UPDATE: More details on what Applesauce can and can not do, Seattle Times.
Bottom line. Amazon’s Fire is directed squarely at media. For $200 it replaces any need for another device to read books, read pdfs, watch TV, or play games. Apple is in trouble.
There are also hidden design elements here that suggest bigger ambitions. First, t
he Fire is set up to stream to your TV. Sounds like both the ultimate remote control and a way to get Amazon onto your large screen display space. Add this to Googles’s ownership of Motorola’s set top business and I smell an opportunity for Amazon and Google to take over the living room. Second, the Fire is designed to compliment desktop PCs and cell phones. Why have a camera on the Fire if your phone has one? Why write your novel by pecking on a touch screen. The obvious opportunity for third party developers is to integrate Fire with PCs (and Macs) on the one hand and the Android (and Windows) smart phone on the other. This seems to suggest Amazon alliances with Microsoft.
Apple stuff can be integrated too, but at what cost to Cupertino? One of the smallest issues is the presence of a USB port .. something the Apple world resists. That little piece of chrome opens a huge world of accessories and accessorizing to the Fire … more stuff for Amazon to sell!
On the downside, Amazon seems determined to discourage sale of non Amazon formatted books here. The free ebook formats are not supported. However, these can be converted to PDF and the Fire filly supports the Adobe PDF format.
Besides Amazon., the other winner here may be Microsoft. This dingus is meant to compliment, not replace a desktop PC. If anything the Fire looks like a PC peripheral that opens opportunities for Windows 8. And .. the FIRE suggests that Amazon is not interested in competing for the corporate cell phone business. Asa Fire spreads and eats its applesauce, MS is has a great opportunity to define the Windows phone as a standard for the corporate/Outlook based world. See original post.