Will Tablet Price War Mean a Larger Amazon Tablet?

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Will Tablet Price War Mean a Larger Amazon Tablet?

Posted by Soulskill on Monday February 27, 2012 @10:03AM from the well-it-won't-mean-a-smaller-one dept.

An anonymous reader writes "PC Magazine reports that even while Amazon was building their Kindle Fire tablet, it was already planning on a much larger model that 'will be its marquee product and the hopeful cornerstone of its tablet strategy.' Amazon's already begun offering $30 discounts on refurbished 7-inch Kindle Fire tablets, matching last week's new aggressive pricing from Barnes and Noble on their color touchscreen Nook. But PCMag argues that the 7-inch color Kindle was simply a 'beta' release of the larger device to come. 'In no way was Amazon being dishonest with its customers... To be truly fair, many people may never want a screen larger than seven inches because of the associated weight and bulk.' But the author argues that its real purpose may have been as a test run to gather important real-world data for their ultimate war with the iPad. 'After all, as industry insiders joke, all first-generation products, whether hardware or software, are really "beta" programs disguised as initial launches.'"

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I want a larger Kindle Fire by Oswald+McWeany · 2012-02-27 10:05 · Score: 5, Funny

I want a larger Kindle Fire:
One with a 25" screen, detachable CPU tower, Keyboard, mouse, etc. Oh and it must run Windows so I can code on it.
If it helps save money they can do away with the touchscreen aspect- I don't need that.
If they can manage all that then yes- I want a Kindle Fire.

--
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
1. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by vlm · 2012-02-27 10:15 · Score: 1
  
  I want a larger Kindle Fire:
  One with a 25" screen, detachable CPU tower, Keyboard, mouse, etc. Oh and it must run Windows so I can code on it.
  If it helps save money they can do away with the touchscreen aspect- I don't need that.
  If they can manage all that then yes- I want a Kindle Fire.
  If you're willing to also do without a battery, since 25 inches is pretty big for a pocket carried device (unless its some kind of compensation issue) it sounds like you'd really like:
  http://www.android-x86.org/
  with the exception of wanting to use Windows to code on it. Using windows to code sounds like a really warped fetish unless you're just using putty to ssh to a real computer. Well, some folks just enjoy pain and thats just how it is, have fun with it. Seriously though a decent vnc and/or rdesktop client on the tablet should take care of that little requirement.
  
  --
  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
2. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 10:23 · Score: 0
  
  You're so clever and funny.
3. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 10:49 · Score: 0
  
  Isn't it sad how the smallest slight againt the M$ corporate master is good for an instant down-mod? Sad and pathetic. But mostly pathetic.
  P.S. I'm not the person that I'm replying to so don't take it out on him.
4. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 10:50 · Score: 0
  
  You're so clever and funny.
  You're so clever and funny.
5. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by vuke69 · 2012-02-27 11:48 · Score: 1
  
  Is there an echo in here?
  
  --
  Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. ~ Douglas Adams
6. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by letherial · 2012-02-27 12:09 · Score: 1
  
  Well i have 'invented' something just for people like you.
  basically, its a backup with 2 car batterys on the side, there is a slide-out that comes around to the front, it has place for keyboard, mouse and up to a 30" screen (though for extra, i can cut that down to make it lighter) The back pack holds a mid size computer, has a opening for the back end ports. (and of course, the battery's run the computer)
  If you act now, i will throw in the Lawn chair that can be placed between your back and the backup, just reach behind and pull down(just like this post)
7. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by spitzak · 2012-02-27 15:19 · Score: 1
  
  Is this a Meta-Whoosh?
  You seem to have missed the fact that both the original poster and the responder are making jokes, which is a pretty amazing whoosh!
8. Re:I want a larger Kindle Fire by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-28 02:32 · Score: 0
  
  No, the only whoosh sound is the sound your mom's butt cheeks make when I'm taxing her. Like the IRS. See, that was a joke too... hehe.
All in favor of a price war by ackthpt · 2012-02-27 10:05 · Score: 1

So long as they are good quality tablets, not a bunch of the bottom of the market cheepies. I want Android Ice Cream Sandwich with 4G for a good, low price.

