Used the Ipad 2 and Kindle Fire and from what I can tell I would say an apple fanboy wrote this article... The kindle fire CAN do most everything the ipad can do minus taking videos and it will only get better as more apps are created for it!! The Kindle fire is a great entry if your looking to get a tablet, PLEASE PEOPLE DON'T go out and spend $500+ on an low powered over priced PC (ipad) you don't even know how bad your being ripped off! Spend that $$$ on a laptop you could get a nice one for that much money!

It's a matter of what you want the machine to do.  If you want a laptop substitute, the iPad is great.  If you want to read books, play games, and surf Facebook, the Kindle is really all you need.  I have a Kindle Fire (as well as an older e-ink Kindle) and it's perfect for what I use it for- playing games, killing time, surfing the internet when I'm out of the house.  I wouldn't have wanted to spend the $500-700 on an iPad to play Angry Birds, and I'm glad I had an easy other option.

Still.....The Kindle Fire is only $200.......how will the iPad compete with that?  They won't.

I don't need to bash the iPad to speak in favor of the Kindle Fire. Apple priced a lot of people out of the market for an iPad. To me they aren't really competing products. As an iPhone owner I have a favorable impression of Apple products, they're great. But all of their products are WAY overpriced. That being said, if I was willing and able to pay $500 plus for an iPad PLUS pay monthly for data I would have had one a long time ago, no question. But I can't justify that kind of expense for a "nice to have" product. For $199 plus the wi-fi access that I already have, the Fire is perfect. It's a bit slow, but otherwise I love it.

kindle fire is the best bang for your buck hands down!!!! it is more compact and does everything that the i pads do....

I bought a Kindle Fire on Sunday from Walmart.  Did you know that this week they are $199 PLUS you get a $50 Walmart gift card with the purchase!  $149!  A great deal!  And I like the Kindle Fire, very useful.  Enjoying it a lot.

You forgot to mention one important aspect of the iPad 3.  THE PRICE!  The masses want a device they can afford.   Kindle Fire is a device that functions very well for a very low price.   The iPad 3 is a consumer product that functions just as well at a very high price.  The iPad 3 is the $2000 Rolex watch  that is very accurate.  The Kindle Fire is the $29 Timex digital watch that is just as accurate. 

I have been a tech lover and user for years way before it was popular and way before windows. I have more electronics then most people. I own 4 laptops 2 computers taht I built and 4 android phones a wii and a PS3. I do not own a tablet. I love a product that does things and does it well. A tablet is not one of those. A laptop cost  half a IPAD. So what do you get for that price. A CPU that is 5 times slower. a screen that is 70% smaller 1/20th the storage. It is a functionally inferior overpriced product. I know people will say it more mobile but you still need to put it in a bag to keep from damaging it on trips. If the thing was $200 or so ok I might buy it. I am not impressed by the wow factor I am a engineer. I have used my laptops sometimes for design work. You can not do that with a ipad no software and no cpu power even if you did. 3d graphics in design works take lots of RAM and CPUrotating several thousand point with lines in 3d design a ipad is not goig to pull off. I was a nerd in college still pretty much am. I perfer tech that does what it's suppose to do instead of trying to impress people I bought a overpriced toy. The Asus memo is coming soon with a quad core chip and is around $250 runs ICS and I might buy one of those. I can link it to my tv screen when home and have a wireless keyboard and mouse and it would have enough horsepower in the CPU to run things I want. The problem will still be trying to find design software, but since android is linus there is something that might work on it.