There is a lot of anticipation for Amazon’s new tablet line – the hope that someone will finally bring to market a tablet that can compete with the iPad.
Techcrunch just posted details on the new tech toy from Bezos and friends. Here are the details:
- 7″ full-color screen, no eInk – a 10″ version will be made available in 2012
- Runs a heavily customized version of Android 2.2 (no Honeycomb!)
- No camera
- 6GB of storage
- Two finger touch support (the iPad has 10 finger support)
- Wi-fi only (at least to start)
- Similar size and feel to the Kindle
- $249 price tag
The cost will be a major draw for those looking at a tablet, but don’t want to spend $500. The tablet will be a major way to give users the array of Amazon services – music, video, Android app store, games, cloud services, and more.
The tablet market has been lackluster outside of the iPad – and for good reason. No one has managed to come close integrating the content, the apps, device integration and the fluid user experience like Apple. The new Amazon tablet may be the first real challenger to the iPad.
The time frame on the new device could be as early as October – which would be great for Amazon. The online giant needs a few weeks to get the public interested in the tablets so they become hot ‘want’ items at Christmas time.