A Letter to the Kindle Fire Team
As an ex-Microsoft mobile device/software incubator, I have some thoughts about the Fire I'd like to share with the Kindle Fire Team.
As we are starting 2012, it's clear that Amazon's Kindle Fire is already a smashing success. It is the first Android tablet that has gained significant traction in the marketplace, and it's already Amazon's all-time best-selling product. You have undoubtedly worked very hard on creating this wonderful product, and I'd like to offer you my sincere congratulations. You might like to know that when I was hunting for a Kindle Fire to buy locally shortly after Christmas, I ran into an unfamiliar scene at Best Buy: lots of iPad 2's on the shelves, but no Kindle Fire. In fact, I later found out that the Fire was sold out at all Best Buy, Target and Staple stores in the Puget Sound area.
Winning Combo
At $199, the low price point is the first thing that most people say about why this tablet is getting traction in the market place. While the price is certainly a big factor in its success, I would also like to point out that there are almost 30 other tablets at Best Buy that are at the same or lower price points, but have not had similar success in the marketplace (including Kobo, Nook Color, Nova and Playbook).
Your recipe of a low price point + great content and services + trusted brand is proving to be a winning combination. While any competitor can create the same price point overnight, the great content + services + brand are particularly difficult to duplicate. You have successfully created a great competitive position.
Hardware
While there is no question the combination is a winning one, the hardware is mediocre at best. While I completely understand that you have an aggressive price point to hit, I urge you to consider several future enhancements.
- Lack of hardware volume keys make adjust volume and muting very inconvenient. There is a reason why almost all other tablets, including the iPad, have hardware buttons for volume.
- Location of the power button is WRONG. I don't see any reason why the power button needs to be at the bottom in portrait mode. It makes it very easy for a user to accidentally hit it with his or her pinky.
- Lack of memory expansion slot. Because the device only ships with 8GB of flash, having an expansion slot for SD cards would help convince more customers to buy it. But I completely understand the rationale for not including this as your strategy is for customers to get content from the cloud. If I were you, I wouldn't include this either, but it's worth thinking about.
- Lack of Cameras, Bluetooth, Microphone. Again, I understand you are not trying to be a full-blown tablet at this point, so you have made these cuts. But as the price of making the hardware comes down, you would want to consider adding these things to make it more competitive. No matter how you position the device, some customers will inevitably compare you to the big boys (aka iPad), and you don't want to look too handicapped. Besides, having Bluetooth and microphone would enable new user scenarios (Hello Skype!). I wish all the Kindle Fire software was on the Playbook hardware.
- Lack of HDMI. This one is a bit more worthy of considering. If you guys are serious about being a media device, people need to be able to watch videos on their TV. Amazon Instant Video is not as pervasive as Netflix on TVs and Set Top boxes yet, but if your customers can connect their Fire with their TVs, you have suddenly made the device a much better media device (and sell more videos along the way).
A few other notes: I liked the feel of the rubber backing because it won't scratch easily. The 1024x600 display is bright and the speakers sound better than I expected. While the touch response is a bit laggy at times, it's adequate.
It would be smart for Amazon to consider licensing the upper stack of its software to hardware manufacturers. It's a win-win: tablet makers will sell more of their tablets because they can now access Amazon's slew of content and services; Amazon can get more tablet users to access its services and contents, which is how it makes its money in this game anyway.
Software
You guys did a great job in executing the software, but I has have a few suggestions for you to consider.
The entire first launch experience is fantastic. Booting up for the first time was quick, and all my Amazon "stuff" came down to the device seamlessly once I signed in. I commend you that you have created a great looking custom launcher that makes it not look like the other hundreds of Android tablets out there. The bookshelf metaphor is both easy to understand and visually appealing. However, there are some improvements in the custom launcher that should be considered.
- While the primary categories are shown at the top bar, the back and home controls are at the bottom of the screen. It's inefficient for the users at best and frustrating at worst to have to jump up and down to navigate through the device.
- While the flipping of the MRU items on the home screen is visually pleasing, it's again inefficient and will lead to some privacy concerns for some. All the recent activity of the user is exposed right on the home screen. It's also easy to flip to the incorrect item on the MRU list.
