Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) thinks that the unveiling of the Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle Fire could potentially benefit its own iPad tablet. The Amazon Fire tablet could further fragment the fragile Android platform, observed Barclays Capital's Ben Reitzes after sitting down with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer for a chat. 

As reported on Business Insider, Apple views the Amazon Fire as yet another platform that pushes its own Amazon-centric apps, despite the Kindle Fire's compatibility with Android. Disruptive pricing that has reportedly garnered hundreds of thousands of pre-orders aside; Apple's view of the new tablet player is that it could fuel further fragmentation that would serve to drive more consumers to the "stable Apple platform."

Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet was unveiled in late September and will ship Nov. 15. We reported that the Kindle Fire won't run on the tablet-optimized Android Honeycomb and will most certainly not work with the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Views on the impact of the Kindle Fire vary, with some analysts arguing that its low price point is a reflection of what it cannot afford to offer in terms of user experience. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan analyst Douglas Anmuth told eWeek that channel checks have revealed that up to 5 million Kindle Fire units could be sold in Q4 2011 alone.

My opinion is that the success of the Kindle Fire hinges on the overall quality of its integration with the Amazon ecosystem. And given that nobody outside Amazon has yet to bring a Kindle Fire home--or even seen the final product--it is entirely possible for the success of the Kindle Fire to go either way.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at eWeek
- check out this article at Business Insider

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