--

A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
1. Re:All in favor of a price war by stating_the_obvious · 2012-02-27 10:21 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  THe best rumor I've heard so far is that the ipad2 will see a price drop to make it more cost competitive with kindle fire. We'll see in a few days.
2. Re:All in favor of a price war by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 10:55 · Score: 1
  
  I heard a rumor that the ipad2 is gonna come with a vial of unicorn blood. We'll find out soon.
3. Re:All in favor of a price war by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 11:27 · Score: 0
  
  How about to clear out inventory for the iPad3? BestBuy has supposedly dropped the current iP2 $50 for that reason.
4. Re:All in favor of a price war by Nerdfest · 2012-02-27 11:27 · Score: 2
  
  Not being locked into the Apple ecosystem is worth something to many. It gives the option to buy your hardware from a variety of manufacturers, and the same for your software. You decide the features you want and the software you want to run.
5. Re:All in favor of a price war by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 12:08 · Score: 0
  
  I don't see it happening.
6. Re:All in favor of a price war by osu-neko · 2012-02-27 12:12 · Score: 1
  
  Not being locked into the Apple ecosystem is worth something to many. It gives the option to buy your hardware from a variety of manufacturers, and the same for your software. You decide the features you want and the software you want to run.
  And, after taking a look at what features you want, and what software you want to run, you may find that it's the features offered by and the software that runs on the iPad. Not being locked out of the Apple ecosystem is worth a lot more to many.
  
  --
  "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
7. Re:All in favor of a price war by nightfell · 2012-02-27 12:36 · Score: 1
  
  Not being locked into the Apple ecosystem is worth something to many. It gives the option to buy your hardware from a variety of manufacturers, and the same for your software. You decide the features you want and the software you want to run.
  And it's not worth anything to orders of magnitude more than the "many" you are referring to.
  I'm not saying that those that want options are wrong, just putting your statement in context.
8. Re:All in favor of a price war by lister+king+of+smeg · 2012-02-27 13:11 · Score: 2
  
  it already does, in fact all apple i products do. What do you think generates the reality distortion field, :-P
  
  --
  ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
9. Re:All in favor of a price war by stephanruby · 2012-02-27 21:43 · Score: 1
  
  That's a silly rumor. If there is price drop of the iPad 2, it will be because of the iPad 3 (or the other numerous full-featured Android tablets), not the kindle fire. The kindle fire is a very specialized device. It's not meant to compete head-on with any of them.
ipad 3 by vlm · 2012-02-27 10:10 · Score: 3, Insightful

But the author argues that its real purpose may have been as a test run to gather important real-world data for their ultimate war with the iPad
Correction, ultimate war with the ipad 2. Their new ipad 2 killer will be shipping right about the time the ipad 3 is shipping. Whoops!
That's the problem with trying to become the new leader by being a really good follower.

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
1. Re:ipad 3 by Galestar · 2012-02-27 10:19 · Score: 2
  
  Let's just hope they don't make them rounded rectangles. Lawsuits incoming...
  
  --
  AccountKiller
2. Re:ipad 3 by mspohr · 2012-02-27 10:25 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The current 7" Kindle Fire has as many pixels as the iPad2 in a more compact form. I assume that the iPad3 will add more pixels to make a better screen. I also expect a 10" Kindle Fire will probably up the pixel count. What else could the iPad3 add to up the ante? Everything else I've read is just incremental improvements.
  
  --
  I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
3. Re:ipad 3 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 10:53 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  That's the problem with trying to become the new leader by being a really good follower.
  Lovely phrase... you may remember what people said about Japan and their electronics some decades ago, and more recently to Chinese companies dedicated to follow until they get the edge to cut you back. Don't take it for granted.
4. Re:ipad 3 by jedidiah · 2012-02-27 10:59 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  You mean like the iPad?
  It's funny how people try to spin things.
  Amazon is the first mover here. What they will or won't do in the future willy likely be determined by the fact that they are a company that has a focus on Books and eBooks.
  They do their own thing. They don't need to be an Apple wannabe.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
5. Re:ipad 3 by kelemvor4 · 2012-02-27 11:02 · Score: 1
  
  What else could the iPad3 add to up the ante? Everything else I've read is just incremental improvements.
  It could run something other than iOS, that would be more than just an incremental improvement.
6. Re:ipad 3 by jo_ham · 2012-02-27 11:03 · Score: 1
  
  All those other tablet makers using rounded rectangles who are also being sued agree with you... oh wait...
7. Re:ipad 3 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 11:06 · Score: 1
  
