Many look to Amazon's tablet launch to ignite the flame of competition against iPad. While the new Kindle Fire features a 7" colour IPS display (2-point multitouch), 8GB memory, a dual-core processor and a $199 price point, it's not the hardware that excites the market but the Amazon platform, the ability to supply content and apps in a cloud infrastructure that rivals or even surpasses Apple's.
Amazon also provides a 30-day free trial to Amazon Prime, its video on demand subscription service.
Speaking to Bloomberg Businessweek, Jeff Bezos describes the Kindle Fire not as a tablet but "as a service."
Confirming earlier rumours the Kindle Fire carries an Amazon-themed version of Android-- with a different UI tying the device to the Amazon digital media library and shopfront, while Amazon Cloud Storage handles free storage.
Of course the Amazon App Store will handle, well, apps.
Overall, the device looks very similar to the Blackberry PlayBook-- lending weight to reports from GDGT saying the Kindle Fire comes from the same company behind the PlayBook, Quanta.
The GDGT report's sources also insist the tablet is "pretty poor" and only a "stopgap" trying to grab some holiday sales from Apple.
Amazon also reveals 2 new Kindle e-readers-- the Kindle Touch (with an IR touch display and smaller body) and a "dirt cheap" non-touchscreen ad-supported Kindle selling for $79.99.
Go Amazon Unveils Kindle Fire Tablet (Bloomberg)
Go The Omnivore interview with Jeff Bezos (Bloomberg Businessweek)
