with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB.
The iPad has a front facing camera and a rear camera; the Kindle Fire doesn't have a camera at all.
The iPad comes in a Wi-Fi only version or one with 3G; the Kindle Fire is Wi-fi only.

Still, for many people, the Kindle Fire will be a great way to have a tablet, get their content from Amazon delivered to it and have access to the Amazon Cloud. It looks like it will be a great device for watching movies, playing music, reading e-books and web browsing.

Although it isn't the premium tablet that Apple offers, it is the first Android tablet that really looks as though it will have a chance to grab a small piece of Apple's market share. By making it affordable, even with less bells and whistles, it will appeal to people who simply want to access their media, their Kindle books, browse the web and watch streaming movies from Amazon on Demand.

It will be interesting to see how this new device will change the market around.

What do you think about Amazon's tablet? Do you own an iPad? Why or Why not?