  The same with an error of 22%, but nice try anyway.
8. Re:ipad 3 by wanzeo · 2012-02-27 11:51 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yes, Amazon is most certainly not a follower. I also consider them to be the most honest internet company. Unlike Google, they don't really need to do personally invasive data mining, because they know exactly what you actually buy on Amazon marketplace. The only thing that comes close to advertising from Amazon is product suggestions based upon what you have previously bought. Far more useful and less intrusive than fake drug ads.
  Also, Amazon Web Services is absolutely unmatched. It shocks me that Google has missed the boat so severely in that market, but I guess they were too focused on forcing you to use the cloud through their own services to see the potential of letting people inovate with the underlying technologies.
  The first Kindle came out three years before the first ipad, and while the ipad is obviously far more advanced, both devices are simply following the general trend of portable electronics that has been going for two decades.
9. Re:ipad 3 by nightfell · 2012-02-27 12:44 · Score: 1
  
  The iPad 3 will quadruple the number of pixels. A 10" Kindle Fire will absolutely not.
  The only appeal to the mass market of the Kindle Fire is the price. It's essentially a netbook iPad. The summary misses the #1 reason Amazon made the Kindle Fire the size it did was in order to be able to undercut the iPad on price. The idea that it was a "beta test" is bullshit, as is the idea that there is some significant portion of people who won't buy a 10" tablet.
  If Amazon matched the iPad roughly feature for feature, it can't undercut on price. If they made a 10" Kindle equivalent of the iPad 3, and had roughly the same price, no one would buy the Kindle. Why?
  Why would anyone buy a knock-off for the same price as the original? There are certainly some geeks who will want an Android tablet, but they haven't been keeping the other Android tablets afloat, and they're not going to all of a sudden decide to jump onto the Kindle bandwagon.
  Amazon's only chance is to keep their bargain pricing, which means keeping their bargain hardware, and that's a dynamic that Apple is fine with. I really don't think they mind people choosing a Fire based on price, knowing that a large number of them will be dissatisfied with it, and Apple will have a nice iPad for them to upgrade to later on.
10. Re:ipad 3 by GIL_Dude · 2012-02-27 12:54 · Score: 1
  
  As an owner of a Kindle Fire (coming up on one month) who went into it eyes open knowing it wasn't a fully fledged Android tablet and was more of an in-between product between a e-reader and a full tablet, I don't know that I want a larger form factor. I've also got a Samsung slate (one of the devices MS gave out at their Build event, although I didn't get it from that event). I find the larger tablet is not conducive to using it very long. You want to hold it so that you don't get neck strain from looking down at it (like you would have to do if it was sitting flat on your lap). But it gets tiresome holding the larger devices. So you prop your legs up on an angle and place it on your lap. That gets tiresome too. I actually find now that I have the Fire I don't use the Samsung anymore at all. For light web browsing the Kindle Fire does fine and its form factor is much easier to deal with ergonomically. I went into it thinking that I would probably be happier with the 7' form factor (after using the Samsung device for a few months) and I now know I was right - the Fire is a lot better to hold and use.
  
  Now, what would I want in a next generation device from Amazon? I know it would cost more - and I am fine with that - but add more storage, a front facing camera (I don't need a rear facing one in a device of this size), the Google apps and the Google Market, a GPS - boom, the perfect slate form factor table. Oh, and don't lock it. Provide updates quickly and for 2 years - unlike Motorola, HTC, etc. who don't seem to want to support their phones for more than 6 months.
11. Re:ipad 3 by PsyShook · 2012-02-27 14:45 · Score: 1
  
  The first Kindle came out three years before the first ipad, and while the ipad is obviously far more advanced, both devices are simply following the general trend of portable electronics that has been going for two decades.
  I'd say the general trend began with the transistor radio almost six decades ago.
12. Re:ipad 3 by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2012-02-27 14:54 · Score: 1
  
  Let's just hope they don't make them rounded rectangles. Lawsuits incoming...
  To those of you who have read about the case and don't understand why this is modded up, the other 24 complaints Apple had about Samsung's design were hidden in the article and not in the summary.
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
13. Re:ipad 3 by noh8rz2 · 2012-02-27 18:28 · Score: 1
  
  I'd say the general trend started with Moses 4,000 years ago. let my people go! reducto al absurdo.
14. Re:ipad 3 by u38cg · 2012-02-27 23:59 · Score: 1
  
  AWS revenue: $500m. Google revenue: $billions. Who's missed the boat again?
  
