New Amazon Kindle Fire will push price of current model to $149 - report

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Amazon is expected to release a new 7-inch Kindle Fire with a higher resolution screen for $199, which would push the current model to an even lower price of $149, according to a new report.

Citing sources in the upstream supply chain, DigiTimes reported on Friday that Amazon is "considering launching" a new lineup of Kindle e-book readers and tablets at the start of the third quarter of calendar 2012. Among those products is said to be a new 7-inch Kindle Fire with a screen resolution of 1,280 by 800 pixels, priced at $199.

That could prompt Amazon to sell another 7-inch model with similar specifications to the existing Kindle Fire, including an identical screen resolution of 1,024 by 600, at a price of $149. The new, less expensive Kindle Fire is seen by insiders as an attempt by Amazon to expand its market share.

Amazon was previously said to have been working on larger Kindle Fire models withs screen sizes of 8.9 inches and 10.1 inches that would be launched early this year. But Friday's report indicated those plans have changed, alleging that Amazon has halted development of the 8.9-inch model, while the 10.1-inch variety is said to be scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 or the first quarter of 2013.



When it debuted late last year, the Kindle Fire got off to a strong start, and became the No. 2 most popular selling tablet, behind only Apple's market dominating iPad. But demand for the Kindle Fire quickly collapsed, as customer satisfaction with Amazon's low-priced device was about half that of Apple's third-generation iPad, according to a survey from ChangeWave research released earlier this month.

Beyond the Kindle Fire, Amazon also reportedly plans to release a new 6-inch e-ink-based Kindle reader with an integrated backlight in the third quarter of 2012 at the earliest. Other e-book readers of other sizes are also said to be in the works for release later this year.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member


    Danger here.

  • Reply 2 of 36
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member


    All from a company built on 1.5% profit margins. Amazon is a house of cards.  If the wind shifts slightly, they are going to have massive losses


     


    Simply turning the AC on in their warehouses has meaningful impact to their bottom line /s  

  • Reply 3 of 36
    gwlaw99gwlaw99 Posts: 134member


    With Asus and Google coming out with much faster dual core 720p models for $199, I am not sure why anyone who wants a 7" Android tablet would buy a much slower, lower resolution product for $150.  I assume that the new $199 Kindle will be much faster as well and maybe higher resolution as well.  $99 would be a better price for this.

  • Reply 4 of 36
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,631member
    Loss leaders that require users to consume more to break even financially are high risk.

    Even apple doesn't try lowering its margins (too much) to gain even more market share because it is clobbering the competition in market share AND being profitable at the same time. Instead, they innovate and invent things we wish existed (like 2048x1536 iPad displays or 2880x1800 MBP displays).

    And people say that Apple is just industry standard parts in a pretty package.
  • Reply 5 of 36
    captain jcaptain j Posts: 313member


    Wow, new crap at the same price and old crap at a lower price. Of course most people don't buy crap.....

  • Reply 6 of 36
    originalgoriginalg Posts: 383member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Eriamjh View Post



    Loss leaders that require users to consume more to break even financially are high risk.

    Even apple doesn't try lowering its margins (too much) to gain even more market share because it is clobbering the competition in market share AND being profitable at the same time. Instead, they innovate and invent things we wish existed (like 2048x1536 iPad displays or 2880x1800 MBP displays).

    And people say that Apple is just industry standard parts in a pretty package.


     


    Don't give Apple too much credit here. It's unlikely they invented those displays. They may have specified they wanted in displays by providing specifications and manufacturers responded with what they can do at what price, or the opposite, manufacturers said they can make these kinds of displays at a certain price and Apple snapped them up. Apple may be leveraging their purchasing power and may be the only company that can order enough of these units that everyone in the supply chain can make a little bit of money. As soon as the manufacturers get the process going and are able to mass produce them at a cheaper cost, you'll see more and more machines with similar high-density displays. In this aspect, Apple is in a way an industry parts bin re-packager, but they are the ones that push the latest technology forward because they have the money and the guts to do so.

  • Reply 7 of 36


    Fire sale.


     


    They're just putting a positive spin on it, that's all. (When/if they start to report actual sales numbers, they'll gain more credibility).

