Your next tablet might just be made by Amazon. According to a report over at Digitimes, we may be seeing Amazon deliver their own version of the tablet computer very soon. Here’s what it might actually be.
The Coming Of The Amazon Tablet
Amazon may be coming out with their own tablet computer soon and this could put an interesting twist on the market since they already have pretty much sealed up the e-book reader space. According to the above referenced report, Quanta Computer (a Taiwan notebook maker) has received orders from Amazon for a “tablet computer” that will have a touch panel (no big surprise).
Could this be an enhanced Kindle or an entirely new offering from Amazon? According to the report, Quanta expects to deliver 800,000 units per month the second half of 2011 so whatever they are planning, it sure seems as if they are ramping up on something big. To date, the Xoom has only sold around 200,000 units (or more at this point) but whatever Amazon is up to sounds big.
Amazon does not have their own Operating System and they surely are not going to develop their own or latch onto RIM’s QNX – so this leads me to believe it’s going to be based on Android; which makes perfect sense because they can then offer up something that the Apple App Store still does not offer and that is apps on a trial basis. Amazon already does this in their own App Store but they do not have a tablet yet.
So if Amazon were to make their own tablet based off the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS and then pair that with their App Store distribution already in place, then they could sell these things in mass at the right price. Keep in mind that Amazon is one of the largest marketplaces on the web and that means they have the ability to get their tablet right in front of the eyes of millions of people rather quickly.
I feel that they could succeed here if they come out with a well priced (meaning, competitive to the iPad) tablet that offers up access to their App Store with trial runs of apps and access to their Cloud Storage. They then have a triad effect: Low-priced tablet, App Store trials, Cloud Storage for music, etc. This pits them right into the forefront of competition with the iPad.
But Apple still has some tricks up its sleeve as well. Let’s not forget that they are also working on iTunes Streaming, music storage, and of course as soon as Amazon pulls this trigger you can bet the iPad 3 rumor mill (and possible leaks) will begin.
What do you think about an Amazon tablet? Good idea or just another flash in the pan?
Glad to hear it – Competition can only be good for the consumer!
I agree and I’m glad the competition is hearing up a bit…I seriously wish apple would let people try out apps….it seems only fair and this is a fairly big advantage amazon has right now
Whatever Amazon is up to I’m looking forward to see what it will be. As you mentioned, if they are preparing to launch their own tablet it’s quite likely to be Android based, which makes sense when you consider all the options that seems like it would be their best one. I guess we’ll find out sooner than later by the sound of it.