Online retail giant Amazon may launch its tablet on September 28, reports suggested. Amazon has sent out invitation to several technology blogs for a press conference on September 28, which analysts are interpreting as an indication of the tablet unveiling ceremony.
New York Times says, “At the very least, it will be about a Kindle. First, Amazon press conferences in recent years have been the venue to announce a new Kindle. In addition, Amazon sent its press release to several gadget bloggers, including Engadget and Boy Genius Report.”
“Even though Amazon taking on Apple is a bit like David taking on Goliath. Amazon’s willingness to sell hardware at a loss combined with the strength of its brand, content, cloud infrastructure, and commerce assets makes it the only credible iPad competitor in the market,” Rottman Epps writes on the Forrester Research blog.
Rottman further predicted that if Amazon launched a tablet, it would keep it at a sub-$300 price point and it might launch it in fourth quarter this year (October-December).
M G Siegler from TechCrunch says he has seen the tablet, and going by his earlier reports there is no reason why he shouldn’t be right. The new Amazon tablet may come with a difference, a touchscreen and is likely to run on Google’s Android operating system and is likely to cost about $250 (about Rs 12,500), said TechCrunch.
While Samsung and Motorola are trying to fight the iPad with their tablet specs, Amazon seems better placed than these companies due to its better support environment. The way Amazon was moving with its new App Store or even Cloud player or other product, it seems to have set its mind on coming out with a tablet for a long time.
The company anyway has a large library of e-books and offers MP3 downloads and music streaming as well. With such a good cloud infrastructure already in place, Amazon already had all the ammunition for its tablet launch.