Google rumored to become Amazon Kindle Fire's fiercest competitor in early 2012
Despite the fact that Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet is based on Google's Android operating system, sources within the supply chain claim Google plans to become the Fire's biggest competitor with the release of a low-margin own-brand tablet early this year.
Google will reportedly release a 7-inch tablet running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich priced to compete with Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire, DigiTimes' sources claimed on Thursday. The device is expected to arrive in March or April of 2012.
"Sources from Google's upstream supply chain believe that Google, instead of Apple, may actually be targeting Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire as its major competitor," the report read.
However, Google Taiwan responded by claiming that it had never heard of plans to launch an own-brand tablet PC. But, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt did seem to suggest otherwise late last month when he said that the search giant would release a "tablet of the highest quality" within the next six months. Such a device would presumably fall under Google's "Nexus" branding used to identify flagship Android devices meant to model new software releases.
DigiTimes has lost some credibility in recent weeks after some of its reports were debunked by other publications. Pundits quickly cast doubt on Thursday's report, noting that reconciling a sub-$199 price with a "highest quality" tablet would be nearly impossible, especially without the content ecosystem that Amazon relies on to make money off the Kindle Fire. The Fire itself has hardly been classified as high-quality, as multiple reviews (1, 2) of Amazon's budget tablet, which arrived in November, have noted that the device feels much cheaper than Apple's iPad.
Android's answers to the iPad struggled for the most part last year, with the Kindle Fire representing the first high-volume challenge to Apple's tablet dominance. Amazon said last month it had sold "millions" of the device, while declining to provide specifics. One analyst estimated earlier this week that he believes the Fire cannibalized 1-2 million iPad sales at most in the December quarter. Still, the Fire's performance will likely be enough to propel it to second place in the tablet market after its first quarter of availability.
Apple has actually admitted that it doesn't view the Kindle Fire as a serious threat to the iPad. Company officials view the tablet as potentially fueling further fragmentation in the market because it's compatible with Android but the apps work with Amazon products. Such fragmentation would ultimately drive customers to Apple's stable platform, they said.
Comments
That's like RIM declaring "Amateur hour is over".
Highest quality? From a company with zero years of hardware design & manufacturing experience?
That's like RIM declaring "Amateur hour is over".
We have a winner here folks
Highest quality? From a company with zero years of hardware design & manufacturing experience?
That's like RIM declaring "Amateur hour is over".
Get this guy a beer.
Read: DigiTimes is making stuff up as fast as they can these days.
BTW, does Microsoft get $5 per Kindle Fire sold because it runs Android? Or does that imply to Smartphones only?
Highest quality? From a company with zero years of hardware design & manufacturing experience?
That's like RIM declaring "Amateur hour is over".
If Google approaches Samsung to create the reference design, It'll be called a Samsung Galaxy Nexus Flame or something. But wait.. why don't they just re-release the Galaxy Tab 7" that came out originally in 2010 and sell it for $99..
On the desktop they have no meaningful competitor because they make their money from ads on websites. As the main computing platforms go mobile though and the added ad dollars that can be extracted through tighter location control they are losing their only (excluding marginal sources) source of revenue because the mobile platforms limit their access to data and websites / apps strip out google ads.
So if they don't have their own very strong platform in the mobile space they will be finished within 10 years, or have to actually DO something to make money instead of leeching.
That dear fans is why Apple(SJ) wins. They don't give up, they re-group, re-do, until they get it right. Vision AND Persistence is the hallmark of successful entrepreneurs (and a wee bit of luck).
If Google approaches Samsung to create the reference design, It'll be called a Samsung Galaxy Nexus Flame or something. But wait.. why don't they just re-release the Galaxy Tab 7" that came out originally in 2010 and sell it for $99..
imo Google is going to use Motorola. This is were I see a potential war forming up between Google and other Android manufacturers depending on how they play it. If Google use Motorola to dump high quality tablets with no margins whats left for other Android tablet manufacturers? They could maybe dump cheap tablets but if they go at the iPad level they are going to enrage other tablet makers.
The Fire itself has hardly been classified as high-quality, as multiple reviews (1, 2) of Amazon's budget tablet, which arrived in November, have noted that the device feels much cheaper than Apple's iPad.
Huh. I'd never considered that a $199 device would feel much cheaper than a $499 device before. Thanks for the insight!
Google is becoming more like MS, but slightly more entrepreneurial. But to date, Google (and peers) is still chasing the same rabbit(tablet) that Apple pulled out of their hat. Ironically, the one magic trick that I thought was truly inspirational was the Courier table from MS. Sadly, they couldn't get it right, so they gave up! Shades of Xerox/Parc during the early days.
imo Google is going to use Motorola. This is were I see a potential war forming up between Google and other Android manufacturers depending on how they play it. If Google use Motorola to dump high quality tablets with no margins whats left for other Android tablet manufacturers? They could maybe dump cheap tablets but if they go at the iPad level they are going to enrage other tablet makers.
To the best of my knowledge MS never built a desktop or laptop computer and as Herbapou points out that by building a cheap tablet Google would effectively kill any incentive for other Android tablet manufacturers to enter the game.
For this reason I deem this report as crap... either that or Google is getting dumber by the minute.
DigiTimes is all over the latest tech rumors these days.
Read: DigiTimes is making stuff up as fast as they can these days.
Why not? Tech sites repeat everything they write. What a racket.
If apple insider stopped quoting digitimes, what stories would they have?
They've got Daniel...
Story: "Apple edges out Samsung in smartphone sales during the holiday quarter."
Daniel's headline: "Samsung Readying for Bankruptcy"
Hmm, a tablet version of their Nexus phones could be nice. The Nexus are supposed to help with fragmentation by providing a baseline for phones that year.
Too bad they don't. We also see that 12 month old Nexus do not even get software updates.
Highest quality? From a company with zero years of hardware design & manufacturing experience?
That's like RIM declaring "Amateur hour is over".
Google bought Motorola Mobility and makes Android based hardware.
http://investor.google.com/releases/2011/0815.html