Amazon to debut LCD tablet to compete with Apple's iPad later this year
Rumors continue to swirl about a new touchscreen tablet from Amazon with a full color LCD screen, with the latest report stating the device is set to launch and take on Apple's iPad in 2011.
Amazon recently placed orders with Quanta Computer, and also has plans to partner with E-Ink Holdings for its forthcoming touchscreen tablet, Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes reported Tuesday. The new device is expected to have an LCD touch panel display with fringe field switching technology.
The device is expected to begin shipping in the second half of 2011, with the initial order pegged at between 700,000 and 800,000. The device would be a shift from the current e-ink based Amazon Kindle, which offers long battery life but displays in black and white.
Sources reportedly said that the Kindle still has strong sales, but Amazon has had trouble finding success with the device in markets outside of North America and Europe. The retailer reportedly plans to reduce the Kindle's price to attract demand from the education and consumer market, and its forthcoming tablet PC will leverage its software and content to take on Apple and the iPad 2.
Amazon recently reduced the price of its e-ink-based Kindle with a new ad-supported model that sells for $114. The device comes with a $25 discount in exchange for ads being displayed on the bottom of the home screen and screensaver.
In March, Amazon began courting developers on Apple's iOS platform, which powers the iPad, to begin making applications for Kindle. While the Kindle is more of a single-purpose device focused on reading, Amazon is said to be interested in selling a more multi-purpose unit, like the iPad, that could play music, movies, and other content sold by the retailer.
Rumors of Amazon's tablet persist as two other companies, Barnes & Noble and Lenovo, are have set their sights directly on the iPad. Barnes & Noble's Nook Color was recently updated to support applications for Android and carries a low $249 price, while Lenovo's forthcoming tablet is said to sport Android 3.0 and an iPad-matching $499 starting price.
Amazon recently placed orders with Quanta Computer, and also has plans to partner with E-Ink Holdings for its forthcoming touchscreen tablet, Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes reported Tuesday. The new device is expected to have an LCD touch panel display with fringe field switching technology.
The device is expected to begin shipping in the second half of 2011, with the initial order pegged at between 700,000 and 800,000. The device would be a shift from the current e-ink based Amazon Kindle, which offers long battery life but displays in black and white.
Sources reportedly said that the Kindle still has strong sales, but Amazon has had trouble finding success with the device in markets outside of North America and Europe. The retailer reportedly plans to reduce the Kindle's price to attract demand from the education and consumer market, and its forthcoming tablet PC will leverage its software and content to take on Apple and the iPad 2.
Amazon recently reduced the price of its e-ink-based Kindle with a new ad-supported model that sells for $114. The device comes with a $25 discount in exchange for ads being displayed on the bottom of the home screen and screensaver.
In March, Amazon began courting developers on Apple's iOS platform, which powers the iPad, to begin making applications for Kindle. While the Kindle is more of a single-purpose device focused on reading, Amazon is said to be interested in selling a more multi-purpose unit, like the iPad, that could play music, movies, and other content sold by the retailer.
Rumors of Amazon's tablet persist as two other companies, Barnes & Noble and Lenovo, are have set their sights directly on the iPad. Barnes & Noble's Nook Color was recently updated to support applications for Android and carries a low $249 price, while Lenovo's forthcoming tablet is said to sport Android 3.0 and an iPad-matching $499 starting price.
Comments
android tablet with the amazon app store would probably sell well. i bet better than motorola and the others who keep running to the carriers
Amazon has had trouble finding success with the device in markets outside of North America and Europe
Nice spin. Maybe it has something to do with Kindle not being sold by Amazon on their online stores in the two countries outside North America and Europe where they operate - Japan and China.
Bring it on Amazon. The better with more competition.
Companies wanting a piece of the iPad pie and lamely producing sub-iPad tablets that are nothing more than cheap lower quality copies are not " competition". They are leeches. They bring nothing new in the experience, the ecosystem, the hardware or the tablets outlook for the future.
No matter how you spin it Amazon, B&N and almost ALL OTHER tablets bring NOTHING new or better.
Amazon recently reduced the price of its e-ink-based Kindle with a new ad-supported model that sells for $114. The device comes with a $25 discount in exchange for ads being displayed on the bottom of the home screen and screensaver.
[/c]
Oh god this sounds like death.
Can I get my next super thin LCD 3d tv for cheap if it always plays ads when im not watching movies??? Now that would make a classy house haha
They have the ecosystem and most of the content Apple does. Now lets see how they repackage Android apps to make their tablet the best option for Android users.
