Sometimes in the tech industry, or any industry in general for that matter, when you hear the same rumors repeatedly they tend to get old and boring quick, but the novelty and excitement of the phrase “Amazon Tablet” never seems to wear off or sound dull.
Back in May the rumors began regarding potential Amazon Coyote and Hollywood tablets being in development but for the most part few raw facts have surfaced and overall Amazon has remained hush hush. That could all change very soon of course and you know they have something big planned, it’s just a matter of time before we get all the juicy details. Amazon will be holding a press conference later this month, September 28th to be exact. This has the tablet industry and blogosphere buzzing.
Rumor, there I go with that word again, I should get paid for saying that, ahem, rumor has it that they will be announcing their Android 2.2 powered 7-inch Kindle tablet. Before you shake your head in disbelief that it’s not powered by Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich, keep in mind this is a beefed up and highly customized version of the OS. It won’t have a camera and will come equipped with only 6GB of storage (from what I’ve heard) but the real dagger in the hearts of the competition is that it will only cost $250.
What Does the Kindle Tablet Mean to the Competition?
Well, the 7-inch (two-finger) multitouch Kindle tablet might not be the king of specs, but let’s face it in reality not everyone is looking for that anyway and there’s definitely a market for such a device. As I recently mentioned it will be affordable too which is another big kicker and these days a lot of people are looking for the best deals as long as the mobile device they invest in gets the job done.
Let’s not forget the market reach that Amazon has, getting exposure for their new tablet(s) certainly won’t be an issue! Not only do they have staying power and a successful history they have a vast (really vast) number of people who trust and support their company and for good reason. Ultimately, although the rumored Kindle tablet is small in stature it could quite easily put a big dent in sales for other Android device manufacturers and possibly even the almighty Apple iPad.
If you think about it, Amazon already has most of their ducks in a row if you consider the fact that they have a service for just about everything already including an Android app store, a video and music service, a service for downloading games & software and of course they are well known for being one of the worlds largest distributors of ebooks. All they are really missing, not for much longer mind you, is their own tablet which will be the only missing piece to the puzzle.
Oh and, no I’m not finished, timing is also important and this new Amazon tablet could very well be launched and up for grabs just in time for the holidays. We all know what that means, it’s that time of year when many people are in the mood for shopping and what better time is there to release a highly anticipated product? You don’t have to answer that, I wasn’t really asking.
Conclusion
It was expected that a 10-inch quad-core Amazon tablet would arrive at some point in 2011. As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, it sounds like we’ll have to wait until 2012 before any such device pokes its head out from the ground and joins the tablet scene. We aren’t even 100% sure that a NVIDIA quad-core (Kal-El) powered version of an Amazon tablet will be coming period, although it wouldn’t be surprising if it were. On a lighter note, think of it this way, unlike some manufacturers at least Amazon is not rushing products on the market just for the sake of things, they are taking their time and being patient in order to release the best product possible. It’s normal to be anxious, but you can bet it will be worth the wait.
Whatever the case all the suspense is likely coming to an end very soon and a lot of questions will most likely be answered. At this point there’s no telling exactly what Amazon has in store for their upcoming press event, but rest assured you can bet the news will be big, possibly game-changing, and fellow Android tablet device manufacturers could very well be shaking in their boots just from the thought alone.