  • Reply 8 of 36
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    [QUOTE]The new, less expensive Kindle Fire is seen by insiders as an attempt by Amazon to expand its market share.[/QUOTE]

    Wow. What a stunning ploy. Hats off to the geniuses who figured that one out.
  • Reply 9 of 36
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Next stop, they'll come free with every purchase over $100!
  • Reply 10 of 36
    scartartscartart Posts: 201member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by OriginalG View Post


     


    Don't give Apple too much credit here. It's unlikely they invented those displays. They may have specified they wanted in displays by providing specifications and manufacturers responded with what they can do at what price, or the opposite, manufacturers said they can make these kinds of displays at a certain price and Apple snapped them up. Apple may be leveraging their purchasing power and may be the only company that can order enough of these units that everyone in the supply chain can make a little bit of money. As soon as the manufacturers get the process going and are able to mass produce them at a cheaper cost, you'll see more and more machines with similar high-density displays. In this aspect, Apple is in a way an industry parts bin re-packager, but they are the ones that push the latest technology forward because they have the money and the guts to do so.



    I think a lot of credit should go to Apple. Clearly they aren't component manufacturers and so have to rely on others but they are the ones driving these big leaps forward. In an industry where there's an if it's good enough that will do attitude it is nice to see somebody making progress. Display technology in notebooks hasn't really changed in years, and any slight increase in resolution was created just to beat somebody else on a spec sheet rather than actual giving benefit to the consumer. Apple has always had the approach that they don't do things just because they can or it is technically possible, there needs to be a real benefit to the end user, and equally they won't put out something that isn't up to their standard because it's the easy option.

  • Reply 11 of 36


    AMZN should just make it out of silly putty -- and let the user stretch it to any size he wants.

  • Reply 12 of 36
    sandyfsandyf Posts: 42member


    Apple is indeed driving tech forward and taking the risks and/or rewards. Even when they were at the brink, SJ put it on the line with see-through colored iMac enclosures---vs blah beige. May not sound like much today, but then it turned the industries heads. If indeed Samsung & LG are the component manufacturers of the retina display, and Samsung is a direct competitor to boot, why didn't they launch first?


     


    Most large companies typically play a conservative role and let smaller companies take the risk and when it's proven viable, swoop in and either buy them out or copy their ideas and out muscle them with entrenched distribution channels, sales and marketing. Apple is still operating with entrepreneurial vigor--in spite of their massive size! And for that, along with choosing NOT to cut corners or lead by eliminating components, they deserve all the credit due.     

  • Reply 13 of 36
    umrk_labumrk_lab Posts: 550member


    Sometimes I wonder whether the existence of this low end tablets market is not a benediction for Apple, because :


     


    1) all actors on this sector will kill themselves, by competing on price, as it is the case on the PC market. None of them will be able to get a decent profit margin, enabling any innovation


     


    2) the users of those tablets (and , even more important, their kids) will be heavily frustrated, and will regard Apple products a a dream to reach for the future


     


    3) this "competition" will enable Apple to avoid being regarded as an almost monopolistic actor on this market

  • Reply 14 of 36
    luxom3luxom3 Posts: 96member


    You guys are missing the point... put it this way...


     


    1. USAGE TYPE


    You travel, have kids, play some games, read books, watch movies, listen to music - the average tablet user right?


     


    You walk into an Apple store and the price you see to do these things on an iPad is $499. 


    You then walk into a Best Buy and see two models Kindle Fire from Amazon for $149 and $199. You like the $149 because the 7" size is easier to travel with.


     


    After doing some research you find it all boils down - feature for feature to the processor and cam. You analyze your habits and find you won't be using a cam as you already have one on your phone and when demoing, the processor / response time of the units were comparable.


     


    You question if $350 is enough to invest in an iPad versus Kindle fire.


     


    Personally - I OWN an iPad, but after reviewing my usage types (all of the above)... the $300 premium I paid over a Kindle well... I'd rather had gotten the Kindle at this point.


     


    2. WINDOWS 8 COMING IN THE FALL

    As much as Apple fans dismiss Microsoft... Windows 8 IS going to be THE mobile platform that rivals iOS6. It has a faster feeling UI, is hardware agnostic, and it integrates with Microsoft products like the XBOX and Windows PCs. Tablets and PCs and Notebooks with Windows 8 will be priced from $199 and up to $1999. My point here is that Microsoft has designed an OS that is truly an entire ecosystem versus iOS and MAC OS X.



