Amazon is poised to make a huge splash with its Kindle Fire tablet computer. The $199 price is extremely attractive and will likely lead to millions of holiday sales. If you're reading this site then you're probably an iPad enthusiast and already own an iPad. The question I have for you today is this: Is there room in your life for two tablet computers?
Heading into the Kindle Fire announcement, I was thinking about tech nerds with multiple devices. A lot of people I know own both an iPad and a Kindle. Obviously an iPad and an e-ink Kindle have different uses, but there's a lot more overlap between the iPad and the Kindle Fire. Would a significant number of people really want both?
Recently, PC Magazine's Sascha Saegan wrote:
Can Americans afford two tablets? Come on. Plenty can afford two TVs, two PCs, and two smartphones -- or more! -- per household. While Amazon's tablet will cannibalize some existing markets, it will be part of a domino effect killing low-end laptops, it'll displace some iPod touches, and it'll aid in the continuing iPad-fueled demise of small secondary TVs. The better question is, will Amazon's tablet bring unique value that existing tablets don't fulfill, helping the 7-inch, low-cost tablet category to break through?
Saegan's column had me thinking about the matter even more. He's totally right that a lot of people have multiple [insert consumer electronics device here] in their households. On my personal site, which is somewhat focused on console gaming, a lot of my readers have two or more televisions -- a high-end set primarily used for gaming and other TVs used for everything else.
I could see some people having an iPad 2 as their high-end tablet and a Kindle Fire as their everything-else tablet. A lot of people, myself included, are paranoid about their iPads. They baby them and coddle them. They freak out when their iPad is in the slightest bit of danger or is threatened by anything that could scratch it. A $199 tablet? Hell, I'd be totally comfortable flinging it around my living room, tossing it on the kitchen table, and using it for precision Hail Mary passes into my messenger bag. (Okay, maybe not that last one.)
I'd love to hear what you think. Is there room in your life for two tablets? Or are tablet computers like Highlander -- there can be only one?
7 Comments
I'm one of the aforementioned nerds with an iPad and an older Kindle... and I'm not sure I can justify getting a Fire, too. But I'm going to try very hard to come up with an excuse, believe me :)
So I had an OG iPad and it was a fight with my wife to use it. I thought that when the iPad 2 came out, I would use that and give her the old iPad. Then I got a Cr-48 at GDC and she stopped using the iPad and completely took that over.
I got rid of my old iPad and got an iPad 2, but I got a new MBA a couple of months ago and now I rarely use my iPad. I use it mostly for the Kindle app. So switching from the iPad 2 to the Kindle kinda makes sense for me. I've been toying with the idea of getting rid of my iPad 2, but maybe now I'll leave it to a showdown between the Fire and iPad 2.
I think the day you got your Cr-48 is the day we met. Ah, good times.
I'm surprised your wife liked the Cr-48 so much to drop the iPad. I like my Cr-48 but find it too limited for work and not as portable as the iPad for entertainment.
My household has gadgets all over. My wife is on her third Kindle, my mother-in-law recently bought the Kindle XL and has an original iPad. She's a teacher of the visually-impaired for the local school system and uses both for work as well as her own personal use. In fact, the local school system is adopting iPads into their daily activities in general. I got an iPad 2 when it came out, partially because I'm me and largely because my three-year-old daughter kept hogging grandma's. Personally, I think every parent of young children should have one. My wife and I both have Android smartphones, I have an Acer Iconia A100 Honeycomb tablet that I bought expressly to hold me over until the Kal-El tablets hit the market. And, yes, I pre-ordered a Kindle Fire just to see if they're interesting. Granted, I'm probably a special case, but frankly given how ubiquitous tablets have become, I'd say having more than one is a necessary marital aid anymore. So much for fighting over the remote, now it's over who gets to use the iPad...
unity in diversity. i don't see it as a problem or an issue. there are games coming out that are cross platform and are multiplayer enabled. also, it doesn't hurt to know first hand what the other side can offer new.
I think owning two tablets is totally reasonable. I like having a unit totally dedicated to being entertainment and then another to use for work purposes. It works out well.
I rarely use my iPhone since the iPad has more and more native apps. I suspect single tablet would be the norm.
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