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How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?

By | September 28, 2011, 9:45am PDT

Summary: Windows 8 tablets, expected out in 2012, have some new and formidable competition from Amazon’s newly announced Kindle Fire tablet.

Almost every analysis I’ve read today about the just announced Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon pits the Kindle Fire against the iPad and various Android tablets.

Even though Windows 8 tablets are still possibly a year away from shipping, Microsoft needs to be factored in here, too..

Will potential new tablet buyers want this?

This?

Or this?

Obviously, buying choices aren’t entirely based on just one factor. It’s not just the user interface that is the ultimate differentiator. Price, apps, usage plans, device weight, battery life, overall look and feel and many more factors matter, too. And we don’t know enough about Windows 8 — beyond the user interface and legacy app support plans — to truly evaluate it against the existing and coming competition.

For me, portability is perhaps my No. 1 evaluation criteria for tablets. What makes a tablet portable (or not)? An easy-to-carry form factor, excellent (8-hour-plus) battery life, obviating the need to carry extra batteries and power cords; and fast boot-up/shut-down, enabling me to instantly start or finish using the device. That’s why I bought an iPad last year; I couldn’t find a Windows PC in tablet form factor that met these requirements. If the Amazon Kindle had been out then, I definitely would have considered it — and possibly bought it — instead of my iPad.

The Samsung prototype tablets Microsoft gave Build attendees were not very portable compared to the 7-inch-screen, 14.6 ounce Kindle Fire. There are indications that Intel-based PC vendors are (finally) getting the message that even us PC users prefer thin and light devices. And though we have yet to get to test drive ARM-based Windows 8 tablets, thin and light has been their typical calling card.

Microsoft’s Windows team isn’t going to allow itself to be rushed to market with Windows 8, no matter which other vendors enter and at what price. I don’t think Microsoft’s lateness with a true iPad and Kindle Fire competitor is an impossible-to-overcome hurdle. And the $200 price tag of the Kindle Fire isn’t a deal breaker, as Microsoft can subsidize with the best of them.

I do think the Kindle Fire makes it even more imperative that Microsoft has a strong cloud story to tell with Windows 8. We know very little about the Softies’ strategy here, beyond the fact that users can log onto Windows 8 using their Windows Live IDs and sync their settings and data across Windows 8 PCs in this way. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s wildcard here and the Windows Live team has shared only some very brief glimpses about its plans for enabling Windows 8 users to capitalize on Microsoft’s drive in the cloud. (Unlimited SkyDrive storage for photos and documents would be a good start.)

What else do Windows 8 tablets need to deliver to stay competitive against future iPads and Amazon tablets, in your opinion?  I’m wondering whether Microsoft could/should introduce a less-capable tablet (based on the Windows core that doesn’t offer legacy app support, perhaps) to fend off its rivals at the low end…. Thoughts?

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Topics

Microsoft Windows, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Windows 8, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle Fire, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
dfwekrdfe21-24353591773875370058218281633688 Updated - 10th Nov
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Not really in competition
drisner 28th Sep
Seems to me that the Amazon Fire & potential Windows 8 Tablets are targeting 2 different, but possibly overlapping, markets. Amazon Fire is basically a media consumption device where Windows 8 Tablets are that, but also productivity devices.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
sharkboyjohn 28th Sep
@drisner
I agree. Maybe they give away a few Fire with every Win 8 computer. People will use both for different things.
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Exactly. Or at least thats the implication so far.
Cayble Updated - 28th Sep
@drisner
First off, price points virtually dictate where the competition is in this kind of product. For example, if your tablet can do everything that another tablet can do, then at first blush one would expect competition with that other tablet. Of course if you only cost 40% of the other tablet then your product is likely a "killer" and there will not be much of a competition. If your product cost 40% less and it cannot do quite as much as the other tablet, or the quality is off by a bit, then competition isn't as likely, or at least minimal, as most buyers will find one tablet at a different price point and capability an obviously better fit for their needs and wants then the prospective competition. True competing products really have to have some fairly direct similarities as opposed to significant defining differences. Otherwise the possibilities of customers actually having any difficulty in deciding on which product they want tends to be relatively non existent and thats not much of a competition.

As with may popular products, there is always talk of an iPad killer. An iPad killer may be a difficult thing to create, often any type of "killer" product can be very difficult to create. The ear marks of a "killer" product most often come by way of a deadly double whammy, and when someone does it, it usually is a "killer". The double whammy is firstly some significant improvement in usability/productivity/power/features kind of thing, over the current front runner, and secondly is, it will usually run hand in hand with a better price. Hard to do. But when it does, its usually a killer.

So far nothing has come out in the tablet form that is an iPad killer. The iPad has enough quality and size and capability, combined with its Apple environment make it a very salable item at its $500 price point. So far the competition always has missed in at least enough areas to fall significantly short of an iPad killer.

Get ready for the screaming.

The way things look right now, the only company who seems to have at least a shot at an iPad killer would be Microsoft. If Microsoft can put a full blown functional OS on some good quality hardware and find a way to bring it into the stores for under $500, even a little under, it could be a killer. Not of course among the Apple only faithful, but quite frankly, as loud as they are they are still in the small minority and most people who bought iPads, iPhones or even iPods may love their devices but they are not of the rabid ilk of many Mac users who would just as soon cut off your head as let you get away with explaining why you prefer Windows.

If Microsoft actually manages to put a real computer into a tablet format, and of course not botch it up somehow, and they are close to the iPad in price it will be a very competitive product, if they do a real nice job of it and the price is notably lower then an iPad, you will see iPads run into trouble because an iPad fails at being what most people have come to think of as a real computer.
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AMEN
spaulagain 29th Sep
@Cayble

Couldn't have said it any better. I don't understand why Mary Jo didn't note this in her post better.

A Windows 8 Tablet not only will have an impact on the iPad but it will begin to eat away at the netbook/laptop market. Eventually, the the only laptops/netbooks available will technically be Tablets with a "snap-on" keyboards if you need the physical UI for better productivity on the go.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
r_scott_carey@... 2nd Oct
@Cayble
Nobody seems to be getting this: you cant't run legacy apps on ARM based processors, so the only Windows 8 that can compete with the iPad in terms of size, battery life, and performance WON"T RUN WINDOWS LEGACY APPS. I.e. wont run any of the latest Windows 7 apps you have on your PC or 10+ year old Windows 9x or Windows NT based apps. NADA.
'But' you say 'x86 based tablets running Windows 8 will be able to run Legacy apps'. Yes they will....and there is NO IMPROVEMENT in Windows 8 for running these apps on x86 tablets versus Windows 7. In other words: any tablet running Windows 8 AND supporting lexacy apps will have the same compromise between performance and battery life/size that all current Windos 7 tablets have. They wont be iPad killers.
I'm a Windows user and I'm looking forward to using Windows 8....but I see a major public-relations disaster in the making as Microsoft fails to explain this to consumers.
People wont want to run the MetroUI on their desktops or laptops (too touch oriented and takes more clicks to get things done compared to the current desktop paradigm when using keyboard and mouse). Metro shines on tablets....but can only really compete hardware-wise with the iPad when it ditches legacy apps. At that point, why would anybody buy a Windows 8 tablet with relatively no apps versus an iPad?
It amazes me that non of the tech journalists gushing of Windows 8 are pointing out the 'Windows 8 on tablets' reality. To sum up: Windows 8 can only compete against iPad hardware when it can't run Windows apps, at which point its 1 advantage is lost.
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RE: What else do Windows 8 tablets need to deliver
markrendle 28th Sep
One word: Content.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
pedroroque 28th Sep
I have zero interest in the Kindle Fire. I will get a Kindle touch, because, for me, e-readers must be based on e-paper.

As for my main device, it's already the Samsung device they gave us at //Build. Of course, I hope that the battery life gets better, but having a single device, it's pretty cool. This thing runs Visual Studio with any problems!

Consumption only devices aren't my thing, I guess.
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A whole new tablet category
tgschmidt Updated - 28th Sep
Low Cost! You can't compare the Fire to any other tablet really. Until there are others in the sub $200 range with similar specs and capabilities. The Fire is a device designed to entertain you. Not to replace a laptop, netbook. Galaxy Tab or iPad. I do not own a Tablet because I did not really see a need to spend that much on a device like that. But, I have been looking to buy a Kindle and now the Fire looks very attractive because it is 'NOT" a "tablet computer" but a tablet entertainment device. I guess it could be compared to the Nook, but even then the Fire is much more capable for entertainment. I believe this new category of tablet entertainment device will be the next big thing. The right price, the right features & the right content on a simple to use device. Just about perfect for most of us non super techies that don't need the best, fastest, super device.
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The thing I like about the Kindle Fire ...
P. Douglas Updated - 28th Sep
@tgschmidt,

... is that its an Amazon walled garden / gated community, to Amazon paid services. It appears to be well implemented, and should attract a lot of customers who like consuming Amazon ebook, magazine, music, movie, and other digital content. The Kindle Fire is certainly not for everyone, but it should attract quite a bit of reading enthusiasts and others attracted to Amazon services, and have those people regularly enjoy services for a fee.

While the Kindle Fire is really not a Win 8 competitor, I do believe MS' online division can learn from it. This is what MS' online division should be all about: providing highly differentiated Windows user experiences, compelling enough for customers to pay for. E.g. Bing powers a lot of really great stuff, but increasing amounts of the information it provides, and the experiences it powers, should be paid for. MS online services great focus should be to provide a gated community that is so compelling, everyone wants to get in - many of whom won't mind doing so for a fee. This would allow Bing and MS other services to make money a sooner, than if they take the Google route.

I don't think the Kindle Fire is a threat to the iPad, Windows 8, or even the larger Android market. It's really a targeted device, and an ingenious way to attract and keep people using Amazon services.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
explodingwalrus 28th Sep
Windows 8 uses around 16GB of drive space and will be shipping with an antivirus app. Nuff said
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
pedroroque 28th Sep
@explodingwalrus

Like to troll, eh???
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
Rama.NET 28th Sep
They serve to two different entities totally. Microsoft's big bet is consumerization of enterprise market. They target this for Enterprises with Azure backend. Microsoft may not have books, newspapers or magazines as content, but they have games, apps, music and video.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
pedroroque 28th Sep
@Rama.NET

I have Kindle on my Win8 tablet!
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Arguably the more important of the 2 groups
toddybottom 28th Sep
@Rama.NET
"Microsoft may not have books, newspapers or magazines as content, but they have games, apps, music and video. "

Non free eBooks have been successful but newspapers and magazines have been utter failures on the iPad. Even with the iPad though, Apple has utterly failed to make any money with eBooks. iBooks is a failure and all the big content players told Apple to shove their 30% fee.

Games, apps, music, and video though? These are still good money makers.

I still give Windows 8 slates a slim to none chance of being successful but they'll do better than $499 Android tablets will.

You can't compete against the iPad. Amazon knows this which is why Amazon is not competing against the iPad. MS knows this too. HP didn't know this but got out quickly. RIM still hasn't figured this one out and it is painful to watch.
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Hmm...
Joe_Raby 28th Sep
Is it media content, or app content?

Most apps on iPad have some kind of Windows equivalent - especially casual games (Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies anyone?). Regular apps are just more powerful on Windows too.

Media? iTunes runs on Windows (so does Kindle for that matter).

I think the decision is probably going to boil down to whether or not a given app is available exclusively on a particular tablet, and of course, cost of hardware. Media content doesn't really figure into it, but you do have ALL of the media content in one place on a Windows tablet so there's that....
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Amazon won't succeed, and here's why:
Joe_Raby 28th Sep
They don't have any media content available outside of the US, except for eBooks. No TV, movies, or music. AmazonMP3 only exists inside the US bubble. As such, these new tablets aren't going to succeed without an international mass market release, and with no media to back them up, they're useless outside of the US, hence the reason why they aren't being sold outside of it.

The iPad IS sold internationally, along with regional media stores. Amazon doesn't have that kind of clout, so these are just more fluff, like the TouchPad, and all of the Chinese no-name ODM Android tablets sold for $99+.
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e-Reader versus Portable PC
GeiselS@... 28th Sep
don't think they are in the same camp. Kindle is the best e-reader and at that price affordable for all. Windows 8 will make the best portable PC...that leaves toys like the iPad for others. Everyone else will be toast.
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AMAZON is a bigger threat than Apple
johnfenjackson@... 28th Sep
The opening of Bezos' announcement ...

"There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp."

If Amazon can deliver on this promise then it will contrast to an extra 30% for digital wares proposed by Apple and latterly M$, as opposed to reductions on ALL OTHER wares proposed by AMAZON. In the face of such competition M$ will lose. Indeed are AMAZON not really handing out the touchscreen you use at the self-service checkout in a conventional store and saying 'this device if free to use in our store'?

