Apple sauce anyone?
After months of rumors, Amazon finally released some details of an approximate release time and pricing for its version of an Android pad. .
Not one but two tablets.
The first of these upcoming tablets will be 7-inch, with a dual core processor running the android operating system, and a price tag of $249. This is due this Fall. Later, Amazon is expected to release a 10.1-inch rival to the Ipad with a price somewhere in the $299-$349 range making it $150-$200 less than the Ipad.
Apple should be scared. If Amazon executes well, they have huge advantages. First, Amazon has no reason to make their buck on the hardware. For one thing, Amazon is a direct retailer .. in other words they do not need to hold onto a wholesale margin. To cut prices even further, Amazon can use something Apple still does not have … its own wireless store. Amazon competes directly with Buy.Com and its ilk by reselling Spriunt, Verizon, T-mobile, and AT&T service. Presumably the Amazon tablet would be sold with any of these contracts! Finally, Amazon makes money by selling stuff … not just music and videos , but software and hard mgoods. They likley could give the new things away in the form of some sort of sales gimmick with access to the “rest of Amazon.”
Maybe just applesauce?
Fortunately for Cupertino, the rumors from Seattle about this new Kindle suggest that Bezos may have decided to keep his focus on Barnes and Noble . and Amazon’s business rather than the wider cloud world of Internet based services shared by Google, Apple, and Microsoft. The device, the rumors say will only use a single core processor and have only 6 GB of memory. That suggests a device focused on selling Amazon stuff … not just books and music but all the clothes, groceries, kids toys, and home appliances. and applesauce?
The applesauce strategy is not so good for Apple. The key may be Whispernet. Whispernet is Amazon’s form of access to the net for the Kindle. Whispernet is free with current Kindles. This free service is possible becaus Kindles, at least so far, are not intended for live browsing. What Whispernet does do is allow the Kindle customer, for NO FEE, to download or store media on Amazon’s cloud. Whispernet is an ideal retail device that would undermine Apple’s investment in music and media. A
This strategy would be very good for two other companies … Google and Microsoft. For Google, the Kindle would be just one more platform that promotes their cloud of services. For Microsoft, this would mean the Kindle has no overlap with Redmond’s business poriented strategy.