At a press conference in New
York, Amazon launched the Kindle Fire, a tablet with a seven-inch nice screen,
free data storage in the cloud and a new Internet browser called Amazon Silk.
Shipments for the Fire will start Nov. 15.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also
released the Kindle Touch, an e-reader with no buttons and a touch screen
starting at $99, along with one with cellular network access that will cost
$149 and a basic Kindle e-reader at a new price of $79.
"We've now reached the
magical two-digit price point for Kindle-twice: the new Kindle and Kindle Touch
are only $79 and $99. Kindle Touch 3G is the new top of the line e-reader with
free 3G—no monthly fees or annual contracts—and is only $149," Bezos said.
"Kindle Fire brings together all of the things we've been working on at
Amazon for over 15 years into a single, fully-integrated service for
customers."
"These are premium
products at no premium prices," Bezos said. "We are going to sell
millions of these."
Experts expected the tablet
to be priced around $250, roughly half the price of Apple’s dominant iPad,
which starts at $499. The Nook Color e-reader costs $249.
Having its own tablet is
important for Amazon because the company has amassed a mountain of digital
goods and services that could be sold through such a device.
As the world's largest
Internet retailer, a tablet might also encourage Amazon customers to shop
online for physical products more often.
Breaking into the tablet
market will be difficult. Companies including Hewlett Packard , Motorola
Mobility, Samsung and Research in Motion Unavailable have each launched tablets
but none have taken a bite out of Apple's lead.
Apple dominates the North
American tablet market, with 80 percent of the 7.5 million units shipped during
the second quarter of 2011, according to Strategy Analytics. Many have tried to
copy its success, but so far, the iPad is the only really successful product in
the tablet market. Apple sold 28.7 million of them from April 2010 to June
2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment