Nobody wanted the HP Touchpad, even Best Buy wanted to return them to HP. They gathered dust. They weren’t even that expensive, relatively, with the lowest 16GB model costing $399. However, once HP decided to kill off the tablets and sell them for $99, they became the hottest tablet on the market and sold out everywhere. The tablet market is already quite crowded and at the bottom end, 10-inch tablets have been forced down to $350 (Eee Pad Transformer). Amazon will be entering the market pretty soon with a couple of tablets, but unlike every other manufacturer they can actually afford to sell at a loss and make up the difference, and maybe more, with their vast online digital content – and this is what they are rumored to be doing.
In fact, according to a source with knowledge of Amazon’s plans over at the New York Post, that price could possibly be as low as $99, like the HP, or as high as $299, as said source says Amazon’s tablet will sell for “hundreds less” than the entry level iPad, which goes for $499. Probably more towards the higher end since the last rumor we heard pointed out the tablet would sell for 20% – 25% off.
Amazon’s got two upcoming tablets, one 7-inch, another 10-inch but we don’t know for sure which one Amazon will launch first. Numerous rumors all point to the 7-inch launching first, something in September if not October, with the 10-inch tablet launching next year, if not by the end of 2011. The last time we heard about one of the Amazon tablets, it was said to be towards the budget end, in terms of parts used except that it most likely won’t skimp on a good quality display since reading is the top priority on the tablet.
Source: New York Post
Via: Droid Life
