Amazon's Fire Tablet Won't Rival iPad

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What’s the Latest Development?

Amazon has released a tablet computer designed to take advantage of the company’s substantial Internet infrastructure. It is the first tablet computer expected to excel in a marketplace dominated by the iPad. “Amazon is competing on ‘price, content, and commerce,’ Rotman Epps notes, drawing in video, music, games, magazines, apps and a free 30-day subscription to Amazon Prime.” Called the Kindle Fire, the new tablet will rely on Amazon’s cloud computing services to read books, watch films and surf the Web.

What’s the Big Idea?

Since Apple released its iPad, numerous companies have released tablet computers eerily similar to the original. Samsung, for example, has been prevented from selling its tablet in Germany after Apple alleged copyright violations in court. Amazon’s new tablet is the first not to take the iPad as its starting point. Already a leader in many areas of Internet sales, it has designed a device suited to those areas. “This isn’t an iPad-killer. The Kindle Fire can be very successful without killing anything,” said Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg.

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