Amazon Launches $199 ‘Kindle Fire’ Tablet, Traditional Kindles Starting at $79
Kindle Fire
Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, unveiled its Kindle Fire tablet computer, taking aim at Apple’s bestselling iPad with a device that’s smaller and less than half the price.
The Kindle Fire will have a 7-inch display and sell for $199, compared with $499 for Apple’s cheapest iPad, Amazon executives said in interviews with Bloomberg Businessweek.
The device, a souped-up version of the Kindle electronic-book reader, will run on Google’s Android software
Amazon also introduced a touch-screen version of its e-reader, to be called Kindle Touch.
Kindle Touch
Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is betting he can leverage Amazon’s dominance in e-commerce to pose a real challenge to Apple’s iPad, after tablets from rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion have fallen short.
Brian Blair says, an analyst at Wedge Partners Corp. in New York.
Sales of Amazon’s electronic books, movies and music on the device may help make up for the narrower profit margins that are likely to result from the low price
Previous rumors had suggested that Amazon would price the Kindle Fire at $249, although sources had hedged in recent days that the device might come in at $299. The Kindle Fire offers Wi-Fi connectivity and a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, the company’s $79/year service that offers streaming video and free two-day shipping on most items purchased through Amazon. The tablet does not offer 3G connectivity, camera, or microphone.
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has shown off three new Kindle models, starting with a new touch-capable version known as the Kindle Touch and priced at $99. A 3G-capable version with lifetime 3G service in over 100 countries is priced at $149. Finally, Bezos has shown off the low-end $79 Kindle, which forgoes touch input and relies on physical buttons for input. – Bezos introducing the Kindle Fire: 7-inch IPS display, dual-core processor, 14.6 ounces. Hub for integrating Amazon Kindle, Prime, Instant Video, MP3, Appstore, and Web Services offerings on a single platform. All content is backed up to the cloud…wireless and in the background. Whispersync now works for books, movies, and TV shows, allowing users to pick up where they left off when they switch devices.
Kindle Family
“Amazon Silk” web browser. Rendering performed in the cloud and delivered to Kindle Fire…greatly improves speed of mobile web browsing. “Dynamic Split Browsing” allows a device to render content locally or in the cloud, intelligently offloading tasks to the cloud to optimize performance.
Amazon Silk Browser
