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Kindle tablet set to be unveiled tomorrow

by Scott Bicheno on 27 September 2011, 11:52

Tags: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

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Amazon has sent out last-minute invites to US hacks for an event tomorrow. MG Siegler of TechCrunch, who got hold of a prototype of Amazon's tablet earlier this month, says the tablet will indeed be unveiled at that event, and will be called the Kindle Fire.

As he previously stressed, the appeal of the Kindle Fire won't be in the hardware, or even necessarily the software in isolation, but the ease of access to the broad range of cloud content services Amazon has on offer, including books, music and video. However Siegler does reckon the chip will be a TI OMAP 4 clocked at 1.2GHz - so probably a 4430. TI seems to be resurrecting its SoC fortunes quite nicely these days.

But Siegler isn't the only hack to have some inside info. Ryan Block at gdgt reckons the seven inch tablet is essentially the same hardware as a BlackBerry Playbook, but it uses a slower processor and will be an underwhelming piece of kit.

This tallies with a research note from Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, reported by AppleInsider, that claims there will only be an OMAP 3 SoC in the first device, and it will be treated as a guinea pig to seed the market in advance of larger Kindle tablets next year. In keeping with this strategy, pricing may be below $200 - which would make sense if Amazon's aim is to get people to give it a try.

Kuo also reckons Amazon will launch two new e-ink Kindles at the same event - a Wi-Fi and a 3G one - with the former possible coming in at under $100.

Lastly ATD reckons Amazon has managed to strike deals with most, but not all, major US magazine publishers, with Time a notable exception. Magazines have long been thought of as ideal for the tablet format, but it still remains to be seen if people are willing to pay for that kind of electronic media - no matter how well presented - when there's so much free stuff online. One advantage is being able to view e-mags offline, but connectivity is growing ever more ubiquitous.

The image below is taken from Siegler's piece and is a mock-up based on what he saw when he played with the prototype - which he wasn't allowed to photograph. It's worth reproducing mainly to give an indication of how Amazon is adapting Android for its own purposes.

 

 

HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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Posted by Saracen - Tue 27 Sep 2011 12:08
For me, any interest in “Fire” depends critically on exactly what this turns out to mean, in practice ….

As he previously stressed, the appeal of the Kindle Fire won't be in the hardware, or even necessarily the software in isolation, but the ease of access to the broad range of cloud content services Amazon has on offer, including books, music and video.
A decent tablet, at a realistic price? That interests me. If it's merely used as a way to leverage pay-for or subscription “cloud” services, that doesn't. And a lot depends on what services they expect to be in the cloud. I am not, for instance, storing my personal data in some cloud, and I'm not using cloud-based pay-for applications (like Office apps). Not now, and not ever. That kind of storage, and functionality, stays with me on a PC under my direct control. Period.

So for me, it all depends on exactly what that quote turns out to mean. If it's a useful device with cloud capabilities, but is useful to me without compromising the above, I'm interested. Very interested, in fact. If they expect me to buy hardware to leverage access to services they want to sell that I'm not going to buy, then I'm about as interested in “Fire” as I am in catching a dose of Ebola “Mayinga”.

In other words, the jury is still out for me. And that's with me liking Amazon as a company, which is more than I can say for some competitive products.
Posted by cheesemp - Tue 27 Sep 2011 12:50
Saracen - being an android device I wouldn't be surprised if lots of ROMs where available pretty quickly for this so if you don't like the amazon changes (cloud etc) I'm sure you'll find something else to install. The only issue is if they have deliberately borked the storage (i.e. no SD slot) to push people to use the cloud. That could seriously dent the devices usefulness with a custom rom.
Posted by Saracen - Tue 27 Sep 2011 12:55
Good point, cheesemp. Thanks.
Posted by EzyRyder - Tue 27 Sep 2011 14:17
They are not catering for you though, Saracen but for the mass market which doesn't have or doesn't want to spend £400/£500.

I think it will be a winner.
Posted by Saracen - Tue 27 Sep 2011 16:04
EzyRyder
They are not catering for you though, Saracen but for the mass market which doesn't have or doesn't want to spend £400/£500.

I think it will be a winner.
That market includes me, though. I do want a tablet, and have looked at and been tempted by several. But when I boil it down, I'm not into spending £500 on it, because I won't get value for money, for me.

The same applied to e-readers. I watched them come in at several hundred pounds, and I said much the same thing (apart from the cloud bit), which was …. release one with the right features at the right price, and I'll buy. I also said, IIRC, a max of £100. I gave in with the Kindle 3 at £109, which bearing in mind it's primarily for work use, amounts to £92.77. The same applies to a tablet. I'm not interested in early-adopter premium-priced models, and I'm not interested in status-symbol Apple branding either, but the right model (spec and feature list/function) at the right price is something, unlike smartphones which don't appeal to me, that I'm positively waiting for. If the “Fire” ticks the right boxes, I'll buy. If not, I won't.

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