The Kindle Fire hasn’t even launched, but Amazon’s tablet already has more apps and content deals that it can count.
Along with “several thousand more apps” --
from Facebook and Twitter to popular games from Zynga and EA -- Amazon has just announced that it too will have support for Netflix and Pandora.
“Maybe the Kindle Fire isn’t as
‘media-deficient’ a tablet as [Barnes & Noble] CEO William Lynch would have us believe,” quipped TechCrunch.
“Streaming services are essential for the
success of any tablet, but app offerings in a broader context might end up being the major factor which distinguishes the Kindle Fire from the recently announced Nook Tablet,” according to Gizmodo.
“Amazon’s focus on apps is probably meant to highlight the small size of BN’s own app store, but there’s
no question that Amazon is feeling some pressure from their long-time rivals,” adds TechCrunch. “The Nook Tablet came out swinging just a few days ago, and it received more than a little
attention thanks to the full suite of media services that would come preloaded on the device.”
What’s more, “While the Fire runs a scaled back version of Android, the app
selection through Amazon’s app store will be far from the full-fledged Android Market,” writes 9to5Google.
In particular, “one app that's noticeably absent
[from Amazon’s partnership list] is Hulu,” Business Insider points out. By contrast, “The
Kindle Fire's competition, the Nook Tablet, will have Hulu right out of the box.”
Meanwhile, “it's unclear [from this week’s announcement] whether … all of these apps
will actually look good on the Fire's 7-inch display or if many of them will simply be scaled-up phone apps,” notes The Verge. “But with the launch
coming next Tuesday, we don't have long to wait to find out.”