I arrived at my computer this morning to find that Amazon.com yesterday introduced the Kindle Fire, a 7” Android tablet for $199. Just yesterday I had said something like this to our principle:

The more I think about things the more I see the advantages of a tablet computer like the iPad. A teacher can quickly do attendance that automatically syncs with the student information system [SIS]. Grades can quickly be entered and, again, automatically sync to the SIS. You can hold the Web in your hand and put it to the screen for the kids. Textbooks with live search…

An iPad would enable me to have my entire digital library at my side as well as my calendar and planning functions and significant aspects of my communication applications. For a pastor that can be really handy. It’s pretty amazing, actually. So, my initial response to the Kindle Fire news was, “If this will run Nozbe and Evernote, I’m in!” What I mean is, a device like the iPad at a $200 price point makes this accessible to me. Molly Woods at CNET nailed it on the head with her piece from yesterday, “Kindle Fire an iPad killer? Yes. It’s the price, stupid.” 

The problem, immediately, is that the Fire is not an iPad-like device for $200. It doesn’t have a camera or, as I understand, a voice recorder, which means that full Evernote functionality is not available to me. And then there’s the fact that it doesn’t have Apple’s application infrastructure. That said, it would do a lot for a reachable price. Interesting…