  --
  [FUCK BETA]
15. Re:ipad 3 by jedidiah · 2012-02-28 09:21 · Score: 1
  
  ...except the transistor radio is actually an example of a portable multimedia device. Torah scrolls are not.
  All of the associated commentaries are a lot bulkier and rather unwieldy compared to any device that gives you access to all of them either due to sufficient local storage or by some form of "networking".
  An entire Gutenberg CD including several "bibles" can fit on the slack space present on any mobile media device.
  Moshe's new tablet can even let him argue about the finer points with any other scholar on the planet.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
16. Re:ipad 3 by noh8rz2 · 2012-02-28 10:44 · Score: 1
  
  I don't understand this. perhaps there is something wrong with your logic?
  What does a CD have to do with things? You put that into an iPad? Umm, I don't think so...
  Who is Moshe or Torah?
  wWhat cmmentaries to what?
17. Re:ipad 3 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-02 17:39 · Score: 0
  
  Revenue is a poor indicator. Also, as far as I can tell, you seem to be comparing all of Google with AWS. Surely there's no fair comparison, and if there were, it would be the net profit of the section of Google that most resembles AWS?
I heart brutal competition by peter303 · 2012-02-27 10:15 · Score: 3, Informative

More quality and lower prices for the rest of us.
1. Re:I heart brutal competition by Nutria · 2012-02-27 11:15 · Score: 1
  
  Except when the cost-cutting necessitated by that brutal competition requires the company to ship your job overseas?
  
  --
  "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
2. Re:I heart brutal competition by artor3 · 2012-02-27 13:39 · Score: 1
  
  Companies will ship jobs overseas regardless of competition, so long as we allow them to. At least with fierce competition, the savings from using overseas labor end up in the consumers' wallets instead of the executives'.
"Grandpa, where were you during the Tablet War?" by Picass0 · 2012-02-27 10:15 · Score: 4, Funny

"Were you an Android or an Apple?"
Life is a Beta program by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 10:15 · Score: 1

Always testings, always exploring, never stopping.
This is good because the world really sucks.
D'oh by BigDaveyL · 2012-02-27 10:16 · Score: 1

I just bought one for my girlfriend for xmas and one for myself.
1. Re:D'oh by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 11:15 · Score: 0
  
  Protip: gadgets you buy today will be considered outdated in just a few months.
Re:"Grandpa, where were you during the Tablet War? by ackthpt · 2012-02-27 10:19 · Score: 4, Funny

"Were you an Android or an Apple?"
"I was kindling and frequenly on fire."

--

A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Nook by SJHillman · 2012-02-27 10:28 · Score: 2

I tried the Fire on display in Target, wasn't too impressed by it compared to my Nook Color. I have my NC set to dual boot the stock firmware or Cyanogenmod and it's pretty damned awesome for a sub-$200 tablet (bought it for $180 last May before the Fire or Nook Tablet came out). The NC is perfect as a color-eReader-meets-light-tablet even with the stock firmware. Netflix plays great on it, web browsing is pretty good, the app selection is nowhere near Android market, but all of the basic apps are there. The 7" screen is a good compromise between large enough for netflix and reading but small enough to fit in my pocket or my girlfriend's purse.
Anything muchlarger than the 7" form factor will have to compete toe to toe with the iPad and that's gonna be a tough market to get into - especially when people still think of the Nook Color and Kindle Fire as glorified eReaders rather than light duty tablets.
1. Re:Nook by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 15:06 · Score: 0
  
  I tried the Fire on display in Target, wasn't too impressed by it compared to my Nook Color. I have my NC set to dual boot the stock firmware or Cyanogenmod and it's pretty damned awesome for a sub-$200 tablet (bought it for $180 last May before the Fire or Nook Tablet came out). The NC is perfect as a color-eReader-meets-light-tablet even with the stock firmware. Netflix plays great on it, web browsing is pretty good, the app selection is nowhere near Android market, but all of the basic apps are there. The 7" screen is a good compromise between large enough for netflix and reading but small enough to fit in my pocket or my girlfriend's purse.
  Anything muchlarger than the 7" form factor will have to compete toe to toe with the iPad and that's gonna be a tough market to get into - especially when people still think of the Nook Color and Kindle Fire as glorified eReaders rather than light duty tablets.
  The main problem with the Fire is no volume buttons. Therefore no page turn buttons either on reader/RSS programs that can use volume as page turn buttons. Nook Color and Tab have this.
  Why Amazon omitted this is a puzzle. The device is made by the Playbook manufacturer and seems to be made from Playbook molds. But the Playbook has volume buttons. One word for the Amazon design team: Duh.
2. Re:Nook by gl4ss · 2012-02-27 22:38 · Score: 1
  
  cheaper to put together. the only physical button is right on the same block which has the usb connector on it too.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Big screen, small or non-existent bezel. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 11:01 · Score: 0

