By The Kindle Fire isn’t exactly a knock your socks off drop your jaw piece of robust technology, but it’s an important and significant product launch to say the least. It’s Amazon. It’s a Kindle. It’s Android. It’s ridiculously affordable. And it’s available next week… but you can pre-order it now.
Amazon just sent out a press release to remind us that not only will the Kindle Fire be available next week, but that it will launch with thousands of apps and games that are “Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible.” Sounds to me like they’re going after the iPad crowd who want a bit more affordability. By the press picture (above) you’d think they were marketing it to moms who wanted their kids to have a cheap educational toy.
Any app or game that you purchase on the Kindle Fire is also available for use on your other Android devices through the Amazon App Store. The Fire costs $199 and starts shipping on November 15th.
Check out the full press release to hear from a boatload of developers who weigh in to support claims of the Fire’s awesomeness. Will you be getting Amazon’s Kindle Fire this holiday season?
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Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Rhapsody, Games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and Several Thousand More Apps and Games Coming To Kindle Fire Next Week
Just like with movies and TV shows, music, books, and magazines, Kindle Fire offers a fully-integrated Android apps and games experience – purchase or register for an app or game once, enjoy it on your Kindle Fire and other Android-based devices – and all apps and games are backed up in the Amazon Cloud for re-download anytime
SEATTLE – November 9, 2011 (NASDAQ: AMZN) – When Kindle Fire customers across the country open their boxes next week, they will be able to choose from several thousand of the most popular Android apps and games, including Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, Comics by comiXology, Facebook, The Weather Channel and popular games from Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap and Rovio. Kindle Fire customers will be able to download these apps and games without having to register multiple times and using Amazon’s simple and secure 1-Click payment technology. Plus, all apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible, customers can get a great “paid” app for free every day, and once you’ve downloaded an app from the Amazon Appstore, it’s available on Kindle Fire as well as your other Android-based devices.
“We started talking to app developers everywhere the day we introduced Kindle Fire, and the response has been overwhelming,” Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “In addition to over 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games to choose from on Kindle Fire – from Pandora and Rhapsody to Facebook and Twitter to Netflix, as well as popular games from EA, Zynga and many other top game developers. And this is only the beginning – we’re adding more apps and games every day across all categories.”
With the Netflix app, Kindle Fire customers who are Netflix members can browse and instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies and resume watching where they left off on their TV or computer. “We’re excited to team up with Amazon to give what we think will be a huge community of Kindle Fire owners the opportunity experience all that Netflix has to offer,” said Bill Holmes, Vice President of Business Development at Netflix. “We’re certain that our members will have a great viewing experience on Kindle Fire.”
“EA is proud to be part of Kindle Fire,” said Bernard Kim, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Electronic Arts. “On Kindle Fire, we’re offering some of the world’s most popular titles with incredible gameplay and breathtaking graphics that anyone can play and enjoy anytime, anywhere.”
“Zynga strives to deliver the best mobile social gaming experiences that can be enjoyed by players anytime and anywhere,” said David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer at Zynga. “Teaming with Amazon to make Words With Friends a featured game on the Kindle Fire provides us with a great way to reach new and existing players on a fresh and exciting device.”
“As Gameloft continues to create games for the mass market, Kindle Fire comes as a very exciting new platform for us to offer our games on,” said Baudouin Corman, Vice President of Publishing for the Americas at Gameloft. “Not only does it provide us with an innovative channel for us to reach new audiences, but the tablet is set to enable a great gaming experience as well. In effect, we plan on providing Kindle Fire customers with a large catalog of top quality premium and free-to-play games.”
“We’re excited to be bringing our massively popular games to Kindle Fire,” said Andrew Stein, Director of Mobile Product Management at PopCap Games. “Kindle Fire is a great gaming device, and consumers will love the touch-screen optimized adaptations of top titles such as Plants vs. Zombies.”
“Personalized radio has the power to enhance all types of experiences anytime, anywhere and we’re thrilled that Pandora is a launch app on the new Kindle Fire,” said Jessica Steel, Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Pandora.
“We are really stoked to offer our members the Rhapsody experience on one of the most anticipated new devices this holiday season,” said Brian McGarvey, Vice President of Business Development for Rhapsody. “We want to make sure Rhapsody is available on every must-have device, including the Kindle Fire.”
“Being a featured app on Kindle Fire will allow The Weather Channel to continue to fulfill our mission of providing consumers with the most reliable weather information to help plan their daily lives – no matter where they are and what device they use,” said Cameron Clayton, Executive Vice President of Digital Product at The Weather Channel Companies.
Additional examples of apps and games that will be available to Kindle Fire customers include
Allrecipes, Bloomberg, Cut the Rope, Doodle Fit, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Jenga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Airport Mania, Battleheart, Pulse, The Cat in the Hat, Quickoffice Pro, Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals, IMDb Movies & TV, and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox.Kindle Fire offers more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, as well as free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync for books and movies, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, a vibrant color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor and Amazon Silk – Amazon’s new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud – all for only $199. Customers also enjoy a free month of Amazon Prime, providing access to Prime Instant Video with 13,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited streaming and the new Kindle Owners’ Lending Library where Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers – as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.
I pre-ordered one weeks ago. For the price plus the fact that I purchase almost all my books from Amazon, plus watching TV shows and movies while flying just makes a lot of sense. Looking forward to getting it before my other gadget, the Galaxy Nexus shows up.
I need to see a hands-on review or demo unit at the store first…I don’t like the locked down Android ecosystem personally…I’m skeptical. Though I am rather curious because of the media power of Amazon being behind it…
But in my gut it feels wrong like how I hate Apple products for being so locked down. Despite it being BASED on Android.
I need to see the Google product integration as well – Gmail in their email client, calendar, contacts, etc. all has to sync, not just be imported.
I pre-ordered mine on the 2nd day. I think this is a tablet for the masses and why it will do well. I know people who don’t know technology and yet they heard of the Kindle Fire and some have ordered it. I’ll be reviewing both the tablet and apps on my blog as soon as I get the Kindle Fire.
I suppose a tightly managed device that runs limited apps has its place for iPhone type consumers but this is a pretty limited device. The 8″ Vizio tablet is same price and runs essentially all Android apps. A true Android device can run all Amazon apps/Kindle anyway as well as Nook reader. I’m sure Amazon won’t allow Nook reader on Fire. Why limit yourself to apps that Amazon approves?
The interest really surprises me. I suspect most who are interested don’t realize Fire will run significantly less apps than a full Android device.
Transformer prime plz
I just wanted to quip in that $200 is not “ridiculously affordable” although I understand your point. It is a lot less than other tablets on the market, which is very important, but I consider $200 to be the top of the mass-appeal price range. I think it’s priced right for today’s market but that later products will move the pricing sweet spot inexorably downward.
I pre-ordered it the day it was announced as a gift to my girlfriend for getting into Nursing school. It will be perfect for he since she loves to read books, magazines, and watch netflix and if it gives her some entertainment and stress relief during nursing school it’s worth every penny. Heck I may end up getting one for myself…our ambulances have Wi-fi and that sure would pass the time.
Wow, not available in Canada
Transformer prime is the only tablet that has my attention. Go big or go home.
I’m just waiting XDA to root the new Nook Tablet. A much better piece of hardware, well worth another $50.
I am debaqting on weither I should get the kindle fire or the nook tablet now that thats been announced. I am not tied to either ecosystem and once we are able to root both of these we wont have to be tied into either ecosystem since I am sure we can install the google apps onto both of these systems. So im debating on weither to spend the extra money and grab the nook or if i should get the kindle. I currently have the money for either system.