That marco review is pure bs.
I like how you went out and found a couple of the most hostile reviews you could find to post here. Leave it to the "fanboys" of a manufacturer to point out how everyone else's stuff is pure junk and to be "apologist's" related to the manufacturer they're a fan of.
As a current MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook, iPad, TC, multiple iPhones, iPod and have owned an AppleTV... I won't even go into the other electronics I own (&/or have owned) by manufacturers other than Apple, I'd have to say I'm anything but "a severe cheapskate".
I guess you missed the following reviews since obviously you were only looking for reviews that back "your own" pre-disposed supposition that there can't possibly be anyone out there that could want a device that does less than what "you" need/want a device to do.
Review: Kindle Fire a worthwhile bargain - CNN.com
The overall software experience is pleasant and integrated from top to bottom... The Kindle Fire is a good entertainment device at a price that's truly unbelievable.
Even the negative reviewers have things like the following to say:
Amazon Kindle Fire Review - IGN
It’s all just one streamlined digital consumer experience that Apple, Google and others could learn from.
That's the same thought process of those that were ballyhooing against iPad because it doesn't do what a notebook does and then sat by and watched as it sold millions. Now "some" of the iPad crowd want to take up the same sort of ballyhooing about any device that doesn't do what the iPad does at 40% of the price of an iPad. Boo hoo is all I can say.
Someone looking for an iPad quite simply would
"not" be looking at the Kindle Fire. Nor has Amazon ever suggested it is anything remotely similar to an iPad.
Those looking at the Fire are those that are also looking at the Kindle, B&N readers, Sony readers and want one in color. There are tons of people buying just such devices and not the latest iPad and other tablets.
Whether the Fire is a winner is yet to be seen. And I have yet to play with it enough to have come to any decision much less write up anything related to my likes and dislikes. But, we shall see. I can right now say again, that marco review is pure bs. Is he on Apple's payroll?
(edit: Guess I'll take back that anyone looking for an iPad would not be looking at the Fire since that's where this thread started out and modify it to: Anyone that's done any research at all as to what the 2 devices are designed to do would not be looking at the Fire in lieu of an iPad.)