><i>"Disruption requires asymmetry but it also requires the ability to go up a trajectory of improvement along the basis of performance that a majority of users demand"</i><p>The premise upon which this depends requires construing the Fire as Amazon's ground zero entry into the segment and dogmatic acceptance of the standard narrative in which the market segment for tablets or slates did not exist prior to the introduction of touchscreen devices in the form of Apple's iPad.<p>But neither is the case, just as smartphones were available for years before the introduction of the iPhone, likewise, the Fire is an extension of Amazon's well established product line - an extension which given the naming convention Amazon has employed (Kindle -> Fire), one may reasonably suspect has been on the drawing board for quite some time.<p>Another way to look at the potential for disruption which the Fire may hold is to consider it as an extension of the disruption Android caused in the smartphone market; i.e. making touchscreen smartphones ubiquitous commodity devices. Indeed, Amazon's agenda with the Fire (and Kindle) is more analogous to Google's with Android than to Apple's for the iPad.
> "The iPhone is also a subsidized product and it seems very successful. How come it won? The answer is in details."<p>One of the other relevant details is that any subsidies that are provided are done so by the wireless carriers, not Apple. Apple gets paid in full for each iOS device sold, either by the carrier (iPhones), or by the customer direct (the other iOS devices). By being immediately profitable on each iOS device, Apple has no "subsidy variables" to factor into its profitability -v- product lifecycle calculations.
Most articles I've read on this subject state that the new tablet will be sold at cost - a few dollars, not cost - $50. Which of these estimates is most likely correct?
Let's see how long that price is sustainable. There's no point to buy Kindle and not to buy any books, so subsidied Kindle will earn money to Amazon. But not so with Fire, you can (and there will literaly be millions and millions of cheapskates who will do exactly that) buy it and not buy anything from Amazaon after that. So I predict that Fire will be Amazons Bing.