"Amazon announced an Android based tablet that looks pretty damn good for $199."
There's an interesting situation going on in the global economy that deserves watching. China and other Asian countries keep sending us cheap, low quality knock-off versions of stuff. And we keep sending them worthless pieces of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them. Somebody's getting screwed here, but nobody can figure out who.
I've been watching the tablet computer market for a while now. Being a first generation IPod owner, I'm not afraid of buying new things, if the benefit is worth the cost. We haven't achieved the benefit/cost point yet as far as I'm concerned, but we're getting there. I have a unique problem in that I can't see the screen if it's too small. Smartphones are totally useless to me.
I looked hard at the Nook Color, and was less than impressed. My current favorite iis the ASUS Eee Transformer. I can see myself using one. Since it has a 10.1" screen, I can almost read it. Seems like it does everything the IPad does on a bigger screen and costs less. Target ran a one day special on them at $299 on Monday. It was over before I found out about it.
Now comes the Kindle Fire, which actually offers a lot of cool integration with Amazon's digital library of everything, a way to store and backup data on the Internet that is actually integrated into the device and some other cool features. At $300 less than an entry level IPad, it just might give Apple a run for its money as well as force everyone to lower the prices to be competitive. But, alas, the 7" screen is too small for me. (Plus, I think Amazon is really trying to make tablet computer that works well and is a continuing revenue source for them. I sense a little bit of a conflict of interest there. )
But Christmas is coming, and tablet PC's are on about everyone's shopping list as far as I can tell.. What we need now is a good old fashioned price war. Who wants my business most? It'll be fun to see who wins.