Amazon's Kindle sets the house on "Fire"

Post the launch of the iPad, there have been numerous products that have been touted as the next "iPad killer." People sat up and took notice when the Blackberry Playbook was announced, and were very excited when HP decided to get into the game. Samsung as well has had success with their Galaxy Tablet, which according to recent news, has a higher market share than the iPad in a huge territory like India. Sony also has announced plans to come out with their own Tablet which will be launched by the end of the year. There was always speculation that maybe Amazon would follow in the footsteps of Barnes and Nobles that launched a "Nook" tablet device recently, and that speculation came to fruition yesterday when Amazon launched the Kindle Fire device as seen above (Picture taken from Gizmodo.com)
So what makes the Fire worth even talking about? Well, the price tag for one. This seems to be the first thing people mention when talking about the device, as at it's given 199 USD price tag, it is 300 USD cheaper than the cheapest iPad.
Amazon built the Fire with the concept of building a perfect device to receive information from. Apple's iPad has tried to market itself as a machine that could be a laptop replacement, but anyone who has used one has seen how difficult it is to actually input any information into it. The on screen keyboard isn't the easiest to type on and the idea that one will actually use the iPad to take pictures is quite ludicrous and moreover as a blogger I find it quite irritating that the absence of Flash means I can't post on my blog with ease. The Kindle Fire on the other hand, is the exact same size as the Blackberry Playbook, which means it's much smaller and easier to tote around than the iPad. In fact, the similarity with the Playbook doesn't stop there- the Fire actually runs off the same processor as found on the Blackberry device.
Amazon is also set to take on content-provider Netflix head-on as the Amazon Prime service, which gives users access to 100,000 movies and TV shows, will become increasingly important in the digital field as users will be able to stream content wirelessly. Just as with the Amazon Kindle books app, that allows bookmarks to be shared within devices, similarly the Movies app will allow for content to be played on other devices from when it was last paused on the Fire, or vice versa.
To check out the Kindle Fire in action, check out a video of the demo as shot by the folks at Engadget. I can't wait to get my hands on one!
For those who still want to use the device for reading purposes only, new Kindle devices using the previous E-Ink technology have been launched at excellent price points. Amazon also launched a 79 USD Kindle as well as two Touch enabled Kindles, at 99 and 149 USD respectively.
I see the death of the Barnes and Nobles Nook Player very soon... Death by Fire.
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