Combined with AMAZON's existing media relationships ... I see M$ in a world of hurt now, even before product release.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
dagamer34 28th Sep
Microsoft has less to worry about since just about every Kindle Fire owner will have a PC or Mac, but few iPad owners will get a Kindle Fire as well.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
windowsliver 28th Sep
Did you know your windows phone syncs automatically with your skydrive, making privacy a huge concern if you use windows live. Lock your pictures and profiles otherwise people can see your private information. Scary.
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Why Windows 8 will fail!
MSFTWorshipper 28th Sep
You have to be able to sell 8GB ARM tablets and Windows 8 takes 16GB alone!
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WRONG! Win8 will run fine on 1 and 2G netbooks
Johnny Vegas 28th Sep
8G while low for a media content device like the fire should have been, storing lots of books/movies for a mexican vacation, is way more than you need for Win8. As for the fire, no thanks not interested, but if you are I'd suggest waiting for v2 with more memory, a 10" screen, lighter weight, and longer battery life. These v1s are throw aways.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
techiegz@... Updated - 28th Sep
All other tablets can be released left and right all they want, Windows 8 will still emerge as king due to its much richer UX, productivity (as others have mentioned) and not just consumption, ecosystem, enterprise-readiness, etc. Of course there will be varying price points from basic Win8 home version on tablets al the way to enterprise version that can be joined to enterprise domains and managed by servers.

People at my office got iPads, now they are crying that they also want to use MS Office suite, print, stylus, scan/save to shared drives, call center solutions (monitor, reporting, etc), access shared calendars, meeitng invites, longer battery life, etc. All we could do in the IT department was laugh our heads off and saying didn't soeone tell them iPads are useless when they were handing it to them? All other tablets, including this Kindle fire, fall in the same category of useless toys. Wait until Win8 tablets drop.
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Amazon has created a new market for itself like iPad
sachasacha Updated - 28th Sep
The whole Amazon thing to me is their cloud service. Look at how it will render web pages using silk which is cloud based. So my question is, will the web experience be different than other platforms? That will be the decision factor for consumer. I guess Microsoft should not be running after each and every new product but should concentrate on productivity and enterprise front. Laptop are laptop after all. They do not have a chance in Tablet market for sure thats my take.
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MJ You are kidding, right?
Patanjali 28th Sep
Different principle target markets on so many fronts.

These two can coexist in the marketplace, though anyone who chooses a Win 8 tablet MAY not want a Fire.
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Windows Is A Goner
ldo17 28th Sep
That Windows 8/WP7 "wall of text" look is so ... 2010. You can see how the Linux/Android-based systems have already moved on from that. Microsoft needs to come up with some new UI ideas ASAP. But what do you expect from a system that is still hobbled by drive letters?
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Funtionality and usefulness and productivity, are more important...
adornoe@... 29th Sep
and when it comes to the current crop of tablets, including the iPads, they're so... 1980s, because, they're mostly consumption devices, much like the dumb terminals of the 1970s and 1980s, except that, the tablets of today have much better UIs. But, the UIs aren't what provide usefulness and productivity. It's the capabilities, such as can be found on fully functioning laptops and desktops. That's what is being promised with Windows 8, but, in the same form factor as the current crop of tablets. So, think again, because, if the Windows 8 tablet can deliver what Microsoft has promised, every other tablet will be just 1980s terminals with better graphics, intended to be simple media consumption devices.
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Re: mostly consumption devices, much like the dumb terminals of the 1970s
ldo17 30th Sep
@adornoe@... Except those dumb terminals could be used for content creation as well as consumption (I know, I used them). Probably because they were not tied to an operating system that was crippled by its dependence on drive letters.
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ldo17:Sure, if one tries real hard, even a smartphone can be used to create
adornoe@... 30th Sep
content, but, it wouldn't be the same, would it?

Ever try to create a term paper on a tablet? Or write a book? Or use a package such photoshop in one of those devices.

I don't deny that there is some usefulness to the tablets, but, productivity is one of those areas where tablets are severely crippled.

With a dumb terminal of the 1970s, I was able to do all the things that a tablet can be used for, and I could still be very productive. The advantage to the tablets is in the graphics area and in portability.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
Myclevername 30th Sep
@ldo17
what's wrong with drive letters? i love 'em. They help me find stuff.
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Re: what's wrong with drive letters?
ldo17 30th Sep
@Myclevername Which name would you rather use: "/media/dvd" or "E:"?
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Ido17: Whatever you're using must be really "crippled",
adornoe@... 1st Oct
because, my device descriptions on my PC have names/descriptions such as these:

Local Disc (C:)
DVD/CD-RW Drive (E:)
Local Disc (F:)
Life_Cam_3_5 (D:)

If one cannot easily determines what each device is about, then they have no business using that computer.

