Amazon has unveiled the much-awaited Kindle Fire tablet, a 7-inch tablet PC, as well as the new version of its e-book reader, the Kindle Touch.
The Amazon Kindle Fire will be launched on November 15, but is already available for pre-order.
The Kindle Fire features an IPS display, a fast dual-core processor and an ultra-wide viewing angle. Unlike the iPad 2 that has a 9.7 inch screen, the Kindle Fire only sports a 7-inch display and will not have a camera or mobile internet access.
Amazon is hoping that the Kindle Fire will succeed in dominating a part of the tablet maket where other tablets (HP TouchPad, Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry Playbook) have failed. The tablet’s low price will attract customers, though they will need to choose between the more expensive iPad with its bigger App Store offering, or Amazon’s much cheaper and less powerful offering.
The Fire is the company’s first attempt at launching a color device. Despite its comparisons with Apple’s iPad, the tablet competes with the Nook Color from Barnes & Noble.
The Kindle Fire comes with one month free trial of Amazon Prime, a membership service that will enable users to stream videos to their tablets.
Amazon also unveiled new e-book readers on Wednesday. The new Kindle Touch is an e-book reader that has no keyboard, sporting only an infrared touchscreen.
According to Forrester research, they are estimating that the new Amazon tablet will sell between 3 million and 5 million units in its first year, compared to the 9.3 million iPad units sold between April and June this year.
via: Ubergizmo
