Kindle Fire – Amazon jacks RIM’s Playbook…

Today Amazon announced 3 new Kindle devices.  A standard updated model of the original Kindle, a Kindle Touch, and the Kindle Fire.

The most intriguing device is the Kindle Fire.  As it’s Amazon’s foray into the tablet market that competes with other tablets such as the iPad, Playbook, and other Android tablets.  The Kindle Fire looks to be an exact replica of RIM’s Playbook, but the software that runs it is a customized Android OS. Its so customized you can’t even tell its an Android OS.  You can check out the Hands-On-Impressions on Engadget.  It is a sweet looking device.  And of course this Amazon tablet is built to consume many of the content provided by Amazon such as music, videos, books, and more.  After watching some of the hands on videos I think this may be a big hit for Amazon. With this tablet being under $200 dollars I bet it will be the #1 gift on many people’s wishlist for the upcoming holiday season.

I’m a Blackberry fan, and I love my Playbook and all the things it can do for me. But with the Kindle Fire it really shows how awesome a 7″ tablet can be with the right software. Their app store for the Kindle Fire looks to be loaded, and don’t forget all the other multimedia content that is ready for purchase.  RIM really shot themselves in the foot by not releasing an NDK for developers to create apps for the Playbook. The lack of a solid ecosystem doesn’t help RIM at all. And RIM’s app store pales in comparison to iOS, Android, and Amazon’s. In fact, its laughable for RIM to call it an app store in the first place.  One thing to consider is that the Kindle Fire looks so close to the Playbook. Will RIM pull out their legal guns and take Amazon to court?

Amazon is stepping onto Apple’s territory, a territory which no other competitor has yet to make a dent. I’m sure Apple is not worried about Amazon’s hardware, but the fact that Amazon has an ecosystem that is just as vast and bountiful should made Apple concern.