AmaZune tablet

I always say, you should never write a review of a product until you've actually used it. You can read what others have said and experienced, but it's just not the same until you put your real data on the device & carry it around for a few days.

That said, it's more fun to speculate and get ahead of the other reviewers, so here's my review of the Amazon Kindle Color, based solely on the Techcrunch maybe-true leak.

If you're short on time, here's the review in 1 word: AmaZune.

Let's back up & first summarize what the Amazon Kindle Color is:

• 7" LCD tablet
• $250
• Wi-Fi only, not 3G
• 8 GB storage (MG says 6 GB, but the mass produced parts come in either 2, 4, or 8 GB, and it'd be more expensive and consume more board space to put on separate 4 and 2 GB parts than to just put on a 8 GB part)
• UI optimized for media consumption - books, music, movies
• Pre-installed Amazon Store apps - Kindle store, MP3 store
• Possibly email, calendar, etc. support, but no licensed Google apps (like Gmail & Android Market)
• Runs a fork of Android 2.x
• Amazon App Store will have a subset of Android 2.x apps, but it won't support the newer Tablet-optimized Android 3.x apps

In other words, it's basically the same hardware as a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7". And it's basically the same hardware AND software as a Nook Color, if you search & replace the text "B&N" with "Amazon."

So, I can buy the same product today (Nook Color) for the same price, $250.

Or, I could buy the Samsung tablet today for $280 (at Amazon, where else?), but I'm sure it'll be $249 or even $199 by the end of the year. Or maybe the fancier Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 will be available, which runs the real Android 3.2, providing access to the full suite of Android apps, including the tablet-optimized ones. And hey if I want 3G and the ability to run all Android apps, I can get that too with the Samsung tablet. And you know what else, I even have access to the same Amazon Kindle and MP3 Store Android apps.

Or I could just buy an iPad, which is what most people will do, if they can afford the extra $250 (perhaps coming down to $150 in the future, if the iPad 2 drops to $399 when iPad 3 appears).

In other words, this is Amazon's Zune moment, the AmaZune. It's a product that does less than its competitors for the same price. It might have a few differentiators (e.g. tighter book store integration), but it doesn't sound like it has any killer differentiators, or else MG would have leaked them. So though it may be a fine device, it's unlikely to be a breakthrough product.

So, will they sell? Well, the Nook Color has sold a few million & is doing ok in its niche. Same with the original Kindle. These are products that sell because they're relatively cheap -- maybe even impulse buys for those with more disposable income.

But think of the AmaZune like the original Zune. It won't take out most Android tablets (which are like iPods in the Zune analogy), and it won't take out the king (the iPad), but it'll do ok. And if Amazon wants to pour $ into it and promote the crap out of it on Amazon.com every day like the Kindle, that will certainly move units. But Microsoft could have sold more Zunes if Microsoft poured marketing cash into it also - at the end of the day, it's a question of how much $ you wish to burn. In an ideal world, though, you shouldn't need to burn cash - your product should just be hotly desired, like the iPad.