    With more competitors in the market for tablets, Amazon needs to get prices and size options out there. And with the rumors of a 7" iPad also, Apple knows this too.


     


    3. APPLE IS LOSING THE VIDEO ON-DEMAND WAR


    In 2010, Apple commanded 70%+ of on-demand video through iTunes. Amazon? 1%. In 2011 Apple owned 30%+.


    And Amazon? 40%+.



    My point is here, is that, for people who consume a lot of information, video, music, etc. having MORE Kindle Fires out there is what Amazon wants. To do so against Apple, they have to lower the barrier of entry - in this case price.


     


    There's a reason why stuff is so cheap at Amazon - they tend to offer the lowest price by keeping costs down. One of those is marketing costs.


    Stuff at Apple, not to cheap, and sometimes, laughably overpriced (e.g. Look up Apple notebook memory). Apple wants to make money on everything.


     


    Sure it makes for great quality wiz-bang stuff. But eventually, price to performance to value, that approach will stall them as faster, cheaper, and just as shiny stuff begins to compete in Markets.






     



     


     




     


     

  • Reply 15 of 36
    urthourtho Posts: 17member


    I have a Fire, and the biggest issue is the screen resolution.  The device is fast enough to do everything I want to do on it.  Of course I got it at $139 refurbed, works great.  That said, I would not buy another Fire just because it has more resolution.  I would however buy a ~7inch iPad.  10 inches is just too many inches.  I just want a paperback size device, anything larger and I feel I should have out a laptop.


     


    Of course, if I end up getting a Retina MBP 13 when it is released, then I will most likely get a Windows 8 tablet in the 7" spectrum at that point, just for diversity.

  • Reply 16 of 36
    originalg wrote: »
    Don't give Apple too much credit here. It's unlikely they invented those displays. They may have specified they wanted in displays by providing specifications and manufacturers responded with what they can do at what price, or the opposite, manufacturers said they can make these kinds of displays at a certain price and Apple snapped them up. Apple may be leveraging their purchasing power and may be the only company that can order enough of these units that everyone in the supply chain can make a little bit of money. As soon as the manufacturers get the process going and are able to mass produce them at a cheaper cost, you'll see more and more machines with similar high-density displays. In this aspect, Apple is in a way an industry parts bin re-packager, but they are the ones that push the latest technology forward because they have the money and the guts to do so.

    So glad you cleared that up.

    Leonardo da Vinci is in a way a commodity oil-paint re-spreader. He didn't invent the paintbrush, the paint or the canvas. Guess that makes the Mona Lisa worth only the components it is made from.
  • Reply 17 of 36
    mavfan1mavfan1 Posts: 50member


    I have an iPad but I also picked up a refurb Kindle Fire for $139 and I've brought it on two trips overseas rather than my iPad because it fits in my coat pocket when I'm out and about.  It was completely satisfactory and I even watched some Netflix over hotel wireless in Edinburgh at 3AM while dealing with jet lag and it looked great, more enjoyable than it would have on my iphone.   I could see Amazon offering the Kindle and/ Kindle Fire for free down the line for customers who have a history of buying a certain minimum of content through Amazon.  

  • Reply 18 of 36
    milkmagemilkmage Posts: 152member


    "Beyond the Kindle Fire, Amazon also reportedly plans to release a new 6-inch e-ink-based Kindle reader with an integrated backlight in the third quarter of 2012 at the earliest."


     


    ...and I buy this on day one.

  • Reply 19 of 36
    r00fusr00fus Posts: 245member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by LuxoM3 View Post


     


    2. WINDOWS 8 COMING IN THE FALL

    As much as Apple fans dismiss Microsoft... Windows 8 IS going to be THE mobile platform that rivals iOS6. It has a faster feeling UI, is hardware agnostic, and it integrates with Microsoft products like the XBOX and Windows PCs. Tablets and PCs and Notebooks with Windows 8 will be priced from $199 and up to $1999. My point here is that Microsoft has designed an OS that is truly an entire ecosystem versus iOS and MAC OS X.






     



     


     




     


     




     


    Wake me up when the Windows 8 tablets are here and can be compared.  Always the "promise" with Windows/WinPhone/Android/etc.  When the shipped product arrives, then the downsides are exposed and a real comparison can be made for battery life, screen quality, fit&finish, and other factors that a spec sheet does not cover. 

