Amazon's Kindle Fire is a significant departure from previous models; its features include integration with a user's Amazon.com account and a new browser.

1. Kindle Fire – Amazon Enters the Mobile Tablet Ring
October 2011
Rebecca Johnson, Digital Integration & Innovation
Top-Level Points Summary
On September 28, Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire, a new class of its Kindle
 The Kindle Fire will be released
reading device that represents a significant departure from its
only in the U.S. on November
e-ink reader focus. The tablet runs on a new browser, named Silk, which relies on
15, 2011
Amazon’s cloud (EC2) for major processing, rather than the device’s hardware.
 The Kindle Fire is priced at $199 The browser also analyzes user navigation to plan ahead and pre-load webpage
and orders will be prioritized on data. Kindle Fire offers tablet users seamless integration with Amazon’s content
a first-come, first-served basis libraries and shopping experience. In short, Kindle Fire is a new tablet offering
consumers an affordable price, an optimized browsing experience and access to
 The Kindle Fire introduces Silk,
a vast amount of content.
which is Amazon’s new split and
smart browser. Silk utilizes
Amazon’s Elastic Computer
Key Information
Cloud (EC2), which diverts
heavy processing away from the
The Fire features a 7-inch tablet with a backlit
tablet to create a faster
screen capable of displaying 16 million colors
browsing and viewing
and has a 169 ppi (pixels per inch) resolution.
experience
Apple’s iPad 2, by comparison, has a screen
 The new tablet seamlessly resolution of 132 ppi. Amazon’s decision to
connects with Amazon.com utilize a backlit screen for the Fire signifies a
personal accounts and Amazon key departure from the company’s previous e-
Prime ink–based Kindles.
 The Kindle Fire offers consumers
The device weighs 14.6 ounces with 8 GB of on-
a new type of tablet focused on
device storage, contains a 1 GHz dual-core
easy content access and
processor, offers a Wi-Fi-only connection,
consumption
supports Adobe® Flash® Player and it has a
continuous battery life of 8 hours. Fire does not
have a camera or GPS, and is completely free of
buttons, with a touch-screen as its control
interface.
Amazon’s “Silk” Web Browser
One of the most talked-about features of Fire is its new Android-based browser.
Silk is revolutionary because it diverts data-heavy browser processes from the
tablet hardware to Amazon’s massive server fleet, the Amazon Elastic Computer
Cloud (Amazon EC2); this division of labor is called “split browsing,” and makes
Silk, which lives on the Kindle Fire and the EC2, the connector. For the end user
Silk means a tablet free from heavy processing and thus able to provide a faster
browsing experience and conserve battery life.
While EC2 does the major processing for the
Kindle Fire, EC2 also hosts many top sites and
has relationships with major Internet service
providers. This means that many Web requests
never leave Amazon servers and also reduces
the browsers’ transit time to milliseconds.
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2. In addition to Silk’s split browser software, the browser observes user behavior across sites, detects patterns and can
accurately predict the next page content and navigation before the user requests it. These algorithms are based on
Amazon.com’s filtering techniques that produce the “You Liked This, So You May Also Like This” feature. Silk’s “smart”
browser functionality allows it to establish persistent connections with the sites users visit the most and pre-push content to
the tablet’s cache. This, as with EC2 integration, allows for a faster, more seamless browsing experience.
To go with Silk’s enhanced browsing experience, the Kindle Fire offers users seamless access to and integration with Amazon’s
vast wealth of content; all Fire users need to do is either sign up for an account or link their Amazon.com account and they’ll
instantly have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines and books, and the Amazon app store with thousands
of popular apps, such as Netflix, Pandora, Twitter, etc., and games like AngryBirds. It’s worth noting that the apps found in the
Amazon app store, like those in the iTunes store, are heavily vetted and tested by Amazon.
With purchase of a Kindle Fire, Amazon also gives buyers one month of free access to Amazon Prime, the membership
program that gives users free two-day shipping and reduced prices on one-day shipping on
Amazon.com purchases as well as unlimited instant access to 10,000 commercial-free movies and TV shows on their Kindle
Fire. After the free trial, users can purchase an Amazon Prime membership for the annual fee of $79.
General Implications
 Content consumption over creation. The Kindle Fire was never designed to
store large files, which is best illustrated in the device’s relatively small 8 GB of
storage and Amazon’s emphasis on document reading over editing in the
Kindle Fire’s description. These hardware and software choices were
specifically made to meet the demand of a large part of the consumer
audience that wants to browse and view content, not create it. In a recent
WIRED article, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in comparing the Kindle to the iPad,
said “It’s a different audience. We’re designing for people who want to read.”
In the near future, look for Amazon to bolster its already vast content libraries
in order to make the Kindle Fire even more distinct from the iOS (iTunes and iBooks)–dominated space.
 New buyers to tablet market. New buyers to the tablet market will be faced with tough choices when it comes to
their tablet purchases. Do they spend less to get less? Do they spend more and potentially not use all of the tablet’s
capabilities? Or do they choose a device that gives them an intermediate option for a reasonable price? Time will tell,
but it seems like Kindle Fire, with its middle-of-the-market positioning, is perfectly poised to pick up first-time tablet
buyers. Also, expect Amazon to heavily market the Kindle Fire to current Amazon account holders because the tablet
is an obvious extension of their Amazon accounts and the content they already purchase through these accounts.
