Has the Kindle Fire Met Its Match?

By Evan Niu | More Articles
November 4, 2011 | Comments (2)

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Even though Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN ) Kindle Fire hasn't even made its way into the hands of eager buyers, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS ) is set to unveil the follow-up to its Nook Color.

The Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) Android device will simply be dubbed the "Nook Tablet" and is expected to be unveiled on Monday, so mark your calendars accordingly. By Nov. 16, the tablet will arrive for customers.

According to some leaked documents obtained by Engadget, the device looks almost identical to the current Nook Color offering, but the similarities end there as Barnes & Noble has kicked up the specifications significantly.

It will keep the 7-inch display, but will incorporate in-plane switching, or IPS, display technology, which is what Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) uses on almost all of its screens including the iPad and is also used in the Kindle Fire. It will reportedly include 16 GB of onboard storage and use a dual-core ARM Holdings (Nasdaq: ARMH ) -based OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN ) clocked at 1.2 GHz with a solid 1 GB of RAM.

The current Nook Color goes for $249 right now, but that price tag will drop to $199 with the new Nook Tablet occupying the $249 price point. This means it will cost a cool $50 more than the Kindle Fire.

What does that extra $50 get you? The leaked documents also include a handy comparison chart titled "Why NOOK Tablet is Better Than Kindle Fire." It notes items like double the RAM, double the storage (which is also expandable), and it's roughly half an ounce lighter. The book chain will offer free in-store support, and points out that its browser lacks the privacy concerns that Silk has brought up.

In other news, the company is also upgrading the Nook Simple Touch reader to take on the Kindle Touch at the same $99 price point, except the Nook Simple Touch price comes without "annoying ads."

I have to give Barnes & Noble credit: The company is gearing up its digital strategy admirably. The Nook Tablet is a solid defensive play against the Kindle Fire, and it has an advantage that Amazon can't offer: in-store support, since Amazon doesn't have stores and all. Most users are unlikely to take notice of some of the beefier specs; they're much more likely to see the beefier price tag.

While it's the right move to make, I still think the Kindle Fire will burn them all.

Add Barnes & Noble and Amazon to your watchlist to see who wins this battle.

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Fool contributor Evan Niu owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, and ARM Holdings, but he holds no other position in any company mentioned. Click here to see his holdings and a short bio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Texas Instruments, and Google. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Google, Amazon.com, and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a bull call spread position in Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Report this Comment On November 04, 2011, at 2:30 PM, JohnatDuke wrote:

Did you include the $79 per year that most Amazon users will pay in additional to the upfront cost?
Report this Comment On November 04, 2011, at 3:08 PM, megoogler wrote:

- Here's some information you need to consider before buying Kindle Fire:
- Kindle Fire doesn't have microSD slot that, for example, Nook Color has thus it is stuck with 6 GB usable internal storage unlike Nook Color that can get up to 32 GB card in. Kindles are made to make sure you're tied up to Amazon's storage on the web (for which you need Wi-Fi connection to get to) and you can only store content you get from Amazon there, not other files. Quoting Amazon on Kindle Fire: "Free cloud storage for all Amazon content".
- The stats of how long the battery can last (Kindle Fire theory is 7.5 hours) are taken with Wi-Fi off. It will last about 3 hours if you use it to access/stream content from their Cloud storage over Wi-Fi.
- Amazon can spy on your web activity through their new cloud-integrated web browser of Kindle Fire.
- lack of microSD slot means that if you decide to root your Kindle Fire, you’ll have to root the actual device thus there will be no coming back. On Nook Color, you can make it boot from a “rooted” microSD card and if you want to get back to the original Nook you can just take out the card and reboot.
- Kindle Fire doesn't have a camera.
- Kindle Fire has about 70% less usable screen area than iPad 2.
- Kindle doesn't support eBooks in ePub format that is the most used format in the world.
- Kindle app store contains only Amazon approved apps and it does not include (and will not include) Netflix or Hulu app that iPad has and Nook Color is getting thus again you're stuck with Amazon content only.
- Amazon confirmed that you cannot download or stream anything to Kindle Fire when traveling outside US.
- Amazon says it will review every app in its Appstore for Fire compatibility, as part of an automated process. Rejected apps will include those that rely on a gyroscope, camera, WAN module, Bluetooth, microphone, GPS, or micro SD. Apps are also forbidden from using Google's Mobile Services (and in-app billing), which, if included, will have to be "gracefully" removed. In terms of actual content, Amazon has outlawed all apps that change the tablet's UI in any way (including theme- or wallpaper-based tools), as well as any that demand root access
- I'd recommend waiting for Nook Color 2 that is rumored to be released by Barnes & Noble.

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