Today, Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire, marking their first foray into the iPad-dominated tablet industry. With a price tag of $199, the Kindle Fire will have a 7-inch display, will weigh 14.6 ounces (413 grams), and will hit the shelves on November 15. Customers can pre-order the device, and reserve their place in line at Amazon.com right now.

What it has

The Kindle Fire does offer several significant features. It has a dual-core processor and will run on Android, but with a revamped and user-friendly interface, that it won't look like Google's OS is behind it. In addition, users will be able to enjoy over 18 million books, magazines, movies, songs, and apps with the tablet. Its battery life roughly translates into 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Amazon is also promising to make Internet surfing a breeze, with its built-in browser, Amazon Silk that uses cached content on the device and on the web in order to predict users browsing habits and make web surfing faster. In terms of storage, the new Kindle has 8 GB in it, and according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, most of the content will be backed up in the cloud, for free. As a bonus, the Kindle Fire will come with a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, the online retail giant's premium service that provides streaming video and two-day shipping.

What it lacks

First and foremost, the new tablet isn't 3G capable. I know. Bummer, right? Aside from lacking extended connectivity, the Kindle Fire also doesn't have some of the key features of high-end tablets, including a camera, a microphone, and as previously mentioned, it will only have a 7" display. However, according Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., Amazon isn't really competing with Apple right now, and mentioned that "the price point is the headline rather than the functionality." I suppose that makes sense.

What about the iPad?

When it comes to the discussion of tablets, it's difficult not to bring up the iPad. It's not that I want to take away Amazon's thunder, but this needs to be said. The Kindle Fire is dwarfed by the iPad in practically all levels: Display size (the iPad has 9.7" as compared to Fire's 7"), storage (8GB is puny compared to the iPad's 16, 32, and 64GB), and of course, price (a Kindle Fire can be yours for only $199, which is less than half of Apple's cheapest tablet which costs $499).

So to echo what Sebastian said about this new device, if you're wondering if this will be the one that can compete with the iPad head on, the answer is an unequivocal no. But that doesn't mean that the Kindle Fire won't sell like hotcakes. It's lightweight, inexpensive, and has a huge library of books, movies, apps, music, and TV shows. For a price tag of $199, I believe that a lot of people will still be clamoring for it. Besides, this is just the beginning. Amazon won't stop at the Kindle Fire. There will definitely be updates, added features, and hopefully, they'll be able to produce something that will actually make iPad users have a second look.