Cancelled my Fire pre-order and ordered a Nook Tablet. The extra $50 is worth it for the microphone and extra storage.
Amazon is selling a product (at a discount on cost) that is aimed to lock you into the Amazon experience. While I like the Amazon experience, I also like to give my older technology away and the microphone (Skype/VOIP) and extra storage will be much more valuable in a few years.
Personally, I think the most tempting 7" is still the HTC Flyer, which is now marked down to $299. It has a digitizer and a $40 stylus is available, which makes it much more useful for notetaking than any of the other alternatives, including the iPad (in my opinion anyway).
Combine that with the basic 7" premise of a small, light reading device and it seems like an all-around win for users with that particular set of needs.
Amazon is selling a product (at a discount on cost) that is aimed to lock you into the Amazon experience. While I like the Amazon experience, I also like to give my older technology away and the microphone (Skype/VOIP) and extra storage will be much more valuable in a few years.