Apple iPad 3 Release Date: Will New Cheap Amazon Kindle Tablet Break iPad's Domination?
Apple’s domination of the tablet market may be set to be challenged by Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which was revealed today for less than half the price of an iPad.
The Kindle Fire was launched as part of four new devices by Amazon. The entry level Kindle was launched at $79 along with the Kindle Fire, which is set to sell for just $199.
Amazon’s website has already started taking pre-orders for the Kindle Fire, which will start shipping Nov. 15. It will also come with a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, which is a $79 annual membership for two-day shipping and extra content.
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The 7-inch Kindle Fire may kill all sales of other Android tablets. Last month, there were reports of frenzied consumers trying to buy HP’s Touchpad for only $99. The device was sold out everywhere within days. It is a proven fact that the cost of tablets may be the most important factor that can get consumers to part with their cash.
"What we are doing is offering premium products at non-premium prices," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Bloomberg Business Week.
Other tablet contenders "have not been competitive on price" and "have just sold a piece of hardware. We don't think of the Kindle Fire as a tablet. We think of it as a service," Bezos added.
However, Apple is still rumored to be set to lead the tablet market worldwide until 2015. Earlier this week, research firm Gartner predicts that Apple will dominate the Tablet market until 2014. The current global tablet market is very strong with the firm predicting 63.6 million tablets to be sold worldwide this year, up from 17.6 million units sold last year.
Apple is expected to lead the tablet market, selling 73 percent of tablets worldwide this year, reaching a total of 46.7 million. Apple expects to hold over 50 percent of the market share until 2014.
Tablet sales are expected to reach 326.3 million units by 2015, according to Gartner.
