The Amazon Kindle Fire is one of the most popular tablets around. It is selling impressively even though it does not have the best hardware or software on-board. Of course, many of us bought our Kindle Fire to hack it and do all kinds of neat things on it. A video has been circulating online that shows the device is more than cable of handling Android 4.0.

A pre-alpha port of Android 4.0 has been made available by developer JackpotClavin from the XDA Developers. The solution is not perfect at the time of this writing. Plenty of things don’t work. The process of installing Android 4.0 on the Kindle Fire does seem pretty straight forward though (in comparison to some of the other hacks we have seen).

You can get started by using the latest Kindle Fire Utility to connect your tablet to a computer using a USB cable. You should backup your Kindle, perform a factory wipe, and install the published files to get Android 4.0 running on your Kindle Fire. The developer could make the process even easier. We will have to wait and see.

The iPad has been hard to compete with for many Android tablet makers. Acer, ASUS, Motorola, and Samsung have all tried but failed to market a tablet that could go head to head with the iPad. Amazon seems to have found the right formula though. If you can’t beat the iPad in design and features, beat it with very low prices. The Kindle Fire has started strong and is expected to remain strong going into 2012, when Amazon brings the second generation Kindle Fire to the market.

While Amazon’s Kindle Fire has come out of the gates strong, as expected … we see Apple maintaining its competitive lead, if anything accentuated by what now looks like the only tablet to so far mount any credible iPad challenge apparently needing to do so by selling at cost,

explained Robert Cihra, an analyst with Evercore Partners. Some experts suggest that the Kindle Fire could indeed help Apple sell more iPads in the long run. This device is a great starter tablet. More people can afford it. But at some point they may want to upgrade to a more powerful tablet. That’s when Apple gains.

Android tablet prices are dropping, thanks to both Apple and Amazon. We are going to see a whole lot of new Android tablets in 2012. The way things have gone, the Kindle Fire could finish 2012 as the #2 tablet in this market (based on share). It will be interesting to see how well premium tablets such as the Prime perform next year.

We are getting awfully close to the shipping date for the first batch of Kindle Fire orders. So it is not a surprise to see Amazon shed more light on the apps that will be included on Kindle Fire. The company has reassured Kindle Fire buyers that their device will have access to some of the most popular Android applications around.

We started talking to app developers everywhere the day we introduced Kindle Fire, and the response has been overwhelming … 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,

explains Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. Apps such as Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, and Twitter are going to be available to Kindle Fire owners. That should confirm the notion that Kindle Fire is not really an e-reader but a media tablet. Plenty of app developers have reacted to this news.

This should not be an earth shattering news to those of you who have been following Kindle developments in the past couple of months. Kindle Fire is an Android tablet after all. But it is nice to know that the most popular Android apps will work on the device.

Are you impressed with these Kindle apps? Which Android apps do you intend to use on your Kindle Fire?

Here is how the $15 bonus breaks down:

• $5 for Amazon Appstore for Android
• $5 for Amazon MP3
• $5 for Kindle content

This $5 Kindle discount won’t get you too many e-books, considering that many of them are still overpriced.

Amazon has relied on discounts and promotions to keep Kindle going so far. But the company does need to bring a new e-reader model to the market in the near future as NOOK Color seems to have surpassed the current generation Kindle. From all the rumors we have heard, it does seem the next Amazon e-reader will be a tablet.

RepilGo Reader: one of the best PDF readers available for Android. It allows you to open and annotate your PDF files. If you work with PDF files on a daily basis, this app can be a life saver.

Cool Reader: It can read epub, fb2, txt, doc, rtf, html, chm, tcr, pdb, and pml books. It can handle zip archives too. It is localized for 11 languages.

Kindle for Android: it may not be exactly the very best e-reader app on the market, but it is associated with the best e-book reader device on the market. Gives you access to all your Kindle e-books with sync capability.

FBR Reader: does not take too much memory on your device but can open epub, oeb, and fb2 files.

Nook for Android: Nook hardware takes advantage of Android, but if you don’t own one, you can still use the books you have bought from B&N on your other Android devices with this app.

Kobo Ebooks: if you happen to be hooked on Kobo products, this app is what you need. It lets you access your Kobo books on your tablets or smart-phones.

Moon+ Reader Pro: a highly customizable e-book reader application for Android. It supports txt/html/epub/umd/fb2/zip/OPDS formats. It has 10+ themes and 24 customized operations.

