Amazon Officially Unveils the 'Kindle Fire' Tablet for $200; Amazon Stocks Rise

[dgstorm]

This morning, Amazon held its press event, and officially unveiled the Amazon Android Tablet the 'Kindle Fire'. This confirms some rumors we brought you earlier this week. As we previously reported, this initial tablet will be WiFi only, and will not have 3G. It is also confirmed to be a 7-inch tablet running a customized version of Android, and will not have a camera or microphone. Their announcement didn't share anymore technical details of the tablet. They did indicate that the tablet will come at a shockingly low price of just $199.99, and will include a free 30-day subscription to Amazon Prime's premium subscription service, which normally sells for $79 dollars per year.

This pricing is obviously designed to compete aggressively with the Apple iPad which sells for $499.99. In an interview last week, Brian Blair, an analyst at Wedge Partners Corp. in New York, said, "Amazon is really the only other guy, the only other potential tablet player, that has a similar offering to what Apple has. If you look across their product offerings, they have content that none of the other tablet makers currently have because they have content on the media side." Amazon shares rose by $8.59, (3.8 percent), to $232.80 on the news.

Update: Here are the tablet's full specs:

• 7 inch IPS 1024×600 resolution display with 169 PPI
• 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm) at 14.6 ounces (413 grams)
• dual-core processor (we’re hearing it’s of the TI OMAP4 variety)
• 8GB of internal storage
• Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback (charges in four hours and can be charged using a USB port on your PC)
• 802.11b/g/n WiFi (no ad-hoc support)
• microUSB 2.o
• 3.5mm headphone jack and top-mounted external speakers

Update: According to industry sources you will be able to pre-order the Amazon Kindle Fire starting today, and it will ship on November 15th.

Source: Bloomberg

[wicked]

Wow, that is a great pricepoint. I think this will be a big hit.