Why is this so hard to comprehend? People want maximum screen, but not a monstrous device. Make the screen equal to a sheet of paper.
To recap: large screen, high resolution, no bezel.
1. Re:Big screen, small or non-existent bezel. by atrocious+cowpat · 2012-02-27 11:22 · Score: 1
  
  no bezel
  Now this I'd really like to see. However I don't think we're going to get this anytime soon, the signal-processing to determine what's an intentional (edge-)touch and what's just touches caused by holding the device is insane.
  
  --
  sig? Oh, that sig...
2. Re:Big screen, small or non-existent bezel. by jtownatpunk.net · 2012-02-27 12:25 · Score: 2
  
  And how are you going to hold a bezel-less touch screen without touching it? There has to be a border of some sort. If they get rid of the bezel, they'll have to leave a margin around the screen that's not touch sensitive. Which pushes menus and icons in from the edges. Which shrinks the usable portion of the screen. Which defeats the purpose of eliminating the bezel.
3. Re:Big screen, small or non-existent bezel. by squiggleslash · 2012-02-27 12:40 · Score: 2
  
  A sheet of (letter or A4 - I assume you meant one of those) is just too large. Remember nobody carries around a sheet of paper unless it's folded or for a very brief moment.
  If the entire point of a tablet is to be right there when you need it, it has to be a device that, ideally, can fit in a large pocket, or otherwise not require effort on your part to move around. This is why I think the iPad is a bad design, why thus far it seems to be infamous as the device you buy someone who claims to love it but that ends up in a drawer.
  I'd like the screen enlarged by reducing the bezel on the Fire. But I wouldn't want to see the Fire actually increase, physically, in size. I can honestly say if someone swapped mine for such a device, I'd stop using it, it'd get less use (and that's saying something) than my 10" Honeycomb tablet.
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
4. Re:Big screen, small or non-existent bezel. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 17:17 · Score: 0
  
  Maximizing screen real estate and minimizing bezel size have been patented by Apple.
5. Re:Big screen, small or non-existent bezel. by Your.Master · 2012-03-02 17:50 · Score: 1
  
  Which shrinks the usable portion of the screen. Which defeats the purpose of eliminating the bezel.
  I'm not sure it does. A touchscreen is two devices: a touch input source, and a visual display. This only defeats the touch input source part of the purpose. But the visual display is still useful, and in fact we have a long history of non-touchable visual displays.
  You already need space between the bezel and icons just so your visual design doesn't look like shit, so it's partly eating into already-dead space. Then you can fill the other dead space with generally non-touchable content. To give very generic examples that don't necessarily fit with any tablet that would ever be made, you could fill it with text labels, progress indicators, the date & time & battery life, transient notifications, scheduling updates, etc.. Also, it needn't be entirely non-touchable. It can still respond to gross user interactions that are unlikely to happen from just holding it (maybe that's not a good idea, just thinking out loud).
  To counter everything I just said, though, I would personally be driven mad by the thought that my thumbs cover content *all the time*. Yeah, it's a quirk, but there you go. That can hold your physical buttons.
Why larger screen and not larger memory? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 11:09 · Score: 1

My limiting factor with Kindle's has never been the size of the display.
It has been the size of the memory. I have my entire collection of papers and books on an SD card with room to spare.
But the Kindle, and Kindle DL, can only hold about 1/4 of them at any given time.
Bringing back the SD card slot would attract me much more than a large flashy display.
Kindle Fire has met all expectations and then some by davide+marney · 2012-02-27 11:15 · Score: 2

I think it's a bit unfair to call the Fire a beta product. My experience was It met all my expectations almost flawlessly. I can't remember the last time a version 1.0 product worked so well, honestly. The device is a pleasure to use, and it has become my "network" reading device of choice.
The only feature to disappoint was the Silk browser, which was more sluggish than silky. I've settled on Opera for now, but neither Opera nor Silk have the one plugin I really want: ad blocking. Fortunately, Opera lets me disable Flash, which gives the Fire just enough CPU headroom to load pages with acceptable speed.

