Amazon Kindle Fire: 10 Reasons It Succeeds in a Crowded Market

By Don Reisinger

Who can fault anyone looking to buy an affordable tablet with opting for the Kindle Fire? The device starts at $159 for the basic model, and the most-expensive version, the Kindle Fire HD with an 8.9-inch screen, is just $399. Affordability counts.

Children are increasingly asking their parents for tablets. But with devices like the iPad, which starts at $499, topping their lists, actually going with that tablet might not make sense. After all, kids have been known to throw products around and not take care of them to the degree they should. But the Kindle Fire is cheap, it’s actually quite capable of taking a beating, and its parental controls are top-notch. It’s a great option for children.

Storage is something that’s often overlooked when making a tablet decision, but it should top the minds of all consumers. Realizing that, the Kindle Fire is a worthwhile choice. The tablet starts at 8GB of storage, but ramps up to 64GB for the high-end model. Plus, Amazon offers cloud storage. From a storage perspective, the Kindle Fire is really a leader in the tablet market.

When the Kindle Fire first launched, Amazon only offered a 7-inch version. But now, the company has several models for any customer. In order to be successful in today’s tablet market, companies must have several versions available for several different people. The one-size-fits-all strategy doesn’t work. And Amazon now knows that.

One of the nice things about Amazon’s 8.9-inch Kindle HD is that it comes with a screen that delivers full, 1080p HD visuals. In other words, the Kindle Fire’s screen can pump out the same quality of video as a Blu-ray disc.

Amazon has done a good job at delivering a product in the Kindle Fire that will last a long time on a single charge. According to Amazon, its Kindle Fire will last 8.5 hours of continuous use, while the higher-end 7-inch model will last 11 hours, and the 8.9-inch HD version will go for 10 hours of continuous use on a single charge. That means it’ll get folks through long flights and long road trips.

Amazon has made the extremely intelligent decision to fully integrate its many services into the Kindle Fire. Users will find the company’s Appstore, cloud storage, MP3 download store, and access to Prime Instant Video, among other features. Users can even download ebooks from the Kindle store. Integration is essential in today’s hotly contested mobile marketplace.

Want to know a good reason to buy the Kindle Fire? Look no further than the high-end 8.9-inch version that comes with 4G LTE service. In most cases, companies won’t bundle the ultra-high-speed connection with a device as cheaply priced as the $399 tablet. But Amazon has. And that immediately puts it ahead of many competitors in the mobile marketplace.

All Kindle Fire devices come with the option for parents to control how much time their kids can spend using the tablet and what kinds of apps they can use, with a feature that is called FreeTime Unlimited. For $4.99 per month, Kindle Fire owners can get all kid-related apps and educational tools onto the device, as well as control how their children use the tablet. It’s a fine feature that many parents love.

In the tablet market, few customers realize that there are different levels of multi-touch, and that they will pay for better versions. Amazon is one of the few companies to make that clear, offering either a two-finger multi-touch option in its low-end model, or a 10-finger multi-touch in the better versions. That level of detail and openness shouldn’t be overlooked. Plus, if developers take advantage of the 10-finger multi-touch, who knows what could be possible?