The wait for Amazon’s Kindle Fire is almost over. Just one week to go and then we’ll see if this small tablet can give Apple’s iPad a run for its money. In case you weren’t aware, the Fire isn’t just a color Kindle eReader. You’ll be able to do a lot more with this 199 dollar 7 inch tablet than just read ebooks and magazines. You can surf your favorite sites via WiFi, watch movies, listen to music and install 1000’s of Android apps using Amazon’s AppStore. Current Android tablet and smartphone users are probably already familiar with Amazon’s AppStore, but for those of you that will get your first introduction through the Kindle Fire, the main differences between it and the regular app store (which I doubt you’ll have access to via the Fire), are that purchases will use your existing Amazon acct and Amazon offers a free paid app every day. It’s also good to know that once you download an app from Amazon’s AppStore, that same app will be available on your other Android devices.
Facebook, Pandora, Netflix, Rhapsody, Games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and Several Thousand More Apps and Games Coming To Kindle Fire Next Week
Just like with movies and TV shows, music, books, and magazines, Kindle Fire offers a fully-integrated Android apps and games experience – purchase or register for an app or game once, enjoy it on your Kindle Fire and other Android-based devices – and all apps and games are backed up in the Amazon Cloud for re-download anytime
SEATTLE, Nov 09, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — (NASDAQ: AMZN) – When Kindle Fire customers across the country open their boxes next week, they will be able to choose from several thousand of the most popular Android apps and games, including Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, Comics by comiXology, Facebook, The Weather Channel and popular games from Zynga, EA, Gameloft, PopCap and Rovio. Kindle Fire customers will be able to download these apps and games without having to register multiple times and using Amazon’s simple and secure 1-Click payment technology. Plus, all apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire for the best experience possible, customers can get a great “paid” app for free every day, and once you’ve downloaded an app from the Amazon Appstore, it’s available on Kindle Fire as well as your other Android-based devices.
“We started talking to app developers everywhere the day we introduced Kindle Fire, and the response has been overwhelming,” Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “In addition to over 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games to choose from on Kindle Fire – from Pandora and Rhapsody to Facebook and Twitter to Netflix, as well as popular games from EA, Zynga and many other top game developers. And this is only the beginning – we’re adding more apps and games every day across all categories.”
With the Netflix app, Kindle Fire customers who are Netflix members can browse and instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies and resume watching where they left off on their TV or computer. “We’re excited to team up with Amazon to give what we think will be a huge community of Kindle Fire owners the opportunity experience all that Netflix has to offer,” said Bill Holmes, Vice President of Business Development at Netflix. “We’re certain that our members will have a great viewing experience on Kindle Fire.”
“EA is proud to be part of Kindle Fire,” said Bernard Kim, Senior Vice President & Head of Global Sales and Marketing at Electronic Arts. “On Kindle Fire, we’re offering some of the world’s most popular titles with incredible gameplay and breathtaking graphics that anyone can play and enjoy anytime, anywhere.”
“Zynga strives to deliver the best mobile social gaming experiences that can be enjoyed by players anytime and anywhere,” said David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer at Zynga. “Teaming with Amazon to make Words With Friends a featured game on the Kindle Fire provides us with a great way to reach new and existing players on a fresh and exciting device.”
“As Gameloft continues to create games for the mass market, Kindle Fire comes as a very exciting new platform for us to offer our games on,” said Baudouin Corman, Vice President of Publishing for the Americas at Gameloft. “Not only does it provide us with an innovative channel for us to reach new audiences, but the tablet is set to enable a great gaming experience as well. In effect, we plan on providing Kindle Fire customers with a large catalog of top quality premium and free-to-play games.”
“We’re excited to be bringing our massively popular games to Kindle Fire,” said Andrew Stein, Director of Mobile Product Management at PopCap Games. “Kindle Fire is a great gaming device, and consumers will love the touch-screen optimized adaptations of top titles such as Plants vs. Zombies.”
“Personalized radio has the power to enhance all types of experiences anytime, anywhere and we’re thrilled that Pandora is a launch app on the new Kindle Fire,” said Jessica Steel, Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Pandora.
“We are really stoked to offer our members the Rhapsody experience on one of the most anticipated new devices this holiday season,” said Brian McGarvey, Vice President of Business Development for Rhapsody. “We want to make sure Rhapsody is available on every must-have device, including the Kindle Fire.”
“Being a featured app on Kindle Fire will allow The Weather Channel to continue to fulfill our mission of providing consumers with the most reliable weather information to help plan their daily lives – no matter where they are and what device they use,” said Cameron Clayton, Executive Vice President of Digital Product at The Weather Channel Companies.
Additional examples of apps and games that will be available to Kindle Fire customers include Allrecipes, Bloomberg, Cut the Rope, Doodle Fit, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Jenga, LinkedIn, Zillow, Airport Mania, Battleheart, Pulse, The Cat in the Hat, Quickoffice Pro, Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals, IMDb Movies & TV, and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox.
Kindle Fire offers more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, as well as free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync for books and movies, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, a vibrant color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor and Amazon Silk – Amazon’s new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud – all for only $199. Customers also enjoy a free month of Amazon Prime, providing access to Prime Instant Video with 13,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited streaming and the new Kindle Owners’ Lending Library where Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers – as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.
Customers in the U.S. can pre-order Kindle Fire at http://www.amazon.com/kindlefire and it ships November 15. For high resolution images and video of the all-new Kindle Fire, visit http://www.amazon.com/pr/kindle.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
Julie, are you getting one to try out on launch day?
@Andy I ordered one… So I’ll have one as soon as everyone else who did the same 🙂
Good. I’ll be relying on your opinions!
Hi Julie, I enjoy your site. How are you doing?
@Tom I’m fine as frog hair 😉
hi julie!
waiting for review, especially how it feels without mechanical buttons at all.
@Dmitriy I’ll try to churn it out quickly once I receive it. 🙂
I pre-ordered one of these things back in September, never having even tried a tablet, thinking what the heck, they’ve finally hit my price point. However, I must admit now, that as the publicity machine has started grinding, I’m getting rather excited about it, even if all it really means to me is being able to watch Star Trek in the bathroom.
Frog hair and watching Star Trek in the bathroom!!! LOL
After doing a lot of comparing of the Fire and the Lenovo A-1 tablet, I went with the Lenovo and I am so glad I did 🙂
It finally was delivered on the 7th of November after a months wait. What’s cool about it is the two cameras, always on GPS- I had a lot of fun with that. A micro USB slot- I put 16GB in it. And oh, it has a microphone so I can make calls from Skype 😛
What it didn’t have was the Gorilla Glass that the Fire has 🙁
But all the other stuff made up for that 😛
I believe you can pre-order the Lenovo A-1 on Amazon 🙂
What a rip off! Cant download any apps because we are canadian
are we ever going to get pocket frogs