Amazon to bash down Google, Apple with SIX new tablets - report
All sorts of sizes to fight off Galaxy, iPad and new kid Windows 8 RT
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Undeterred by the stumbling of Kindle Fire, Amazon is reported to be preparing even more tablets.
Amazon plans six tablets, ranging in size, but including the 10-inch form factor, which seem to go beyond purely e-reading, Reuters claims.
Its report suggests the tablets will be tied into Amazon’s market, helping it sell more stock from its online warehouse.
IDC in May reported sales of the Kindle Fire had tumbled following strong initial success: the Kindle is now on 4 per cent of the US tablet market down from 16.8 per cent, pushing Amazon’s reader behind Apple's iPad and the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy units.
The analyst said that Samsung had taken advantage of people falling out of love with the Kindle Fire, with an upswing in Galaxy slab sales.
IDC added that the problem for Amazon, and others, was that their tablets were priced too high.
Currently, the Kindle Fire sells for $199 and comes with a 7-inch display, 8GB storage, Wi-Fi and the ability to view and surf the web, send and receive email and – yes – buy and read books from the Amazon store.
Reports of the new Kindles arrive against the backdrop of Microsoft's expected October release of Windows 8 RT tablets – including e-readers – which will run on the ARM chip set.
Microsoft has kept its Windows RT plans close to its chest, but executives have let slip a reader running this touch-friendly version of Windows 8 is coming.
Amazon, meanwhile, appears to have managed to poach a few execs from Microsoft’s Windows Phone team over the past few months. At least one is working on product management for the Kindle software on first- and third-party devices. ®
COMMENTS
@ lemmac
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Hmmm, sounds just like a pc... i'm sure they were quite successful. That was back in the days when software was called software though so i guess its only 'apps' that face the problem you mention?
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No, I think the problem is that some script kiddies that call themselves developers can't be bothered to make flexible software.
And they don't need to, either: I've come to the conclusion that the "walled garden" is what the majority of people really want. They don't want to adjust their screens, their memory, install GPS drivers or such. They want a thing that works.
Even better would be a thing that works by itself:
My proposal is the iLifeTunePodPad.
Here's what you have to do: After you buy it in the Apple store, your banking info will be stored with the AppleBank who easily and without need of your time will transfer all money movements to your new AppleCount. There is no need for new credit cards, as payments will mostly be to AppleFiliate companies anyway and anything else is not really needed. The rent for your ApplePartment will automatically be paid and adjusted as well as your Utts (these used to be utilities, like water, electricity, gas), which are now supplied through the UttStore.
The iLifeTunePodPad will wake you in the morning to go to work at the right time, will send the right messages at the right occasion to the right friends, and mark photos of the child that you will have with your iPartner correctly with the right name: Steve or Stephanie. With its built-in body monitor it will also inform the right people to start the correct recycling procedure at the end of your usefulness.
People would love it! As long as someone tells them to, that is...
What puzzles me
Is why anyone would buy anything, any time, which ties you to one particular retailer.
Never was 'if you can't take it to bits, if you can't choose the application to modify your data, you don't own it' more true.
But then, I'm the sort of zealot who isn't interested even in Android - gimme a Linux I can use and a decent language to write my own applications. Perhaps I'm not the target audience?
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