Originally Posted by jsh1120

Likewise, my daughter loves the KF. She has access to about fifty games and other content on a device she can tote around easily. And with these advantages it means I don't have to compete with other family members when I use the iPad.

The funny thing is, my husband has his own iPad and barely uses it. (I bought it for him.) He uses Kindle Fire more, if only to play Angry Birds, lol.

ah it seems that I have not been up to date then. Thanks for clearing that up.

As far as whether either Amazon or Android is a greater "threat" to the iPad, the question itself is problematic. At least for the foreseeable future no other single "tablet" is going to outsell the iPad. But this isn't a zero sum game where one device wins and all others "lose." Nevertheless, both Android tablets comparable in functionality to the iPad and devices similar to the KF will expand the overall market and cut Apple's market share even while Apple continues to sell more iPads than any competitor's products.

Frankly, I doubt that Amazon will be successful if they try to go toe to toe with the iPad and other Android tablets. Amazon is not primarily a computer company. Their expertise lies elsewhere and their business objectives are not focused solely on selling a comprehensive tablet. What they can and are doing is producing a highly successful media consumption device that meets the requirements of millions of consumers who don't need/want some of the features of the iPad and other fully featured tablets.

As far as Android tablets are concerned, manufacturers like Lenovo will find lucrative niche markets among business users who want features like fully integrated physical keyboards and usb support. ICS will continue to close the gap with iOS and even among manufacturers who add proprietary skins on the Android OS, those tablets will be more customizable and open than the iPad. That will make a difference to a minority of users, but even a minority of millions of users can be a lucrative market.

If rumors of a low priced Google tablet come true, both Amazon and Apple will feel the heat. Amazon has established a strong brand presence and I suspect will do well. Likewise for the iPad. But just as Android smartphones provide an alternative to the iPhone, a Google tablet will be a strong competitor among the geek crowd.

Originally Posted by sukhraj

I think Apple's most serious threat is Amazon, not Android What you people think?

Do I detect a notion that it is winner take all, or isn't there room for all the players in this wide open crapshoot marketplace. I think the title of this thread is media hype and BS. Amazon is doing what any smart business wants to do. Since they are an on-line business, they want to make it EZ for customers to access their site, conveniently order stuff and while they are at it, provide a couple of extra goodies, i.e. surfure the web and watch a movie as well as read a book ... hopefully from their site.

What Apple is all about, IMHO is to develop a platform that provides a wide scope of experiences to the users. Education is huge and Apple has been involved for years ... their early success was in desk top publishing for the masses... not just the sophisticated smart folks that are expert at Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

Now with the introduction of a really nice (but, still in its begining capabilities) is iBook2, iBook Author, etc. But Author needs some extra capability to really grab a broad section of folks ... namely a Math render engine, complete and EZ editing, Citation and bibliography extension, etc. Then, the extra goodies over a typical page layout program really speeds up the production of book development.

Siri needs to be involve here, and I think the next iPadX will include more. Siri is evolving, so it all takes time. The key to Siri is the development of all the search data bases required... in multi-languages ... very challenging... but, Apple has more people working in the Siri development than any other group within Apple. No competitor is even close to having Siri like AI capability.

Enough. iPadX is the user interface to all this new stuff. The competition has no equivalent even close when you consider the software behind iPad. It is not simply a hardware slate vs a hardware competitive slate. That is Microsoft/Intel strategy of the past ... and mobile is exploding with Apple leading the way, and they are way out front. Look at the testing and adoption of Apple's mobile products in Enterprise. Huge, folk, Huge ... 95% or more. Have a Happy.