Kurz vor dem Launch: Amazon Kindle Fire senkt Nachfrage nach iPad deutlich

Neues aus Amazonien: Rund um das Kindle Fire rumort es derzeit ganz ordentlich. Wie es scheint, schafft es Amazon mit dem Android-Tablet, potenzielle iPad-Käufer zum Umdenken zu bringen. Außerdem hat Amazon kurz vor dem Launch seinen Appstore aufpoliert und das Angebot auf Vordermann gebracht.

Am 15. November ist es soweit, dann wird das Kindle Fire offiziell releast und an die ungeduldig wartenden Tablet-Fans ausgeliefert – zumindest in den USA.

Bisher ist es den Tablet-Herstellern, die nicht Apple sind, ja eher schwer gefallen, die Übermacht des iPad zu brechen. Doch allem Anschein nach ist Amazon mit dem Kindle Fire ein echter Gegner gelungen. Die Kollegen von theregister zitieren eine Studie, nach der einige potentielle iPad-Kunden des “early adopter”-Typus ihren Kauf aufgrund des Kindle Fire verschieben oder erstmal canceln.

26 Prozent der 2600 befragten Early Adopters gaben an, ein Kindle Fire kaufen zu wollen und den Kauf eines iPad 2 deshalb aufzuschieben. Auch in Sachen Vorbestellungen kann das Kindle Fire durchaus mit dem iPad mithalten – 5 Prozent der Befragten haben das Kindle Fire vorbestellt oder planen mit großer Sicherheit einen Kauf, beim ersten iPad waren es im April 2010 vier Prozent.

Aber, bevor jetzt vorschnelle Schlüsse gezogen werden: Kindle Fire und iPad sind zwei verschiedene paar Schuhe, sowohl vom Preis als auch von der Ausstattung her; außerdem ist ein Vergleich zwischen 2010 und dem mittlerweile viel weiter entwickelten 2011er Tablet-Markt ist nur bedingt möglich.

Was bleibt also? Die hohe Nachfrage nach dem Kindle Fire und ein interessantes, weil anderes Konzept für ein Tablet – im Gegensatz zum Allrounder iPad und anderen Android-Tablets ist das Kindle Fire nämlich vor allem auf den Medienkonsum über Amazons Konsumportal angelegt und vor allem deshalb so billig. Die Verluste, die Amazon mit dem niedrigen Verkaufspreis macht, hofft der Konzern über Einkäufe in seinen Stores wieder auszugleichen.

Apropos Medienkonsum: Wie urandroid meldet, hat Amazon kurz vor dem Launch des Kindle Fire seinen Appstore überarbeitet, vor allem was die Grafik anbetrifft – die neue Version mit frisch designtem Interface kann ab sofort runtergeladen werden.

Und wer beim Kindle Fire bisher wegen der fehlenden Anbindung zum Android Market zögerlich war, den ließ Amazon jetzt via Pressemitteilung wissen, dass der Zugang zu einer ganzen Reihe von beliebten Android Apps – unter anderem Facebook, Twitter und Netflix und Spiele wie Angry Birds oder Fruit Ninja – trotz allem gewährleistet ist.

Offenbar investierte Amazon in den letzten Wochen große Anstrengungen, um den App Store mit mehr Gratis-Apps aufzustocken. Angry Birds Free ist seit Ende August verfügbar, Skype seit Ende September und die beliebte Radio-App Pandora seit dem 12. Oktober.

Die komplette Pressemitteilung dazu im Wortlaut:

Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Rhapsody, Games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and Several Thousand More Apps and Games Coming To Kindle Fire Next Week

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.

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26 % der Early Adopters will ein Amazon Kindle Fire haben [Grafik via theregister]