Aldiko eBook Reader: I have been a big fan of Aldiko eBook Reader for quite a while. It can handle EPUB and PDF files (importing works like a charm). Its fonts and color can be customized too. It is not as fast as some of the other apps in this list though.

Have you tried any of the above e-reader apps? Please share your experience below.

Even though Amazon has still not announced any plans to bring a tablet to the market, the company has already laid the groundwork to start competing with Apple and other tablet markets. Considering that Amazon has just launched an Android Appstore, it is not hard to guess which operating system will run on Amazon’s Kindle tablet just in case the company decides to go in that direction.

As discussed on Gizmodo, Amazon has had the idea to introduce a multitouch color device to the market for quite some time. Amazon Kindle e-readers are great for reading e-books and listening to audio-books. But they can’t compete as tablets against iPads and Xooms of this world. Here are some of the features we expect to see in Amazon’s rumored tablet:

• screen: Amazon already has 6 inch and 9.7 inch e-readers on the market. The company can always choose one or both of those sizes for its upcoming tablet products. But there is a good chance it will settle for something in between. A 7″ or 8.9″ screen Kindle slate would not surprise anyone.
• software: Amazon’s Kindle tablet will most likely run Android. We would not put it past Amazon to add its own UI on the top of what Android has to offer to make the Kindle experience more unique for its customers. 
• design: Amazon Kindles may not be perfect devices but they are extremely slim and portable. We expect Amazon’s tablet to offer a similar experience.
• price: an aggressive pricing strategy is required if Amazon wants to compete effectively against the iPads and Xooms of this world. Amazon does not need to get into a price war with Apple, Samsung, or Motorola.
• service integration: there is a good chance the rumored Kindle tablet will take advantage of all the services that Amazon is offering on its website. That includes its video on-demand service, Kindle platform, and much more.

Amazon may or may not introduce a new tablet to the market. But we do not expect it to stop making new e-readers. E-readers are still quite popular and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. There is no reason Amazon can’t sell an e-reader and a tablet (unless it opts for a color e-paper reader which is a whole other story).

If you were the leader of Amazon tablet’s design team, how would you put together the perfect Kindle tablet? What features would you include?

Credit: Borders

With e-books becoming more popular each day, it was only a matter of time before a top book seller started feeling the heat of the digital shift in the publishing industry. Borders did put up a challenge against Amazon and B&N by bringing Kobo reader and a few affordable tablets to its store. Apparently, the company has not managed to gain enough traction to avoid bankruptcy at this point. According to The Wall Street Journal, Borders will restructure its business under chapter 11 to remove a large number of its physical stores.

Mark Coker, chief executive of Smashwords Inc put it best:

Once physical shelf space is gone, it’s gone forever… If you remove books from our towns and villages and malls, there will be less opportunity for the serendipitous discovery of books. And that will make it tougher to sell books. Borders has an opportunity to save itself with e-books.

While it would be foolish to assume that small publishers are playing the game at a level playing field with the big guns, it is true that these days they have more tools available to them to reach out to their audience. Big publishers may feel the heat a bit as some of these physical stores disappear. Borders still has a chance to save itself but according to restructuring expert Jim McTevia of McTevia & Associates, it does not have too much time:

They could get the new financing and get the refinancing and probably be able to delay an insolvency. But on the other hand, in the final analysis, if the company is losing money, nobody is going to put any more money into the company in the form of a loan unless they have bankruptcy court priority protection of a lender.

Considering that Apple is now starting to squeeze publishers for its share of e-books sold on iPads, Borders’ salvation may hang on Android tablets.

Your turn: Can Borders be saved?

Amazon has had a huge year when it comes to the number of Kindle units sold (and the number of new e-book customers gained). While the rumors of Kindle’s death at the hands of iPad are exaggerated, we know know that Kindle may be losing marketshare to iPad slowly. Jeff Bezos has talked about how iPad’s success is also a win for Amazon (Amazon has a Kindle app for iPad). That does not mean Amazon will sit and watch Apple make Kindle irrelevant.

iPad and Kindle may be two very different devices on paper. It seems many consumers do not mind reading books on their iPad instead of investing in a dedicated device such as Kindle. Amazon has gained a lot of momentum by dropping its Kindle prices this year. While Kindle continues to be relevant for the foreseeable future, here are 6 ways Amazon can help Kindle combat iPad over the long run:

