We already know that Amazon will be taking the tablet fight to Apple at some point this year with their own iPad-style device, but it looks as though we now know when it will be.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told us to “stay tuned” for an Amazon tablet device back in May, and shortly after we heard there would be two tablets coming to the market, codenamed “Coyote” and “Hollywood”.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Amazon will be launching a tablet device of their own before October, coinciding with the suspected release of Apple’s next iPad and in time for the run-up to Christmas. The tablet will be based on Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system and will feature a screen of “around 9 inches” – most likely 9.4 inches. The report also confirms that Amazon’s tablet, like the original Apple iPad, won’t feature a camera of any sort.
It will, however, feature Amazon’s collection of premium services including Kindle e-books, Amazon Cloud Player music storage, Amazon App Store and of course digital downloads of music, video and film through Amazon.com.
WSJ’s source, who is familiar with Amazon’s plans, confirmed that Amazon wouldn’t be designing or manufacturing the device – almost the entire process will be outsourced to an Asian manufacturer (Samsung, anyone?).
Amazon has been slowly building up an entire ecosystem suitable for tablet, smartphone and even e-reader products. They now have a digital library of music and video to rival Apple’s iTunes, an App Store, Kindle to rival Apple’s iBooks service and Cloud Player which will go head to head with Apple iCloud later this year. Can Amazon take on the might of Apple?
Via: AppleInsider