There is talk or Pixel Qi displays but from what Ive seen the color video simply won’t curt it on those panels so I think they’ll have to go with a proper high-viewing angle LCD.
Companies wanting a piece of the iPad pie and lamely producing sub-iPad tablets that are nothing more than cheap lower quality copies are not " competition". They are leeches. They bring nothing new in the experience, the ecosystem, the hardware or the tablets outlook for the future.
No matter how you spin it Amazon, B&N and almost ALL OTHER tablets bring NOTHING new or better.
what do you expect?
internet, email, apps, ebook reader
is there something magical about my ipad 2 that i don't know about? ARM SoC, off the shelf GPU, screen ,etc
Bring it on Amazon. The better with more competition.
A common misconception, that competition "makes things better", but, as we all know, it doesn't necessarily. Sometimes it just makes them cheaper and crappier, like PCs, for example.
And Amazon has read it.
They should focus on areas where Apple do not want to go, and where they could build on their current strengths.
High information, low bandwidth - perhaps adding news, email, contacts, calendar, task management app. Perhaps using bluetooth to access a user's relatively dumb but 3G enabled cheap-phone. All software custom-built, 100% integrated, on-the-fly encryption and compression.
So the device is cheap, data-bandwidth is cheap, but the information value is high.
(If I drop my iPhone, I flinch - but I take my nano to the gym, the beach etc. If I lose it, I replace it, no sweat.)
I don't know, but they should be trying to use their constrictions as strategic strengths to go to places that Apple will not and for heaven's sake do not try to make a full-colour, multimedia, game-playing, app-store-supported slate.
Rumors continue to swirl about a new touchscreen tablet from Amazon with a full color LCD screen, with the latest report stating the device is set to launch and take on Apple's iPad in 2011. ...
The only really interesting thing about this is whether or not they actually fork Android to do it.
That would be fantastic in that it would give Amazon a better tablet and kind of screw over Google at the same time.
Also, there's some kind of math discrepancy going on with the DigiTimes article: They first claim that the new will start shipping in 2H2011 with extpected volume of 700-800K units per month during the peak season, and then say that the new product is expected to contribute $3.5B to Quanta's revenue in 2011? Even assuming that the peak monthly volume of 800K units is sustained for all 6 months in the second half of 2011, $3.5B translates to $729 revenue per unit to Quanta, which is completely unrealistic...
what do you expect?
internet, email, apps, ebook reader
is there something magical about my ipad 2 that i don't know about? ARM SoC, off the shelf GPU, screen ,etc
You seem to be trying hard to imply that the iPad is a generic device using off the shelf parts, but you know it isn't.
The SoC, the GPU(s) and the way they are wired together is extremely customised. Apple's iPad 2 beats the socks off of other tablets with the same basic ARM processor even those running at faster speeds. The battery technology is similarly unique and patented.
If Amazon makes a tablet it will likely be smaller, get relatively worse battery life and if they don't skin it or fork it, will have that horrible Honeycomb UI. I say "horrible" because it will be given the fact that Amazon's main customer base for Kindle is seniors who don't understand computers, don't want to, and don't want to "manage their widgets" at all. It will also be heavier and more expensive than the previous Kindle.
Personally I have little faith in the idea succeeding. One thing that would be essential to such a device (that Amazon has shown itself to be particularly bad at), is UI design.
Amazon's website is a confusing rabbit warren of crap, why would a tablet from them be any better?And how can a company that hasn't even made it's first iPad app for it's own services, is supposed to design a whole UI for tablets that bests Apple, HP, and Google's UI ideas is beyond me. They have zero experience in this area.
The success of the kindle is largely due to the fact that Amazon sells it (essentially as) a loss leader.
I highly doubt a mixed use tablet with multiple options to buy apps will allow Amazon to sell this tablet at such a low cost that it will undercut Apples market lead.
That said, if I were Amazon, I'd sooner partner with some other company to build a tightly integrated tablet experience. That would leverage Amazon's marketplace capabilities (including hardware sales/distribution) with the actual hardware development coming from some other big industry name.
I'm not sure if it'll be "too little, too late" for Amazon, but out of anyone else out there, they do have all the other marketplace expertise in place already. The big question is how will Amazon distinguish themselves from Apple. You can't win by introducing another "me too" product.
--DotComCTO
amazon actually gets retail and customers. i see A LOT of kindles in NYC
android tablet with the amazon app store would probably sell well. i bet better than motorola and the others who keep running to the carriers
I don't see a lot of them here, but I do see them every so often. A year ago, I had only seen two. Since then, I've seen a half dozen. I'm seeing just a bit more iPads here.