There was a lot of negative buzz in press over the past few days about the Kindle Fire and now that buzz has turned into scorching criticism. Jakob Nielsen, one of the world’s foremost experts on usability, issued an alert saying that “Kindle Fire…suffers from plain old bad UI design in many areas” and “a disappointingly poor user experience”.

The NYTimes prominently covered the issues saying that Amazon is having some real challenges with the Fire in an article that went straight to the number one spot on the Times’ Most Emailed List. In it, the Times cautioned all the naysayers not to count Amazon out, but nonetheless described the problems in detail and raised red flags for consumers.

We should not forget that while there was plenty of criticism of the iPhone when it came out (remember no ‘copy/paste’?) or the iPad (‘who needs it…’) it was first to market; and the sheer wonder of the new was enough to help people over the hump.

The Kindle Fire competes with the iPad, despite Amazon’s insistence that it doesn’t…I personally can’t see myself owing the Fire AND an iPad AND a Kindle eReader….I will choose one eReader and one tablet. And though Fire might be cheaper…given that it is not functionally on par with the iPad…I choose the iPad as my tablet.

Amazon, an inspiring company on many many levels, should have made sure that its product was perfect. It didn’t and the Fire’s future is not clear.

And here’s an update to this blog…a followup article in the NY Times.

So what is the dilemma you’re asking?

Well I think it’s actually a dilemma that a lot of people have right now…a seminal zeitgeist dilemma!…

I lost my kindle – my favorite ebook reader (see previous post) – And now what do I do?

Do I buy another kindle? Or do I splurge and get myself an iPad?
I mean it’s not like I have a deficit of devices… and I am kind of a contrarian…this post is being written on the android nexus one after all, not on an iPhone.

But there’s something very tempting about that  beautiful thing…that iPad…clearly that’s where Steve Jobs has it totally right: it’s all about desire not about need (wasn’t that the question everyone asked at the launch – ‘who needs this thing?’  – ‘what’s it good for?’).

Desire for beauty, desire for the new, desire for more, desire for change, desire for image…because in reality I don’t think I really need an ipad… I’ve got a great macbook pro;  I’ve got the nexus one;  I have a blackberry; I have a mac mini at home and I had a kindle… till Thursday…

How many devices does one man need?

All I need to do is replace my kindle…right?  And it’s a third of the price of the iPad…so in the battle between reasons and desire who will win?
So you tell me.. the heart or the mind? Form or function? Beauty or the beast? A kindle or an iPad?

You choose!