Here Comes the New Kindle (Probably)

...and it's totally OK with that

(NEWSER) - The Kindle Fire is officially available as of today, which means Amazon is officially losing money on it. At NPR , Zoe Chace crunches the surprising numbers: The tablet has a $199 price tag—touted as less than half of that of an iPad. But research firm IHS iSuppli tallied all the individual pieces and came up with a $209.63 price tag. That's for materials and manufacturing ... not marketing or content licensing deals, meaning the true grand total is actually higher. And CNN reports that analysts think Amazon could sell 5 million Kindle Fires before 2011 wraps up. 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.

Amazon's offering will be significantly cheaper than most tablets

(NEWSER) - Amazon is introducing its new Kindle Fire tablet in New York, but Bloomberg got some details—and Mashable got a picture—early. For one thing, the $199 price tag is lower than rumored. It will feature a 7-inch display and WiFi capability, but no 3G, camera, or microphone. A free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, the company’s premium membership service, will be offered along with the device. More»

But tablet not ready to ship until second week of November

(NEWSER) - It’s long been rumored , and tomorrow Amazon.com’s Kindle tablet will finally be announced. The iPad competitor will be called the “Kindle Fire,” TechCrunch reports, and it will resemble BlackBerry’s PlayBook with a 7-inch backlit display. The custom version of Android it will use “looks nothing like Android,” writes MG Siegler, and most of the big apps should be available by the time it launches in November. Amazon also has deals for magazines and streaming movies and TV shows, and Amazon’s MP3 service and Kindle bookstore will also provide available content. More»

More than 11,000 libraries have signed up

(NEWSER) - Kindle users will be able to go to the virtual library soon. A new feature scheduled to launch later this year will allow anyone with a Kindle (or a phone with the Kindle app) to download e-books from their local libraries for free for a limited span of time, USA Today reports. Library e-books have been available to users of Barnes & Noble's Nook and Sony's Reader, and the Kindle Library Lending Feature brings Amazon in line with those rivals, notes the Financial Times . More»