APPLE: The Kindle Fire Is Good For Us Because It's More Android Fragmentation
Apple executives are saying that the low priced Kindle Fire could actually be a good thing for the iPad because it introduces another level of fragmentation in the Android platform.
Context & Ripple Effects
Reports in March had raised the prospect of an Android-based Kindle, and an October item pointed to early signs of Kindle Fire demand. Apple’s response is to frame Amazon’s low-price tablet not simply as a new rival, but as another distinct version of Android.
That framing matters because Apple can contrast the iPad’s single platform with an Android tablet market whose software and hardware paths are becoming less uniform.
First-order effects
- Apple gains a competitive message for the iPad: Kindle Fire’s Android variant enlarges the set of device configurations developers and buyers must distinguish.
- Amazon enters the tablet contest with a low-priced device, while its Android implementation becomes part of Apple’s fragmentation argument.
Second-order effects
- Android device makers and app developers face greater pressure to explain compatibility across Kindle Fire and other Android tablets, rather than treating Android as one tablet target.
- Apple can make ecosystem consistency a more prominent part of its iPad positioning as Amazon uses price to attract tablet buyers.
Third-order effects
- If Android tablet vendors continue to differentiate their software independently, tablet competition will turn increasingly on the coherence of each platform’s application and user experience, not hardware price alone.
The trend: The tablet market is splitting between Apple’s integrated platform and Android devices whose vendor-specific versions trade uniformity for differentiation.