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Will Tablet Price War Mean a Larger Amazon Tablet?

Posted by Soulskill on from the well-it-won't-mean-a-smaller-one dept.

An anonymous reader writes "PC Magazine reports that even while Amazon was building their Kindle Fire tablet, it was already planning on a much larger model that 'will be its marquee product and the hopeful cornerstone of its tablet strategy.' Amazon's already begun offering $30 discounts on refurbished 7-inch Kindle Fire tablets, matching last week's new aggressive pricing from Barnes and Noble on their color touchscreen Nook. But PCMag argues that the 7-inch color Kindle was simply a 'beta' release of the larger device to come. 'In no way was Amazon being dishonest with its customers... To be truly fair, many people may never want a screen larger than seven inches because of the associated weight and bulk.' But the author argues that its real purpose may have been as a test run to gather important real-world data for their ultimate war with the iPad. 'After all, as industry insiders joke, all first-generation products, whether hardware or software, are really "beta" programs disguised as initial launches.'"

9 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. I want a larger Kindle Fire by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

    I want a larger Kindle Fire:
    One with a 25" screen, detachable CPU tower, Keyboard, mouse, etc. Oh and it must run Windows so I can code on it.
    If it helps save money they can do away with the touchscreen aspect- I don't need that.

    If they can manage all that then yes- I want a Kindle Fire.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. ipad 3 by vlm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But the author argues that its real purpose may have been as a test run to gather important real-world data for their ultimate war with the iPad

    Correction, ultimate war with the ipad 2. Their new ipad 2 killer will be shipping right about the time the ipad 3 is shipping. Whoops!

    That's the problem with trying to become the new leader by being a really good follower.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:ipad 3 by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You mean like the iPad?

      It's funny how people try to spin things.

      Amazon is the first mover here. What they will or won't do in the future willy likely be determined by the fact that they are a company that has a focus on Books and eBooks.

      They do their own thing. They don't need to be an Apple wannabe.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    2. Re:ipad 3 by wanzeo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, Amazon is most certainly not a follower. I also consider them to be the most honest internet company. Unlike Google, they don't really need to do personally invasive data mining, because they know exactly what you actually buy on Amazon marketplace. The only thing that comes close to advertising from Amazon is product suggestions based upon what you have previously bought. Far more useful and less intrusive than fake drug ads.

      Also, Amazon Web Services is absolutely unmatched. It shocks me that Google has missed the boat so severely in that market, but I guess they were too focused on forcing you to use the cloud through their own services to see the potential of letting people inovate with the underlying technologies.

      The first Kindle came out three years before the first ipad, and while the ipad is obviously far more advanced, both devices are simply following the general trend of portable electronics that has been going for two decades.

  3. I heart brutal competition by peter303 · · Score: 3, Informative

    More quality and lower prices for the rest of us.

  4. "Grandpa, where were you during the Tablet War?" by Picass0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Were you an Android or an Apple?"

  5. Re:"Grandpa, where were you during the Tablet War? by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Were you an Android or an Apple?"

    "I was kindling and frequenly on fire."

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  6. Re:All in favor of a price war by stating_the_obvious · · Score: 4, Interesting

    THe best rumor I've heard so far is that the ipad2 will see a price drop to make it more cost competitive with kindle fire. We'll see in a few days.

  7. Rumor: iPad 2 to be discontinued next Wed by 4phun · · Score: 3, Interesting

    THe best rumor I've heard so far is that the ipad2 will see a price drop to make it more cost competitive with kindle fire. We'll see in a few days.

    It is rumored today Monday Feb 27 that...

    Apple is dropping all models of the iPad 2 next Wednesday except for a single 16 GB iPad 2 WiFi model. That will be the low ball to bring people into Best Buys, Target, Wal-Mart, Sams etc. It may even be for sale in educational channels as part of Apple's new iTextBook agenda.

    Think of this as the 16GB iPad with a huge ten inch iron spike in it to prevent too many from walking out the door. The retail sales people are supposed to 'step' the customer up to a real iPad, the iPad3 in HD, which by the way is going to be significantly more expensive then previous iPad models.

    I think the price jump is seventy or eighty dollars on the low end in todays iPad 3 rumors.

    I think the new price increase will go a long way to give Android tablets some breathing room in the 2012 market. The only problem I have seen is that most of the Android Tablets are still undesirable compared to the iPad ecosystem. Even Amazon is seeing returns of between 25% to 33%.

    Realistically competing tablets still have to sell for less, sometimes a lot less, to move the product in 2012.

    That is simply Google's fault and they appear to be trying to remedy the situation the best they can.