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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2011 > December > 11 > Entry
Perhaps the Amazon Kindle Fire isn’t that hot…
As the tablet wars heat up Amazon.com is hoping that their latest proprietary eBook reader, the Kindle Fire, will be competitive with the dominant tablet computer, the Apple iPad. The Kindle Fire just started shipping last month. According to an article in the New York Times, some Fire buyers are not that thrilled with the product:
“The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s heavily promoted tablet, is less than a blazing success with many of its early users. The most disgruntled are packing the device up and firing it back to the retailer.
A few of their many complaints: there is no external volume control. The off switch is easy to hit by accident. Web pages take a long time to load. There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing. The touch screen is frequently hesitant and sometimes downright balky.
All the individual grievances — recorded on Amazon’s own Web site — received a measure of confirmation last week when Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert, denounced the Fire, saying it offered “a disappointingly poor” experience. For users whose fingers are not as slender as toothpicks, he warned, the screen could be particularly frustrating to manipulate.
“I feel the Fire is going to be a failure,” Mr. Nielsen, of the Nielsen Norman Group, a Silicon Valley consulting firm, said in an interview. “I can’t recommend buying it.”
All this would be enough to send some products directly to the graveyard where the Apple Newton, the Edsel, New Coke and McDonald’s Arch Deluxe languish. But as a range of retailers and tech firms could tell you, it would be foolish to underestimate Amazon…”
Well, well, well. Count on Amazon to fix these problems…
To read the rest of the article click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
p.s. Follow me on Twitter: @BookNookVick
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: in the Amazone
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By vick
December 12, 2011 12:05 PM | Link to this
Jim, I am actually a loyal Amazon customer. I’m a member of their Prime program and I visit their excellent website several times a day. I’m also a journalist. I cover book related stories. Amazon is a big part of that. I’m not advocating that readers buy from any particular place, be that on-line, big box, or from the little store on the corner. Amazon is a great company-they are also an aggressive marketer. If Amazon puts all their competition out of business then we would have a bigger problem. The marketplace is brutal-behemoths crush their opposition. I’m here to inform and maybe even to try to educate so that consumers can make up their own minds.
By Bob
December 12, 2011 12:00 PM | Link to this
Hey… I liked the Arch Deluxe!
By Jim
December 12, 2011 11:13 AM | Link to this
Vic, I know you don’t care much for the behemoth Amazon, and I understand your reasoning. They take away local jobs, state taxes, etc. I’m with you on that. However, I don’t care for the big boxes either. They stifle locally owned businesses, pay low wages, and provide little in the way of retirement or health care. Personally, I’d rather buy from Amazon then have to walk into the local Wally World. The store where 99.9% of their goods come from China, yet they began their corporate quest by saying “Buy American”. They’re both bad.
By vick
December 12, 2011 10:21 AM | Link to this
The Kindle Fire has 4,759 customer ratings on Amazon (so far). Less than half (2,244) gave it the highest rating of five stars. It has gotten 911 four star ratings. 611 customers rated it at the lowest ranking with just one star. 415 gave it two stars. 578 gave it three stars. Any rating less than four stars is essentially a poor rating. The Kindle Fire has a combined 1600+ ratings of 3 or below. So over a third of the total ratings are below four stars. That’s fairly mediocre.