Tuesday,

Tuesday, Amazon will untie the bow on its long-anticipated iPad competitor, the Kindle Fire. While no company to date has been able to make so much as a dent in Apple's iron grip on the tablet market, Amazon isn't your everyday manufacturer, and the Kindle Fire isn't your average tablet. Unlike Motorola, Samsung, HTC and every other major company to rush an iPad clone onto store shelves, Amazon took its time — and perhaps most importantly, it opted to rethink what consumers might really need in a tablet, playing to the iPad's few weaknesses. Instead of rehashing the winning appeal of Apple's wonder slate, Amazon took its winning e-reader formula and applied it to a more tablet-like device. So what does the Amazon Kindle Fire have to offer that the ubiquitous iPad doesn't? Read on — you might be surprised.

1. Unbeatable price
If Apple knows how to build a gadget to make it irresistible, Amazon knows how to price one. The iPad's universal appeal is no secret, but its starting price of $499 still leaves budget-minded buyers in the lurch. That's quite a chunk of change to throw down for what many consumers are sure to consider something of an experiment in computing — and Amazon is well aware of that. At an astoundingly low $199, the Fire is less