Rumor has it that Amazon is struggling to sell its more expensive Fire tablets. Experts think the new $50 tablet might attract buyers looking for a simple device capable of performing tasks like shopping on Amazon or streaming videos. Some people might not tolerate a potentially inferior experience just for the sake of a low price, but more will be said when the tablet’s specifications will be revealed.
To hit a lower price point, Amazon reportedly outsourced much of the development to overseas companies such as Shanghai Huaqin Telecom Technology and Taiwan’s Compal Communications.
Commenting on the Amazon’s way of competing in the market, Jeff Bezos maintained that the company prefers to make money by selling services that work with the devices, like e-books and video rentals. The first tablet of the company, the Kindle Fire, was released in September 2011 powered by a highly customized version of Gingerbread. The prices for the other two tablets are unknown.
Amazon is still reeling from a $170 million write-down that it announced in October of past year that was incurred due to unsold inventory of the Fire smartphone, which was priced similar to the iPhone.
The $50 tablet from Amazon would likely have limited features.
Amazon plans to release a $50 tablet with a 6-inch screen in time for this year’s holidays. In the case of Amazon’s forthcoming tablet in particular, they said it would have a mono speaker instead of a stereo speaker, for example.
And, of course, Amazon faces a strong competitor in the form of Apple, which has been widely expected to be bringing new iPad and iPad mini tablets to market as soon as this week, in addition to new iPhones.
Amazon’s cheapest tablet as of writing is the aforementioned 6-inch Fire HD which sells for $99 via an ad-supported model or $114 ad-free.
E-commerce giant Amazon Inc.is planning to launch a new Kindle Fire tablet this Christmas.