Besides, after a few times working with a computer, even a novice should be able to remember what each drive letter refers to. Otherwise, they still have no business sitting in front of a computer.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
moorster 28th Sep
My #1 criterion is what applications it can run. For a tablet to be remotely useful (at least more useful than my phone) it has to do much more than serve up web pages. I need Visual Studio. I need to be able to run the apps that I write. I need Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Photoshop and Eclipse. I don't intend to use a tablet as my main content creation tool, but I would like to bring it to meetings and use it on the bus. I will need those tools if it's going to be any more useful in thos situations than my phone.
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AMAZON is a far bigger danger than Apple
johnfenjackson@... Updated - 29th Sep
Most consumers want a tablet. I want a tablet for my 2 weeks holiday coming up. In a year's time I can see good quality hotels handing out Fire's to clients along with their beach towels!

I think M$ is in for a world of tablet hurt now - even before release! IT pros will probably buy an ultrabook with Windows 8 this time round ... but for the family, especially the kids, the Fire is so cheap that it will be the goto tablet.

The case for AMAZON is overwhelming: M$ want to charge 30% on top for apps. Contrast that with AMAZON wanting to reduce costs on ALL wares, not just digital ... and virtually giving away the tablet. I was struck by the opening of AMAZON's announcement ...
"There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp."

If AMAZON can get their tablet right then I'd go for a medium term market share of:
Fire 90%
iPad 5%
Ultrabook + W8 5%.

PS Another competitor announces an interesting product with some stuff M$ could have done (but didn't) and some that it can't. Are you going to report on the employee unrest following Steve Ballmer's in-house annual address?
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And another thing ...
johnfenjackson@... 29th Sep
... AMAZON is an enterprise company ... and consumer success would inevitably be followed by an attack on M$'$ core enterprise business ... future cloud and all.
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What the heck is an "enterprise company"?
adornoe@... 1st Oct
No matter.

Look, Amazon is a store (internet based), first and foremost, with cloud offerings tossed into the mix. Thus, they're not really an enterprise in the software side that can compete with a Microsoft that will be dedicated, first and foremost, to the development and selling of technical products and services, with dedicated support and maintenance. What Amazon has is a huge infrastructure, which was mostly dedicated to support of an online store, and branched out from there. Most businesses aren't going to be using a service or company where the intent is to become a "closed, walled-garden" in support of its core business functions, which is, of course, online sales.
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Can't compare apples and oranges...
adornoe@... 29th Sep
The "Fire" is intended as a POS/cash machine, whereas the Windows 8 tablets will be intended as full function tablets/computing devices.

The "Fire" will be a single vendor controlled device, with Amazon reaping all the benefits with their lock-in to only Amazon products and service, whereas the Windows 8 tablets (in fact, any other tablets) will be open to whatever kind of usage the purchaser wants.
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Pickup trucks vs. econoboxes
Rexxrally Updated - 29th Sep
I'm a heavy user of MS stuff. I went to BUILD, I've got a MS Win8 Developer Preview tablet. We're talking totally different form factor from the Kindle Fire, so the 2 will not be competing against each other at all. The Win8 tablet is a pickup truck, giving me (almost) my Windows desktop in a more-than-laptop-portable form. It was designed for developers, for development (even has Visual Studio and Expression Blend on it). Developers are pretty much the heaviest users of all (except maybe games/graphics designers). Yes, it's the heaviest of all my tablets (I've got several), but it also does the heaviest lifting. It's almost between a tablet and a laptop. Call it a "tabtop"

The Kindle Fire is an econobox, giving a little bit of tablet functionality, but it's designed to be a Kindle, let people buy stuff from Amazon and browse the Internet (while letting Bezos and company track your every move on the net, so they can tailor their offerings to you more accurately, so you'll buy even more from them).

The Win tablet is pretty close to other tablets I've seen in the MS Store, for $1100-1300, so they definitely won't be trying to compete against the Kindle Fire on price, either.

