LOS ANGELES — Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet was finally
introduced Wednesday. It will sell for $199, feature a 7-inch touch
screen and ship on Nov. 15.
The Fire will run on, as expected, a unique version of Google Android developed by Amazon.
The
first tablet from the world’s largest online retailer has been
anticipated for months as the first device that really might be able to
challenge Apple’s iPad, given Amazon’s ability not only to sell hardware
at a low price, but also to offer a full suite of downloadable music,
movies, TV shows, e-books and applications.
A look
at the specs of the Kindle Fire reaffirms the idea that the focus of
this tablet is consuming media — and consuming it directly from Amazon.
Amazon
has tailored the Android operating system to look unlike any other
version of Android out there, with Amazon’s media and app store the
focus of the user experience.
The tablet has a
dual-core processor and 8 gigabytes of storage, but no camera or 3G
connection, and its screen is just a two-point touch screen versus the
iPad’s ability to handle up to 10 points of touch at a time.
Amazon began taking pre-orders for the Kindle Fire on Wednesday.
Buyers
of the Fire will get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, the Seattle
online retailer’s $79 yearly service that provides free video streaming
and free shipping for items purchased from Amazon.com.
Jeff
Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, announced the Kindle Fire at an event in New York
on Wednesday, after Bloomberg reported details of the specs earlier in
the day and released the first official image of the device.
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