The Kindle Fire HDX vs The Kobo Vox
Impacts on the Demand and Design of Technology
The Kindle Fire HDX
The Kindle Fire HDX is one of the best tablets you can get right now. A product originally meant for reading has been transformed into a monster of a tablet that rivals apple's own tablets. It is powered by Qualcomm's 2.2Ghz Snapdragon 800 GPU, which is paired with a KRait 400 processor and Adreno 330 GPU. It has a 8.9-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 pixel resolution panel.
And the Competitor
The Kobo Vox
The Kobo Vox looked like much needed competition to the Kindle Fire line. But it had several problems, like a slow sluggish performance and a shorter battery life than the HDX. The Vox did try to take a step out with its "social reading community".
But why is the HDX better?
A Closer Look at the Vox
Kobo wanted a more "social" reading experience, giving the reader the ability to connect to Facebook to like and share pages of books they are reading. This sounds good until you notice the slow speed that pages are turned and the ever common "loading pinwheel". A large part of the comments are about the slow sluggish speed that the Vox loads pages. In addition there is no on device Facebook app, so all interactions are through an opened web page.
But that isn't the only reason the HDX is the superior product
The Kindle Fire HDX lasts longer, has more apps, more books, and more support, but there is still more to making your product successful than being a stronger choice.
The Big Idea
Amazon is not only a bigger company that has been used far more in most of the world. Kobo does have more of its products in use in places in Canada, where Kobo is based, but Amazon's tablets are used far more. Amazon beats Kobo in advertising, the use of the economy, their company goals, and capitalizing on fads.
Advertising
Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX
Amazon has Kobo beat in this category. Before E-readers were a thing Amazon was already a fairly large company who was very well known. They had the money, and a popular site to advertise easily and get their Kindle line ahead of the rest of the game.
Kobo Vox
As a Canadian based company who's goal was to provide competition to Amazon's almost monopoly of the E-reader market, they are doing pretty good. However, they do not have the money and popularity Amazon has to actively compete in the advertising world against them. Kobo does provide an alternate to Amazon if someone is completely against them.
Strength of the Economy
Kindle Fire HDX
As a US based product more people were able to buy Kindle's and get them popular and able to spread. Previous Kindle products had set a standard that the HDX passed and plenty of people were more than happy to buy them in the US and overseas.
Vox
The Vox is based in Canada, and is actually more popular in Canada. The problem arises when the Vox tries to leave Canada. Amazon is far more popular and reliable everywhere else in the world, and Canada's economy doesn't bring in as much money for Vox improvements as the Kindle does.
Company Goals
Amazon
Amazon's goal in the Kindle Fire HDX was to provide a more tablet feel to their ever popular E-readers. They also want to provide a product for people who love to read, but cannot read paper books very well, and to provide easy to access to books without having to travel to a bookstore.
Kobo
Kobo's goal in their Vox was to continue their presence as a alternate to Amazon. They also wanted to add a social aspect to reading by letting people share and like pages and books on Facebook while reading.
Fads
Amazon
Amazon was the first to bring the fad of instant technology to reading books. They then capitalized the fad of everything on one device by making the HDX a more tablet like E-reader than other Kindles had been.
Kobo
Much like Amazon Kobo wanted to provide instant books and to combine functions on one device, but they also tried to capitalize on instant sharing with Facebook connections.
The Verdict
The Kindle Fire HDX was far more successful due to good advertising, a good economy, fads that helped the popularity, and Amazon's ability to accomplish their goals. Kobo failed with the Vox by not advertising, failing to successfully integrate Facebook into the device, and just not being as good as a device as its rivals.