In meetings all across New York City this week, I defended the Kindle Fire as a tablet that will be a huge hit.
Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think I’ll ever use mine. I’m a technology snob. I’m likely to have a desktop PC, laptop, or iPad within reach at all times. Sometimes, I’ll be in front of all of these devices at once. And any of them are more capable than a Kindle Fire.
But none of them cost $199.
And for $199, the Kindle Fire is pretty damn cool.
Remember when iPad came out? It took a while for people to stop comparing it to their laptop and start recognizing that this was something totally different. True, it couldn’t do everything that a MacBook Air could do, there was no USB or SD card slot. But what it COULD do was amazing.
Along comes the Kindle Fire.
Flaws? Plenty. It’s heavy. The power button is inexplicably on the bottom. It’s slow. But what CAN it do?
If I’m being conservative, Fire does roughly 70% of what an iPad can do, at 40% of the cost. If you can afford to get an iPad, you should. But if you can’t, Fire is a worthy way to watch movies, listen to music, play games, and do lots of other things that have previously been unavailable at this price point.
Be Fools Not To. 
I think you’re right, and I’m very interested in seeing the Kindle Fire in action. I did notice that some of the reviews on Amazon voiced some concern about the Fire primarily serving the function of selling Amazon services, and not being very open to services from other companies – which is understandable, as it allows them to drastically reduce the price of the unit, but personally, I would look for something a bit more flexible in a tablet. I say that, of course, fully in the understanding that I haven’t seen the Fire up close & personal yet.