  • Reply 20 of 36
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    luxom3 wrote: »
    You guys are missing the point... put it this way...

    1. USAGE TYPE
    You travel, have kids, play some games, read books, watch movies, listen to music - the average tablet user right?

    You walk into an Apple store and the price you see to do these things on an iPad is $499. 
    You then walk into a Best Buy and see two models Kindle Fire from Amazon for $149 and $199. You like the $149 because the 7" size is easier to travel with.

    After doing some research you find it all boils down - feature for feature to the processor and cam. You analyze your habits and find you won't be using a cam as you already have one on your phone and when demoing, the processor / response time of the units were comparable.

    You question if $350 is enough to invest in an iPad versus Kindle fire.

    Personally - I OWN an iPad, but after reviewing my usage types (all of the above)... the $300 premium I paid over a Kindle well... I'd rather had gotten the Kindle at this point.

    2. WINDOWS 8 COMING IN THE FALL

    As much as Apple fans dismiss Microsoft... Windows 8 IS going to be THE mobile platform that rivals iOS6. It has a faster feeling UI, is hardware agnostic, and it integrates with Microsoft products like the XBOX and Windows PCs. Tablets and PCs and Notebooks with Windows 8 will be priced from $199 and up to $1999. My point here is that Microsoft has designed an OS that is truly an entire ecosystem versus iOS and MAC OS X.


    With more competitors in the market for tablets, Amazon needs to get prices and size options out there. And with the rumors of a 7" iPad also, Apple knows this too.

    3. APPLE IS LOSING THE VIDEO ON-DEMAND WAR
    In 2010, Apple commanded 70%+ of on-demand video through iTunes. Amazon? 1%. In 2011 Apple owned 30%+.
    And Amazon? 40%+.


    My point is here, is that, for people who consume a lot of information, video, music, etc. having MORE Kindle Fires out there is what Amazon wants. To do so against Apple, they have to lower the barrier of entry - in this case price.

    There's a reason why stuff is so cheap at Amazon - they tend to offer the lowest price by keeping costs down. One of those is marketing costs.
    Stuff at Apple, not to cheap, and sometimes, laughably overpriced (e.g. Look up Apple notebook memory). Apple wants to make money on everything.

    Sure it makes for great quality wiz-bang stuff. But eventually, price to performance to value, that approach will stall them as faster, cheaper, and just as shiny stuff begins to compete in Markets.

    1) You'e missing the point if you think Apple is looking for customers that only look for a feature to feature comparison without any regard for the usability of those features. There is a reason Apple dominates profits and desirability in the PMP, handset, tablet and PC markets.


    2) As r00fus stated, report back to use when it's actually making a dent. I think Win8 is a complete mess of an OS. It's x86 variant is too drastically different from previous versions to keep users interested and happy thus pushing them to Macs.

    It's ARM variant is not HW agnostic in anything but name and the Metro UI. This is not HW agnostic as you will not be able to get an ARM-based notebook to run all the standard Windows apps one might have. Even if ARM can run it it still needs to be remade from the ground up for this OS you this is HW agnostic and then submitted to MS's app store. Can you not see how this is confusing.

    Finally, It makes no sense to have an OS primarily for a touch input and one for a keyboard/mouse use the same OS. You don't get the best of both worlds, you get the worse. Add that to the other silly choices here and you have a perfect storm of boondoggle brewing.

    I think this is all Balmer's doing. I would have called the ARM-based version with the HW-independent apps Metro OS and had an updated Window UI for Win8 with an option to show Metro for those that wanted it, but not make it the primary feature.

    Also note that WinPh7 is a great OS... yet it's a market failure. Also note that Zune OS 2.0 was great... yet it was also a market failure. It's not enough to be good (and I don't think Win8 is good) you also have to be desirable. Do you think Win8 is desirable?


    3) This makes even less sense than your other comments. Let's remember that Apple sells devices that does not lock out video content from non-ITS sources. Netflix has a great app for iOS. If you are suggesting that Kindle Fires are accounting for more video being watched than on iPads then go ahead and show some data. I wouldn't be surprised if per-device video on the Fire is higher but that's only because it's not really good at doing much of anything else. It's more tabletesque than an actual tablet. I hope Amazon can actually find away to bring a real player to market but it's not looking good at this point.
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