The founder of Apple and the person who changed the world has died.
I first knew about Steve Jobs when I watched the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley back in 2001 (almost exactly 10 years ago). I liked the film so much that since then I have watched it again countless times. I was immediately deeply inspired by the personality of Steve Jobs and since then I have followed any news related to Steve Jobs closely.
Needless to say, it’s a big loss for the world. People like Steve Jobs are rare and we were lucky to have such a visionary person living among us. It’s fascinating to read his story, specially the part when he returned to Apple when it was in a really bad shape and transformed it into one of the top companies in the world, to the extent that Apple products got out of its small niche status to mainstream and became one of the most desirable products ever. I mean seriously, who doesn’t want an iPAD, or Macbook Air, or iPhone?
And then when Apple was at its peak, he left the world quietly, as if his job was complete and it was time to move on.
Goodbye Steve Jobs. You will be remembered for what you did, and what you stood for.
This is my take on the recently launched tablet device by Amazon called Kindle Fire.
Why Amazon Did This
The first question one might ask is that why Amazon, primarily known for selling books, has entered the world of tablet devices, in the presence of giants like Apple and Samsung.
To answer that, let me clarify that Amazon is no more just a book selling company. It has slowly turned into a company that sells all forms of content, from books to music to videos to e-books and audio books to mobile (android) applications and cloud-based applications. Currently Amazon is offering streaming videos, mp3 store, kindle books, electronic magazines and newspapers, android applications and games through their website, all within Amazon boundaries. Plus they are offer cloud based storage to store all your digital content.
Not to mention the huge inventory of other electronic devices, apparel, and pretty much everything that amazon sells on their website.
Like all other media companies, Amazon has to ensure maximum people are using Amazon products and buying their stuff from Amazon, in order to maximize their profits. With so much content in the offerings, it’s only natural to need so many customers to access all that content.
To best way to achieve that is to come up with a media consumption device which makes it easy and painless to integrate everything amazon has to offer, along with other standard features that are common on mobile devices.
And that’s how Amazon came up with Kindle Fire.
Kindle Fire is the one-stop device to access all-things-amazon, from e-books to movies, in a seamless fashion. Add a fully functional web browser and you don’t need any other device to access the internet. It gets even better by availability of plethora of applications through Amazon Android App Store. This is all backed up by Amazon Cloud Storage so you have practically unlimited storage to keep your books, music and videos collection. You really don’t need to go elsewhere for most of your content related needs.
So that’s the motivation behind Kindle Fire and why Amazon jumped into the tablet race.
Why It Will Sell
And the reason why Amazon will be successful in selling this device is because of its price.
The launch price of Kindle Fire is $199. Now that’s a killer price. In the long run this might go down but even now there is no other device in the market which is even close to this price. And it make sense for Amazon to sell Kindle Fire at this price because they want to sell as many of these as possible. Every Kindle Fire sold will result in hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars of additional revenue to Amazon by giving people access to other Amazon services which of course cost extra. One small example is Amazon Prime. If you are a loyal Amazon customer there is no reason you shouldn’t subscribe to Amazon Prime. Some of the benefits include free 2-day shipping (which is charged extra for non-prime customers), and unlimited streaming videos. So if buying a Kindle Fire means you submit to Amazon ecosystem then first thing Amazon would expect from you is to become Amazon Prime member. That’s $79 a year. If half of Kindle Fire users buy Amazon Prime and if Amazon ends up selling many millions of these then just imagine the additional revenue it will bring.
So the introductory price of $199 makes perfect sense. At that price Kindle Fire will take the tablet market by storm. And Amazon content delivery system is mature enough to provide a complete experience to the users without looking outside of Amazon Ecosystem.
I am very excited about Kindle Fire. I might even buy it, after figuring out how to access Amazon content from UAE.
I am about to leave for Thailand for a 2-week vacation.
Thailand is a place I always wanted to visit for a long long time and finally I got a chance now. The itinerary includes 1 week in Phuket and 1 week in Bangkok.
