Ok, I submit, I will get the reader only and wait for it to be properly available in europe. 8gb is not enough with no memory storage or anything like that. Going to get 3g also, as want it for holidays and train mostly. Couldn't be limited to just downloading from one location.
I'll be honest and the more I look into the Fire, the less convinced I am about it.
From what I can see marketing this as a tablet might be a bit of a push. It's essentially a vending machine for Amazon's services. That's great if you use Amazon a lot, but given that many of these services are not available in Ireland yet, you're still getting a fancy e-book reader that isn't as useable as the standard Kindles.
While it's running on Android, it's Amazon's own developed Android. That's going to be great for its internet services (though I must say, there are privacy issues with this that would have people up in arms if it were Google), but I can't see there being much if any support for Android apps other than Amazon's.
The last concern is a bit of a long winded one, but it's the price. It's too cheap. Amazon must be selling this at a loss, which is fine. So I suspect that they're either hoping to make up that loss with purchases through the Fire. The problem is that the iPad and Iphone show that the app store and itunes, while hugely successful, just about break even each year. Apple's profits come from the sales of the machines.
Xboxes and Playstations are sold at a loss to start and then the companies make money back through Games and peripherals to start. But all games machines are 10 year products, so within a few years they have mastered the manufacturing and eventually can do it cheaper thereby making a profit on the machines. Microsoft is only just starting to make a profit on the xbox.
The problem for Amazon is that Apple and others will bring out new, better, tablets at least every 18 months. If Amazon are hoping the Fire (a rushed product as it is) is going to be on the market for a few years to start making a profit, it'll be outdated very quickly.
It looks nice, but I think it really should be seen as a vending machine for buying from Amazon. If that's how you shop and you use kindle, then I don't see why this won't be a good buy. If you're after just an ereader, then I'd say just go for the kindle. If you're after a tablet, I'd say go for one of the others.