DigiTimes: Amazon to unveil tablet to compete with iPad later this year

More competition, the better. Bring it on, Amazon.

bring it on!!!

O.K. here is the question that all these tablet-want-to-be's have to answer before they will start getting sales. Apple created the iPad, it has the most applications, the most accessories, and by everyone's reviews, its a great device at a reasonable price.

So the question ISN'T why should I buy the Amazon tablet. No, the question is why shouldn't I buy the Apple iPad? Other tablets seem to believe that if they are as good as an iPad, everyone will buy them, but not true. An iPad is no-risk, all these others involve some risk, so a copy tablet must be so fantastic where people will be willing to risk the purchase and that just hasn't happened. Until then, tell me why I shouldn't buy an iPad, not why I should buy these others.

Wouldn't Amazon be better off holding the ground they have rather than leaving to fight Apple on their home turf?

I would think the better approach would be to bring the kindle price down to 30-40 dollars and flood the market. Get everyone and their grandma on the Amazon DRM and then let them read the books on ipad, ipods, kindles, whatever. Just get iBooks buried and B&N out of the market and you have a win. Why fight Apple where they have the advantage?

"If anyone could take on the iPad, it just might be Amazon."

you mean, because Amazon is known for being an innovative technology design and manufacturing corporation? you might as well say that Vizio can take on the iPad because they have billions of potential cheap laborers and sell hundreds of thousands of cheap TVs.

you're comparing Apple to oranges...

Jeff Bezos is a smart guy and Amazon is a good company. But the difference between an iPad and a Kindle is like the difference between a car and a bicycle. If Amazon can pull it off, more power to them; but I'll believe it when I see it.

From a tech perspective, it makes some sense. Amazon already has a marketplace for books, music, movies/TV, a cloud-based music repository (that they did without the blessing of the industry) and an Android app marketplace. They have a robust (well - when it doesn't crash), global infrastructure that includes billing mechanisms. So, technically speaking, they have all the elements necessary to compete with Apple with a tablet.

That said, if I were Amazon, I'd sooner partner with some other company to build a tightly integrated tablet experience. That would leverage Amazon's marketplace capabilities (including hardware sales/distribution) with the actual hardware development coming from some other big industry name.

I'm not sure if it'll be "too little, too late" for Amazon, but out of anyone else out there, they do have all the other marketplace expertise in place already. The big question is how will Amazon distinguish themselves from Apple. You can't win by introducing another "me too" product.

Safe to file this one under "no duh!". The appstore, the cloud player, the nook getting froyo? The next kindle will be a tablet. Amazon really wants to take this on and be more than just the best 'non-iPad' tablet? Find a way to offer a full color/multitouch screen AND the eInk screen for kindle reading.