

Apple isn't sweating Kindle Fire; Android fragmentation will drive users to iPad - gadgetsrule
http://www.bgr.com/2011/11/03/apple-isnt-sweating-kindle-fire-says-android-fragmentation-will-drive-consumers-to-ipad/

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dpark
Amazon is not selling an Android tablet. They are selling the Kindle Fire.
They mention "Android" only once on the Kindle Fire page, in reference to the
Amazon Android App store. To the typical consumer, this isn't an Android
tablet. It's an Amazon tablet.

I bet Apple is afraid of this tablet. It's likely to be the best-selling non-
Apple tablet on the day of its first shipments. It's not going to kill the
iPad, but it is going to take a big chunk of the market.

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r00fus
Yes, Kindle Fire is likely on Apple's radar (as opposed to say, anything from
Archos or even Asus).

However, I think it's Google or Microsoft who should likely be more worried,
as there is currently no #2 in the tablet platform space, and Amazon may pick
up the silver easily if the Fire is as good as reviewers claim... the price
itself is eye-catching.

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cydonian_monk
Rewind this article to 1985 and replace Tablet with P.C.; Amazon with Tandy,
IBM, et cetera. That's where I see the tablet market right now. Competitors to
the iPad won't succeed by being better than the iPad, but by price and volume.
And by offering things Apple doesn't - such as portable form factors and open
systems.

Fragmentation of the O.S. is very a minor issue.

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stephenr
When users can't run App X or Game Y because their device is running an
18month old version of an OS out of the box, and will possibly be never
updated, they will start complaining.

People want shit to work.

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MatthewPhillips
No, they will buy a new tablet, like they did when their PCs had the same
problem. That's why software has hardware specs, especially games.

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fondue
Just like on the phone, too, right? That was sarcasm, btw.

I don't agree with their assessment and I am assuming they're putting on a
nice face for investors. I think most users will consider this as a cool
eReader that they can play Angry Birds on, not an Android tablet.

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wccrawford
And on the PC, too. They don't even talk about fragmentation on the PC any
more. It's just dismissed outright, even though it actually still does cause
developer problems.

It's not worth complaining about because more devices means more users.

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stephenr
How many PCs are shipped with the previous version of Windows and absolutely
no way to upgrade it?

How many Windows apps are targeted at a single model of computer and fail to
work on others because they use a different size monitor?

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wccrawford
I guess you don't remember the old days then, huh?

While there wasn't a time you couldn't install a new version of windows, it
used to require a professional due to all the issues involved.

And there were tons of applications and games that only worked on the right
size monitor, and right speed of computer. Some computers even had a button
that was used to slow them down for old software because of it.

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stephenr
Yes, and society at large has moved on from that shit.

People used to accept racism and spousal rape in the "old days" but we don't
anymore. No reason we should accept half-baked apps on half-baked devices.

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wccrawford
You're being voted down for comparing rape to upgrading an operating system.

However, I agree that we've come to expect better. And Google is working on
it. Each release of Android has been better about being resolution-independent
and helping apps cope with screens that are of a different size, even if they
weren't written for it.

And it's not Google's fault that many phones don't allow you to change the OS.
They have certainly never recommended that approach. And some newer phones do
not have this lock-in. And all the old ones have been hacked for it.

Apple is to be applauded for how far back IOS upgrades go, hardware-wise. I
don't deny that they've done that right. But for Android, this is a hardware
manufacturer problem, and something that a LOT of people complain about. I
expect to see major strides in it soon.

Again, iPhone/IOS are basically the same thing, but Android is separated into
hardware and software components. This makes it more versatile, but also
brings some issues. It's just like the Mac vs PC all over again, as far as all
that goes.

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ZeroGravitas
This sounds like exactly the kind of crazy things that incumbent CEOs said
when the iPhone was announced, a strange mix of bravado and nonsense.

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jinushaun
Hubris doesn't look good on anyone.