- To prove that the UI is inefficient, consider this: Right now, the user can only start 5 items with a single tap immediately after unlocking the device. (The first one on the MRU list and 4 items from the Favorites). Everything else they must do at least another swipe or tap and swipes. Compared that with the iPad, where users can start 26 of their favorite apps with a single tap.
- Another problem with the big MRU flipping list on the homepage is that it makes it necessary for app developers to add a larger icon. I have side loaded a number of apps, and as far as I can tell, the only reason they are not on the Amazon App Store is that the developers haven't bothered to submit the app with a larger icon.
- Many usability studies have shown that use of MRU list should be combined with a user configurable list. Since you already have a MRU list on the home screen, I find the MRU list behavior under each category (e.g. Apps) to be unnecessary and confusing. Users develop a memory of where they placed certain apps, and constantly changing it is probably not a good idea.
- The unlock screen looks beautiful, with randomly chosen pictures showing up. But if the user chooses to user a password, then the experience quickly deteriorates. Not only does the keyboard looks ugly, it's also very difficult to type in the passcode due to the size of the device. I would urge you to change this to a simpler passcode mechanism like a digit only password, drawing a pattern on screen, or pointing at places in a picture. Though arguably "less secure", I think each of those would be sufficient for your users.
A contentious issue is probably your decision to use your own Apps Store and not include Android Market. While I am sure you have no lack of customers complaining about this, I think this will turn out to be the right thing for Amazon long term. Since Android development is so fragmented and looks like the wild wild west, it's the right thing to have some process to ensure a great user experience for your customers, as well as build another revenue stream. But I do urge you to be more aggressive in getting more Android apps onto the Amazon market. A number of "must-have" apps are still not on Amazon market (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google Maps, and tons of others). I have rooted the device so I can add GoogleServicesFramework.apk, Android Market and a bunch of other apps that are not yet available on the Amazon App Market. They all worked without a hitch for me, but I doubt your average user will go through so much trouble to accomplish this. So please, if you are going to lock down the experience, at least make it as easy as possible for developers to put their apps on your App Store and give them more incentives to do so.
Content & Services
This is what makes the Fire really shine. I commend you for your decision to include 1 month free Amazon Prime membership. Not only are you giving folks free 2-day shipping, you are also letting them use the Kindle Owner's Lending Library and stream instant videos for free. I also very much enjoy the free App a day that you offer. These services along with the existing Kindle ecosystem are what set you apart from the competition, and why customers are choosing to buy the Fire instead of other more able tablets at the same price point.
As I pointed out above, you should seriously considering licensing some of your software to other tablet makers to broaden your user base to your content and services.
Big Opportunity: Shopping
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, is what I see as a big opportunity for you.
Amazon is selling Kindle Fire at a loss (or break even) and betting that revenue will come from selling services and contents. This strategy is certainly different than Apple's, who make huge margins on every piece of hardware they sell, but it could work. However, in executing this strategy, it seems like Amazon has forgotten about its biggest advantage: you are the biggest online retailer in the world.
From looking at the Fire, it's clear that Amazon isn't really leveraging its tablet to bring a better shopping experience for its users. The shopping experience on the Kindle, bluntly, sucks. On the Kindle Fire, Amazon has the opportunity to make its shopping experience the best on any tablet. The shopping experience should be beautiful, personalized, and well-integrated into the device. The experience should be more like flipping through a magazine rather than visiting the online store over the web. The experience should be personalized not just through what I have looked at, but what my friends and people I trust have purchased too. Social shopping is also something you guys don't seem to be pursuing aggressive enough, but that's the subject of another post.
With its own tablet, you have the unique opportunity to make advertising not look like advertising. Shopping shouldn't be an app; it should be one of the top level categories, just like Music, Books, Docs, Apps, etc. There is no reason why you guys can't deliver the BEST shopping experience on any tablet. You should integrate flash sales and location-based sales deeply into the experience. This is just scratching the surface. You are uniquely positioned to the best-of-breed shopping experience that would be useful to your users. In other words, help your users shop!
Conclusion
The Fire is a solid first step into the tablet market, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I would encourage the Kindle Fire team to sweep through the forums and the Kindle Fire reviews to prioritize your work and to re-think how shopping can be better done on the Kindle Fire.
