
How Amazon will win the tablet wars - iProject
http://www.zdnet.com/how-amazon-will-win-the-tablet-wars-7000003900/
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tluyben2
US Amazon 'product release 14 sept', EU/UK 25th of oct. As long as release
dates are like that I would not buy for fun.I know a lot of people think the
same; as long as non US is a second class citizen I don't see any company
'winning' anything. After a keynote you want to order. You don't want to wait
and especially not when the product exists. This is even worse for virtual
goods (music/software/movies etc), but for physical goods as well; if you
cannot deliver it immediately then it doesn't exist for most people. And I
know a lot non tech people who won't buy it; it seems that companies like this
do not see that announcements are no longer local. When any company does an
announcement it's in 'the papers' (virtual or real) immediately all across the
planet, not only in the US. So people read, want to buy, cannot buy and go for
your competitor who does have the capability to release worldwide. Newspaper
articles mostly always mention the competitors. I personally know a lot of
people who bought an iPad instead of a Fire in the first release because you
simply couldn't get it here (the Amazon.com site doesn't allow you to order
from EU for this item, so you need someone in the US). It's rancid and it
needs to stop now.

Edit: the iPad / Fire price difference doesn't matter for most people from the
Netherlands, that is something you need to know before reading this. We are
known as frugal but in real life most people make a lot of money and just buy
what they want, regardless of price in the < E1000 range.

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aroberge
Wrong thinking: _free_ eTextbooks are the way forward. It will take a while,
but the younger generation of Ph.D. is more savyy in using technology as a
means for communication and it is (I hope) only a matter of times until we
have Creative Commons based textbooks in all disciplines. Amazon would do well
to stay away from that ... and focus instead on expanding beyond the U.S.

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mikeratcliffe
Amazon are releasing the paperwhite in the USA and refuse to even say if, or
even when it will be available in the UK. Even though it is an e-Reader this
truly illustrates their attitude to non-US users.

Whilst they consider non-US users second class citizens they have no chance of
winning the tablet wars ... at least not outside the USA.

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taylodl
If the Kindle is just a portal for buying/consuming Amazon services then I
don't see it setting the world on fire. Once more people realize tablets are
the ultimate mobile general-purpose computing platform then interest in
consumer portal tablets will wane.

