So I know a couple of people with iPad’s, and I’ve looked at their lives pre-iPad and post-iPad and can honestly say that is has not changed their lives. While they have it and use it, it is far from ideal. It’s playing in some sort of middle ground and trying to be something it’s really not. Money issues aside, why would you buy an iPad when a Macbook Air would offer you a far superior user experience on the go? Sure, people love the iPad because they can read magazines and newspapers on it. And therein lies the problem…the iPad is trying to sell itself as a bit of everything, but it’s not a computer at all.

To me, the Kindle Fire is what the iPad should have been. It doesn’t have 3G connection, but at the prices that you get charged for mobile data (In South Africa at least), do you really need 3G? Like really? Most restaurants and coffee shops have Wi-Fi connections anyway, and if they don’t, well they soon will.  How often is 3G vitally important, are you Donald Trump and need to access e-mails while you’re sitting in the back of a limo? I doubt it. As I always say, work can wait until you’re back at the office, you don’t need to be connected all day. In any case, your e-mails are probably coming to your phone.

Thankfully with the Kindle Fire, you also have access to your e-mails, should you be someone who needs to feel busy all day.

For me though, the Kindle Fire is meant to do one thing well, and that is deliver content into your hands. When I’m at home and I want to read things, I need to go sit at my computer. But it’s much better if I can sit at the pool, getting drunk, while reading stuff and being connected to the Wi-Fi connection. Laptops are too bulky for this. The Kindle Fire is simple a content source. And sure, the iPad can do more, but do you really need everything it does? In an ideal world, you’d have a desktop computer or a laptop. A Macbook Pro can accomplish everything that a desktop can, and if you need a bigger screen for when you’re at home, connect it up to one. So that can function as your home computer as well as a mobile one. And then you’ll have a Kindle Fire for simply having content on the go, without the bulk of a laptop. You also get free storage in the Amazon Cloud, so there is no need to have a massive hard drive on it. The Cloud…it’s the way to go.

Too often we buy into the marketing of products, and some people think they need a desktop computer, a netbook or something like a Macbook Air, and then an iPad. You don’t need it all, just simplify your life. I have deactivated e-mails on my Blackberry. Why? Because I don’t need to reply to e-mails when I’m at the shop, or away from the computer. This constant connectivity is making people crazy. For me, work happens when I’m sitting down at a computer. If things are really urgent, people can SMS me. SMS me first, and if we need to talk, a plan for a phone call can be made. And if you’re so busy that you need to reply to e-mails while you’re having a relaxed lunch at a restaurant, well then you shouldn’t be out for lunch anyway! And if you’re going away for a weekend, enjoy the weekend fully instead of checking your e-mails constantly. Experience life right now, instead of always thinking ‘work’ Chill out. Everything can wait. What are you, the president? Wait, that was a stupid thing to say, they have slaves to check their e-mails.

In short, this is why the Amazon Kindle is the perfect choice:

It’s trying to accomplish one thing. And that is to be an on the go source of content.

It’s affordable. At $200, it’s within the price range that nearly everyone can afford.

It’s compact.

And that’s it really, it’s all about simplicity. People will always say ‘But the Apple app store is better’ or ‘My iPad can do more’

But it’s all about cutting your life down into the essentials. Here is the Kindle Fire advert:

We’ll end off with a little something from Bruce Lee, on simplicity:

In JKD, one does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity. Before I studied the art, a punch to me was just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick no longer a kick. Now that I’ve understood the art, a punch is just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. The height of cultivation is really nothing special. It is merely simplicity; the ability to express the utmost with the minimum. It is the halfway cultivation that leads to ornamentation. Jeet Kune-Do is basically a sophisticated fighting style stripped to its essentials.

Kindle Fire is going to be awesome.

Click here for more information on the Kindle Fire over at Amazon.com