 Tablet switching. The Kindle Fire’s low price ($199) and its features
and functionality will attract both high-end tablet users (iPad, Galaxy,
Playbook, etc.) and low-end e-reader users. High-end users may flock
to the Fire when their tablets become slow and outdated, as a lower-
cost alternative. Additionally, high-end users may realize they don’t
need or use all of their tablet’s bells and whistles, and decide they
want a leaner machine. Low-end users may upgrade to the Fire
because they want a tablet that can do more. Also, look for Amazon to heavily promote the Fire to current Kindle
users as a step up from their current device, one whose benefits easily justify the small increase in price.
 Silk transforms digital expectations. The Kindle Fire’s smart and split browser, Silk, will have ramifications outside of
the tablet world. The browsing experience will raise user digital expectation with seamless content and lightning-
quick service. Silk users will come to expect that type of service constantly, whether they’re viewing websites, using
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3. apps or potentially even interacting with brands through offline channels such as call centers or in the store. If user
expectations aren’t immediately met, users will look and go elsewhere, and the brand that provides them with this
sub-par experience will look like an amateur.
 Silk spreads beyond tablets. For the time being Silk will be strictly a tablet-based browser, but in the meantime,
Amazon will no doubt begin thinking about taking the browser beyond the Kindle Fire. Mobile phones and laptops
would be a likely next step, but what about at home? Imagine how seamlessly a partnership between Amazon and a
major cable company or Internet service provider could create the ultimate content-providing service.
 Mobile advertising heats up. With more and more consumers using their
mobile phones and tablets to access videos, music, books, apps, websites, etc.,
mobile display and video advertising is becoming increasingly important.
Kindle Fire takes content consumption to the next level and may offer new
opportunities and challenges for mobile advertising.
Pharmaceutical Industry Marketing Implications
 7˝ screen further complicates compliance issues. With another screen size entering the ring, pharmaceutical
websites will need to rethink how they design websites for readability, fair balance and presentation of a drug’s
Important Safety Information. Because of all the various screen sizes and resolutions out there, marketers will have to
make strategic decisions, hopefully based on Web analytics, on which browsers and screen sizes to optimize their
sites for.
 Kindle will remain an e-reader, not a medical tablet. Even before the Kindle Fire, when it came to the medical
community, Amazon’s focus within the HCP community focused on e-reader versions of the major medical textbooks
and journals, such as New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Journal of the
American College of Cardiology, and approximately 90,000 more titles and publications. With Fire, Amazon doesn’t
appear to be changing its positioning or game plan when it comes to the healthcare community. Although the Fire’s
size makes it easier for HCPs to carry with them, the hardware (memory and lack of camera) and lack of HCP-focused
apps in the Amazon app store make it more likely to be used as a reference rather than a medical diagnostic device or
aid. Also, there are security and HIPAA concerns with Silk’s integration with EC2 and the cloud; this is likely to turn
HCPs off from using it to send and record patient data. Given all this, it is likely that HCPs will use the Kindle Fire as an
e-reader that helps them get quick and easy access to medical information and allows them to stay on top of
professional literature.
 Uptake with younger MDs, nurses, techs, etc. With tablet price points slightly
too high for medical students and those healthcare professionals on limited
budgets, the Kindle Fire may be just the device that gets them into the tablet
market. Amazon offers medical journal subscriptions and textbooks for a wide
variety of medical professionals, including significant resources for nurses. For
med students and young doctors, the Fire gives them a financially feasible
option for textbooks and references, and Kindle books are sold at a discount
compared to the print versions. It’s possible that younger doctors, nurses and
support staff will choose to adopt the Kindle Fire, and potentially become
tablet loyalists, because of its price point, diverse medical practice content
options and because it also provides them access to non–work-related
content.
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4. Recommendations
 Keep current on tablet adoption. With the Kindle Fire not yet in market, it’s impossible to predict what adoption of
the new tablet will be. In the interim, try to find out what the current mobile tablet and phone market looks like and
how consumers are specifically using those devices.
 Invest in a mobile site. While mobile website viewing is
nothing new, the Kindle Fire is the straw that broke the
camel’s back when it comes to whether or not to create
a mobile-optimized version of a website. With this new
tablet, more and more everyday, average consumers
will be surfing the Web on a mobile device, and if a site
isn’t built to provide them with a well-designed, easily
touchscreen-navigable experience then you’ve lost
them, and potentially lost them for good; marketers
cannot afford to make that mistake. When it comes to
designing a mobile site, marketers should optimize their
standard website based on the top browsers and screen resolutions site visitors use to view their sites. For mobile
phones and smaller-screen tablets (e.g. Kindle Fire), marketers should build sites that detect these devices and serve
up the mobile site rather than the standard site. However, marketers should give mobile users the option to load the
standard website with the caveat that it is not optimized for mobile viewing and usage.
The RTCRM Digital Integration and Innovation team is tasked with keeping track and making sense of the
everchanging digital world. It’s our job to understand the nuances of how and why different types of people
use technology and what that tells us about them. More importantly, it’s our job to help our clients apply this knowledge to
better communicate with their customers. We help clients translate business goals into marketing campaigns that build
relationships with customers. In the 21st century, understanding how and why someone uses technology is as important as
understanding where they live, what gender they are, and how old they are.
That’s where we come in. From ensuring that technological behavior is considered in the research phase, to tactical
plans that align digital, print and broadcast tactics, we work with clients and internal partners to make sure it all
works.
It’s not about what’s cool. It’s about what works.
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