Daniel Eran Dilger
According to a report by Ryan Block of Gdgt, Amazon's forthcoming new Android-based tablet is targeted at the Barnes & Noble Nook Color rather than Apple' s iPad, and is essentially a stopgap offering rushed to make the 2011 holiday buying season.
In order to make that deadline, and to avoid distracting its existing "Lab 126" working on conventional e-ink based Kindle devices, Block said that Amazon worked with Original Design Manufacturer Quanta.
As an ODM, Quanta builds notebooks, netbooks and other devices that are rebranded by other companies. Quanta was the original ODM for the XO-1 notebook aimed at third world markets, and also helped RIM build its PlayBook tablet (depicted below).
For Amazon, Block says Quanta used RIM's PlayBook as a design template to quickly bring a tablet device to market. "I'm told Amazon ran into trouble," Block reported, "and eventually sacrifices were made (like using a slower processor)."
Block said the first generation Android Kindle is "supposed to be pretty poor," calling the device a "stopgap" device and part of an effort to "do whatever it takes to get in the game."
As for Android enthusiasts hoping that Amazon's new tablet will rival the iPad, Block wrote, "I wouldn't get my hopes up that this is going to be an iPad-killer — nor do I think Amazon really intends it to be."
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80 Comments
Surely there's a paragraph missing at the end there, no? Editor-at-large?
I don't see this gaining much market share. You can spend $250 on the Kindle Fire, or $500 on an iPad that does so much more, including running the Kindle app.
I don't own one, but the Barnes and Noble Nook Color as done a decent job of avoiding a direct comparison to the iPad.
Why would anyone release anything that is "supposed to be poor"? I don't care if its a tablet or a bar of soap. If the answer is to just get something to the market, that is pure stupidity. Who is Ryan Block, anyway? His personal website has no updates this year and one every six months in 2010. Gdgt lists the Wii as its #1 gadget, followed by Windows 7. The iPad 2 is #9???
So, a slower and worse version of the Playbook, which flopped by the way, is supposed to be the next game changing iPad killer to come along?
Given that it's really an Android tablet with Amazon's custom UI and app store, I don't get why anybody would want it except for novices who don't know any better. You can already find inexpensive Android 7" tablets for around $99.