In my recent post titled “The Paperback of Tablets” I wrote about my belief in the 7 inch tablet, as well as Amazon. It is my belief that Amazon has the retail chops to successfully compete with Apple. They understand the retail market better than Apple, and almost as well as Walmart. My guess is they will be the company that takes the tablet into the mainstream, and a recent blog post by Nick Bolton increased my confidence in this prediction.
Mr. Bolton writes..
Amazon has also been working hard to offer a device that is competitively priced compared to other tablets. The person who works the company said Amazon plans to offer its Kindle tablet at a lower price than the Apple iPad, which costs between $500 and $830 depending on memory size and 3G capabilities.
To do this, Amazon is building its tablet with the bare necessities inside. Limiting memory capacity, peripherals and choosing to skip a built-in camera in the device, this person said.
According to an Amazon executive with close ties to Mr. Bezos, who could not be named because of his senior role in the company, Mr. Bezos made a decision after the iPad launched last year to try to lure customers onto the Kindle platform by offering less expensive devices.
There are only 14 million IPads out there, which means that there are millions 0f customers yet to be lured into the market. This tablet competition has only just begun, which is good for the consumer. I wish Amazon luck, and hope they catch a vision for the 7 inch tablet…this is an untapped market Apple ignores.
Note: The Motley Fool just supported this position saying, “Amazon Can Beat Apple“
Note: Reports that Kindle will provide Library lending proving Amazon understands the market in a way Apple doesn’t.