Everyone here gets excited by something. Something that brings spark to their eyes, something they can talk about for hours and hours without getting bored, something they follow very closely. Some people are passionate about cars, some about aviation, and some about cooking, and so on. If there is no single topic, or area of interest, or an object that drives you, then in my opinion your life is pretty boring.
So what excites me? I am not a huge follower of automobile industry, neither am I passionate about world politics or current affairs, nor am I that interested in sports. But there is something that I follow with great interest, and slight movement in that area gets me excited.
I am pretty passionate about IT industry, the news related to IT industry, and latest products and technologies in IT. More specifically, I love keeping track of mobile communication technologies, so I can talk hours and hours about recent acquisitions by Google and Microsoft in order to gain leadership in mobile communications. I closely follow latest developments in Android and iOS (yes, both at the same time and I love both platforms, though I do advocate one over other depending on what time of year it is, but I digress), and I get super excited when Samsung announces latest addition to their galaxy line of products or when apple releases a new version of iPhone/iPad/iOS.
So there. I said it. It might not be that big of a deal to some, just like I don’t get care much about latest models of BMW or Audi, or who’s going to win the next soccer league.
I think it’s pretty amazing how fast the mobile tech world is making progress and I can’t just stay out of touch.
Now it’s your turn. You tell me what gets you excited.
There two kinds of people, those who have enough money to buy anything at any price, and those who try to save every penny by finding bargains.
Fortunately for the second kind of people, Dubai has a lot to offer (needless to say there are plenty of options for the first kind as well). Below is a list of online and offline sources where you can find great deals in Dubai guaranteed to save you money whenever you decide to spend it.
Entertainer Book
The first and foremost and probably the oldest source of getting hot deals in Dubai (and rest of UAE) is through Entertainer books. The concept is already well established in USA, where you purchase a book full of discount coupons which can be used at various outlets. The cost of the book might seem a bit high but after using the coupons a few times it pays for itself and then the savings start. Last year, we purchased the Entertainer Family book and ended up saving thousands in dining out, theme parks, and fast food. Plus it gave us more options to explore the city by selecting something from the book and trying it out.
Online Deals
What might probably give the Entertainer Books a run for its money are the online deals offered on countless websites with new ones appearing like mushrooms every day. Here is how it works. A deal is posted online for a specific time period (usually 24-hours) and users are invited to purchase the deal online. Once a specific number of people purchase the deal, it becomes valid and everyone receives the coupon via email, which can then be used at the outlet offering the deal. The deals usually offer discounts of more than 50% which is what makes them very attractive.
So, below are some of the online deal websites catering to Dubai (and UAE). As mentioned there are a lot more out there but below just a few which I use and are probably the best.
So go ahead and sign up with the below websites. You are guaranteed to save some money.
I have been a forward looking person all my life. I always think about future and avoid wasting time living in past other than learning from my experiences and applying the lessons to make the future better.
But today I find myself stopping for a minute and recollecting the last 10 years of my life. Maybe because I noticed that we are in year 2011 which marks the start of a new decade, and that took me back in time to start of the last decade, which was also the start of a new century.
I know it took me 5 months of the year 2011 to reach that realization, which tells how deeply involved I have become in passing days that I barely notice changing months and years.
So the year 2001 started a new phase of my life. That’s when I left the comfort of my home and the company of my parents and family to pursue my dream of studying in America. Little did I know at that time that 10 years later in the year 2011 I would be sitting in my comfortable home in Dubai and thinking about that life changing moment. And now, at this instance, I am trying to imagine how things would be after 10 years from now, in the year 2021, and I have no idea. Just like I had never thought 10 years ago that I would end up working and living in Dubai, I can’t think where would I be and what would I be doing after 10 years. You don’t think about these things. You just deal with stuff as it comes your way and fate takes you wherever you are destined to go. So 10 years from now if this blog is still alive and if I am still in my senses I might write here again thinking about the past 10 years.
But for now all I can say is that I have no complains in life and I am most grateful to The Creator for giving me everything that I have. Of course there is this thirst and quest for more but that doesn’t mean I am not satisfied with what I have already achieved.
So here’s to another 10 years of life, 10 years of ups and downs, and hopefully 10 years of progress and prosperity.
