Posted by Greg Mills
The Washington Post/Bloomberg report that Amazon is planning to launch an Android tablet they bought from an unnamed manufacturer. The screen size is expected to be just a bit smaller than iPad, but in color. The price point of the new tablet hasn’t been decided or disclosed yet, but it has to be a bargain to even compete with iPad, which is very hard to do.
The sources also have claimed Amazon has an in-house design in the works for an Amazon tablet computer but won’t have that product ready to launch until next year.
See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/amazons-tablet-is-no-threat-to-apple-its-a-huge-threat-to-google/2011/07/13/gIQAZdCGDI_story.html
Amazon is expected to sell the new Android Pad at a loss or near break even. The product is to support Amazon’s digital download business related to books, music, Android apps and movies. The business model of discounting a tablet that is tied down to one download source is sort of like the Kindle. Will people buy the higher end package that has so many strings attached?