Amazon to Launch iPad Rival by This Fall

Amazon's lower prices might make the difference: report

(NEWSER) - Priced well below the iPad at $200, Amazon's Kindle Fire could help its fellow Android tablets outsell Apple's devices by 2016, says research firm IDC in a report picked up by Wired . In the fourth quarter of last year, Apple accounted for 54.7% of tablet shipments, compared to the Kindle Fire's 16.8%. But that's still a healthy figure. "Not only did (Amazon) ship a lot of units at a very aggressive price, but they actually helped broaden the market in general," says an analyst. More»

It'll be a competitor, but Apple has little to fear

(NEWSER) - Amazon’s new Kindle Fire has been getting a lot of hype as an “iPad killer,” but Apple shouldn’t exactly be quaking in its boots, opines John Paul Titlow of ReadWriteWeb . “As far as hardware is concerned, the Kindle Fire looks more like a cross between the Nook and the BlackBerry Playbook than an iPad copycat.” It’s got no camera, no 3G, no microphone, no accelerometer, and it’s smaller to boot. More»

Wait time now up to three weeks

(NEWSER) - More than a million eager pairs of hands will be gripping the third version of the iPad on its launch day this Thursday, analysts predict. Some 300,000 models of the first iPad were sold on its first day in 2010, and while Apple didn't release launch-day figures for the iPad 2, executives said they were hit with the "mother of all backlogs," PC World notes. Shipping dates for the new tablet, which was unveiled last week , are now behind up to three weeks. More»

Even if new version doesn't seem much different: Dan Frommer

(NEWSER) - Sure, Apple's new iPad may seem only an incremental improvement over its predecessor. But for the company, yesterday's rollout was a very big deal, asserts Dan Frommer at ReadWriteWeb . The new device ensures Apple remains the undisputed king of tablets both in terms of quality and price. And with its powerful hold on the tablet market, Apple has a "rare and tremendous opportunity" essentially "to build something bigger than the PC industry ever was." More»

Flash lovers, rejoice!

(NEWSER) - Surely you’ve heard by know that Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet isn’t an iPad killer . But it does have a few desirable traits that the iPad doesn’t. The Huffington Post lists six of them:

• It supports Flash: Many iPad and iPhone users wish that Apple would take a page from Amazon’s playbook when it comes to this.
• It’s cheaper: A Kindle Fire (which does not offer 3G) will run you $199. For the cheapest iPad 2 model, which also does not offer 3G, you’ll shell out $499.