Josh Ong
The launch is timed to gain momentum ahead of the Thanksgiving and year-end holidays in the U.S. and Europe, a source told DigiTimes. Monthly shipments are expected to reach 700,000-800,000 units.
According to the report, Amazon will utilize processors from Texas Instruments and touch panels from Wintek, with Quanta to assemble the devices. Sources also said Amazon would provide streaming movie services for the tablets.
Rumors of an Amazon-branded tablet have swirled for some time. In May, DigiTimes alleged that Amazon would partner with E-Ink Holdings to build a full color touchscreen tablet.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos declined to confirm during a recent interview that his company was working on such a device, but did say to "stay tuned" on the company's plans. Bezos did say that any tablet Amazon built would supplement the Kindle e-reader. “We will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device,†he said.
Though the iPad was initially viewed as a challenger to the Kindle, which arrived in 2007, subsequent priced drops to the e-reader have kept them apart. Last December, Amazon revealed that the third-generation Kindle was its best-selling product ever, despite the fact that many purchasers already owned an iPad.
Amazon pushed the prices of the Kindle down even further in May by releasing ad-supported versions of the Wi-Fi Kindle and Kindle 3G for a $25 discount.
Unlike the Kindle, however, an Amazon tablet is expected to compete directly with the iPad. Analysts see the combination of Amazon's video, music and app digital storefronts with an Amazon-branded Android tablet as posing a threat to the profitable iTunes, App Store and iPad ecosystem that Apple has created.
“Apple has frequently spoken of the power of the number of credit card users iTunes has; Amazon is the only other player in the industry to have something similar. Amazon also has consumer’s trust that has been built up over more than a decade of good service,†Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair said last month.
Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicts the rumored Amazon tablet will sell as many as 2.4 million units in 2012. That figure, however, is substantially lower than the 4 million devices that DigiTimes claims Amazon is aiming to sell by the end of 2011.
Apple and Amazon are currently locked in a disagreement over the "App Store" trademark. Despite a trademark infringement suit from Apple over the "Amazon Appstore for Android," the online retailer went ahead and launched its mobile applications storefront in March. Apple stated in an updated filing in its ongoing complaint against Amazon that the company's service "is inferior and will tarnish Apple's mark."
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37 Comments
Yeah, sure.
Why not 40 million.
When Amazon can make a decent color e-ink Kindle at the same price, I'm buying.
Did you quote Gene Munster for a prediction?
All these people racing to make tablets and I just wonder, why would anyone want them? What's the long-term killer feature? How useable are they?
Yes, I'm biased, but I'd argue that iOS (iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad) are a platform. Yes, the iPhone 3G is not getting iOS 5, so it's updates life was 3 years. However, mobile smart platforms are in their infancy and there was a time when computers were obsolete in 3 years. the hardware is catching up now and the length of use will increase with newer devices. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine Android as a full platform because of the fragmentation. For those phones that come out endlessly and get replaced quickly...just too short term! And whether or not those devices will get updated period, it's just uncertain! So, tablets that you buy once, hope to find some reasonable software and not get spammed or have your private information stolen, then watch as the Android platform advances but the company that made your tablet couldn't sell enough and has no motivation to upgrade your experience...
And what will an Amazon tablet run? If not Android I'd say it's a waste of time. Books on kindle, great. Kindle is lightweight, great for reading in the sun. Fits its purpose. This rumored tablet really couldn't be much better than a colored Kindle with a few bits of glam, right? If it is a full tablet not running Android, then even though you can count on Amazon being around and continuing it, you can't count on developers wanting to develop for a ton of new platforms. Building up a library of great apps will be slow.
What OS will it use? Is the Texas Instruments processor an ARM variant?