--
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
Re:Kindle Fire has met all expectations and then s by markdavis · 2012-02-27 11:37 · Score: 1

Yep. I can't browse anymore without adblocking... some sites are just unreadable.
Firefox is now available for Android, and you can use any of the thousands of Ad-Ons, just like you do on your desktop... include Adblock Plus :)
It is still a rather early product, so its rendering is a bit slower and clunkier than the stock browser, but it is improving with each update. Also, no support for Flash yet (which to many is no big deal). You might want to check it out!
Locked into the android ecosystem by mveloso · 2012-02-27 12:07 · Score: 2

Chains are chains, no matter who wields them. Apple's chains are much more comfortable than Android's chains. Plus, the games are better.
1. Re:Locked into the android ecosystem by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 12:32 · Score: 1
  
  There are no fucking chains with Android.
2. Re:Locked into the android ecosystem by noh8rz2 · 2012-02-27 18:22 · Score: 1
  
  nice, i like it. a great analogy.
Cheap programming companion? by jasno · 2012-02-27 12:31 · Score: 1

I don't want apps, cameras, gps, etc. Just give me a cheap 10" wifi tablet with a browser and a pdf reader so I can view PDFs while I code. Anyone aware of such a device?

--

http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
1. Re:Cheap programming companion? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 12:56 · Score: 0
  
  I don't want apps, cameras, gps, etc. Just give me a cheap 10" wifi tablet with a browser and a pdf reader so I can view PDFs while I code. Anyone aware of such a device?
  Its called the HP Touch pad.
2. Re:Cheap programming companion? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-27 14:40 · Score: 0
  
  I picked up 2 ainovo novo 7 basic for 100 each and they're fine for PDFs and run ICS so browsing is fine. The downside to them, they're the first MIPS processor android tablet so not all apps run on it. But most do and they made good xmas gifts to kids.
nobody carries around a sheet of paper ... by brokeninside · 2012-02-27 14:29 · Score: 1

... but a heck of a lot of people carry around, uh, tablets. Many people would like tablets to stay at the present size of the iPad and/or Fire. But many people would also like a usable screen about the size of letter (or even legal) paper. Such a device would be about the same size as a tablet of said paper and fit nicely into most briefcases, folders, folios, et cetera.
1. Re:nobody carries around a sheet of paper ... by squiggleslash · 2012-03-01 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  ... but a heck of a lot of people carry around, uh, tablets.
  
  Not in my experience they don't! The few people I know with tablets rarely take them anywhere, unless they plan to be in one location for a very long time.
  Example: I see people with 10" tablets on their desks at my office. I don't see them take them to meetings, the bathroom, and only occasionally do I see them taken for lunch.
  10" tablets just aren't portable. Not in the same sense a 7" is.
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Rumor: iPad 2 to be discontinued next Wed by 4phun · 2012-02-27 16:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

THe best rumor I've heard so far is that the ipad2 will see a price drop to make it more cost competitive with kindle fire. We'll see in a few days.
It is rumored today Monday Feb 27 that...
Apple is dropping all models of the iPad 2 next Wednesday except for a single 16 GB iPad 2 WiFi model. That will be the low ball to bring people into Best Buys, Target, Wal-Mart, Sams etc. It may even be for sale in educational channels as part of Apple's new iTextBook agenda.
Think of this as the 16GB iPad with a huge ten inch iron spike in it to prevent too many from walking out the door. The retail sales people are supposed to 'step' the customer up to a real iPad, the iPad3 in HD, which by the way is going to be significantly more expensive then previous iPad models.
I think the price jump is seventy or eighty dollars on the low end in todays iPad 3 rumors.
I think the new price increase will go a long way to give Android tablets some breathing room in the 2012 market. The only problem I have seen is that most of the Android Tablets are still undesirable compared to the iPad ecosystem. Even Amazon is seeing returns of between 25% to 33%.
Realistically competing tablets still have to sell for less, sometimes a lot less, to move the product in 2012.
That is simply Google's fault and they appear to be trying to remedy the situation the best they can.
* Whoosh * by brokeninside · 2012-03-01 22:48 · Score: 1

Go to any business setting. Many, if not most people, are carrying around tablets *of paper*.