Amazon is expected to debut its first tablet PC, the 7-inch Kindle Fire, for launch in November 2011 soon, but the new tablet will not be able to shake up the already firm market status of iPad 2. However, based on Amazon's content resources and its low price, the Fire may bring competitive impact to non-iPad tablet PCs, according to industry sources.
Since the Kindle Fire will be priced at US$250, only half of that of iPad 2, already some market watchers are optimistic about Amazon's new device and expect its quarterly sales to reach three million units.
The Kindle Fire adopts Android 2.2 with a CPU from Texas Instruments and will only feature Wi-Fi support. The device will share a similar look as RIM's PlayBook and will support Amazon's Android app store to provide multimedia content and applications.
Sources from notebook players also pointed out that with Hewlett-Packard (HP) quitting the tablet PC market and RIM, Motorola, Acer and Samsung Electronics all suffering from weak sales indications are that non-Apple tablet PC players are currently facing difficulties to create innovation to compete against Apple. If players only try to compete through a low price strategy, they may all soon suffer defeat.
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