• introduce e-book subscription plans: in order to set itself apart from Apple, Amazon needs to think about a new business model for Kindle e-books. Kindle owners tend to read a lot of books each year. Why not give them a way to read as many Kindle e-books as they can for a monthly fee?
• take advantage of Kindle API: many of us were excited about Kindle API. So far, it has been a disappointment. If mine sweeper game is the best developers can do with Kindle API, Amazon may as well just close the platform. Amazon needs to learn a lesson or two from Apple here.
• consider innovation in design: a color-screen Kindle won’t necessarily help Amazon keep Apple iPad at bay. A couple of years ago that would have been a game changer. Amazon needs to look beyond color E-ink to differentiate its products from Apple tablets.
• focus on social: social reading is the future. Amazon has realized that. Still, Kindle has a long way to go before it becomes the ideal device for social reading.
• offer lower prices: Kindle’s price can fall below $100  in 2011. Amazon can use e-book subscription plans to subsidize its e-readers and offer them for much less. Apple iPad may be shiny but people do not want to pay $500 to get an e-book reader if they have a chance to get one for a lot less.
• focus on Android: there is a reason Amazon is considering bringing an Android tablet to the market. Android is here to stay and will surpass Apple’s iOS platform very soon. Amazon’s Android app store and Kindle app for Android should help Amazon grow its Kindle platform even faster.

What are your suggestions? Is Kindle in trouble? Does Amazon even need to focus on hardware in the future?

intomobile.com

Amazon may be hoping for all tablet and smartphone owners to pick up the Kindle, but it has created the tools they need to read their Kindle books on all kinds of devices. Kindle software is available on iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android devices. Kindle comes pre-loaded on certain devices (e.g. some ASUS laptops). It is now expected to come preloaded on Verizon Android handsets too.

According to Verizon, Kindle app will come pre-installed on Motorola DROID X, the Motorola DROID 2, and the Samsung Fascinate. The good news is Android fans get to read their Kindle books without even having to look for Kindle app for Android. The bad news is Verizon may have made it a bit difficult for the average user to remove this app.

Here is what Verizon had to say about this move:

We’re very excited to bring Kindle for Android directly to Verizon Wireless customers. Our smartphones come with great screens that make buying and reading books simple and easy, and Amazon’s commitment to reading and offering a seamless customer experience is directly in line with what our customers want.

People may not read as much on their smartphones as they do on tablets or devices such as Kindle, but this is a very nice move by Amazon. It will be interesting to see whether Amazon goes ahead with its plans for an Android tablet. The company has all but confirmed that it will be introducing an Android app market in the near future. Kindle may not be as popular as Apple iPad these days but Amazon is slowly putting all pieces of the puzzle together. Could Android give Amazon the edge it needs to topple Apple iPad? We will have to wait and see.

Would you like to see Amazon bring an Android tablet to the market?

We have known for quite some time that Jeff Bezos is fascinated about the idea of competing in the tablet market (from his interviews with Mr. Rose and other programs). The company is not ready to introduce its own operation system yet. But why go in that route when it can just count on Android to power up its tablet. Amazon is already planning to launch an Android app store. The Android app business is just taking off. Amazon intends to make it easier for developers to get paid (and for consumers to find high quality apps in an easier fashion). The folks at TechCrunch have gotten their hands on a few juicy details on Amazon’s Android store:

For each sale of an App, we will pay you a royalty equal to the greater of 70% of the purchase price or 20% of the List Price as of the purchase date (70/30 is standard, this 20/80 split is somewhat odd and confusing)

…

There is a $99 fee to be a developer in this program (the same as Apple’s iOS developer program)

That is not all. Apparently, Amazon is already planning to release an Android tablet to complete its handhelds line-up. Amazon is not interested in challenging the iPad with Kindle. The comparison between these two devices is simply not fair. An Android tablet by Amazon will allow the company to get involved in the tablet business and start selling apps in the process.

It is not clear how Google will respond to this move. This is quite a brilliant strategy by Amazon to get involved in yet another emerging market. People are buying tons of apps these days. Amazon has already had a lot of success with e-books. There is no reason it can’t have similar results with apps. Will Android make its way to Kindle too? Let’s hope so.

What would you like to see in Amazon’s Android Tablet (if the rumors are correct)?