I'm waiting to see the smaller Win tablets coming out next year, to see how big and heavy they are, and how long their battery lasts. If they can come out with something close to the size, weight and price of an iPad, then I think they'll have something for the general public to buy. It'll be more open than the iPad, more controlled than Android, and will match the way most people work on their desktop/laptops.
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Probably positive overall.
WilErz 29th Sep
Given the price and the content, my first thought was that this could only be bad for all the competitors, Windows 8 included. Having given it more thought, however, I think it could actually be positive.

The Kindle Fire is clearly a low-end device. It provides access to Amazon content, especially ebooks, but doesn't come close to being a capable replacement for a notebook PC. That's where it could potentially help Windows 8.

Consider the following questions:

(1) Does a Kindle Fire user need an iPad (or Android-based iPad imitation, which is implied in further references to the 'iPad')?

(2) Does a Kindle Fire user need a notebook/tablet PC?

(3) Does an iPad user need a notebook/tablet PC?

In most cases, the answer to (1) is probably 'no'. Even as a consumption device, the Kindle Fire is inferior to the iPad, but it's considerably cheaper, and with Amazon's rich content offerings, is probably competitive in many usage scenarios. It fits well between a mobile phone and a notebook PC, and in contrast to the iPad, doesn't really threaten either.

Given the Kindle Fire's obvious limitations, the answer to (2) will often be 'yes'. Business users and others who create and consume content will almost certainly need something more than a Kindle Fire. The obvious complement is a notebook or tablet PC. With the Kindle Fire's low price (versus an iPad), there's money left in the budget for a notebook as well.

The answer to (3) is more likely to be 'no' than the answer to (2), and that's why the Kindle Fire may be positive for Windows 8 tablets/notebooks. An iPad is clearly more capable as a notebook/tablet PC replacement than a Kindle Fire, but it costs more. To the extent that the Kindle Fire pulls content consumers away from the iPad, it weakens the iPad's assault on the notebook PC market, and as noted above, leaves more room in the budget for a notebook PC.

The other benefit for Windows is content. Amazon and Microsoft compete in some areas, e.g. music, but unlike Google or Apple, Microsoft aren't trying to break into Amazon's core books business. A Kindle Fire and a Windows notebook/tablet PC with Amazon's content apps would work well together, with the Kindle Fire fitting nicely between a mobile phone and a notebook/tablet PC.

If I were running Microsoft, I'd actually be looking to make some sort of co-operative agreement with Amazon, perhaps bringing them into the Nokia alliance as a premier content provider in exchange for Amazon adoption of Microsoft services -- and perhaps eventually even a Microsoft OS. Microsoft and Amazon face the same key rivals, Google and Apple, and there isn't really much overlap across their businesses. Together, they could be unstoppable.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
skipmo 29th Sep
I will be able to run all my business software on windows 8. If it works on windows 7 it will work on windows 8. Wife has Zoom, children use ipad, I prefer my windows 7 slate as it dose more.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
cool8man 29th Sep
The way I see it is anyone who buys a Windows 8 tablet has no need for a Kindle Fire or iPad. But people who buy iPad and Kindle Fire may eventually feel the need to upgrade to a Windows 8 tablet.

It's sort of like an iPod vs. an iPhone. Nobody is going to downgrade from a Windows 8 tablet to a Kindle Fire.
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
Myclevername 30th Sep
The only people who should be concerned about the Fire are Barnes & Noble. And I'm sure they are.
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You DO know that Citrix Receiver is in the Amazon store, right?
daboochmeister 30th Sep
With the ability to run Citrix Receiver, the Fire all of a sudden covers many more use cases than many of the posters on this topic are assuming. Especially when you consider that a Win8 tablet will be competing against the Fire v2, or maybe even v3, which will likely include bluetooth keyboard support etc.

Add to that a full HTML5-capable browser - and the venn diagram starts to have a whole lot of overlapped-middle.

The Win8 tablet economy will certainly be affected, in a bigger way than many of the dismissive comments above imply, by this and other cheaper alternatives.
0 Votes
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
Looks Confused 4th Oct
I'll tell you how. Integration with all the other Windows stuff, like Sharepoint etc.

The thing that irritates me the most about Android is not being able to access our Windows domain at work. Maybe I can do it now, I haven't checked in the last month or so, but it ends up being a show stopper for me using my tablet at work for a portable terminal. If Microsoft comes through with that, I may be convinced to use one for work (particularly if I can get all windows applications to run on it).

Regards,

Hans
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
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RE: How will Windows 8 tablets fare against Amazon's Kindle Fire?
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