Andy Tarczon, Founding Partner, Corporate Development
November 18, 2011
Be it love, hate, or indifference, you've likely read about the Amazon Kindle Fire released this week. Just as certain, you've read the press inevitably pitting the device against the iPad. Are such comparisons fair? Absolutely. While we as an industry can embrace the nuances between these platforms, the ultimate purchase decision will have consumers choosing one or the other - but rarely both.
So here's a quick recap of what you may already know: price of $199 with a 7" screen, Android underpinnings, ebook and music and video player, sold at a loss, integrated to Amazon.com, free movies and loaner books to Prime members, WiFi only, released at the same time as the updated Nook.... The list goes on, but you get it.
Regardless of whether the device lives up to the hype, Amazon now has a fully-developed media platform for virtually all of the digital content it sells. (Dig much deeper into this aspect in a recent Wired interview.) But the discussion to this point has been focused on the Fire as a consumption platform, when in reality pad-type devices are most often extensions of the living room TV experience. I've previously noted that I call my iPad "my imdbPad" - a service coincidentally owned by Amazon and prominently featured in Fire's Favorites shelf. Although imdb is today just an app, given further metadata integration, the Fire becomes more integral to both the media consumption experience and the Amazon buying experience. Yes, the stereotypical t-commerce examples of buying a TV star's sweater or ordering a pizza come to mind (and bring new meaning to the phrase "Fire sale"), but Amazon's Fire platform, given what we expect to happen, will become much more than that.
For example, if one is streaming Amazon content to the TV, should we not expect Disney Second Screen-type experiences? What happens when Amazon rolls out its version of a cable TV service? We are already seeing these moves among so many of the other players - from the rumors of Sony's virtual paytv service on PS3, to the Xbox's xfinity integration, and even to Boxee's Live TV dongle. Should we not expect Amazon's video services to soon mirror and have similar offerings? How will Fire enhance that experience? Such moves propel the Fire beyond just a consumption platform (note: a pretty good one at that) and into a larger integrated experience for the living room.
...And if you happen to need a new tv for that larger experience, I'm betting you know the device you can order it from...
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