– April 7, 2011 Posted in: eReaders , Kindle , Tablets
Unless you have been hiding in some tech-free location in the wild of Borneo lately, you know that Amazon has opened their Android Appstore to supply games, business and productivity apps and other software to Android computer, tablet and smartphone owners. Then last week they announced the opening of Amazon Cloud storage for music that lets you access all your music files from any web access anywhere in the world. And you may have heard that Amazon recently placed an advertisement for five Android developers on Craigslist. The ad originated from Lab 126, which just so happens to be the department responsible for the Kindle.
Circumstantial evidence? Sure, but the evidence keeps piling in favor of an Android OS Kindle Tablet. It is the only logical step for Amazon, who has already perfected the Kindle store that allows for instant downloads of eBooks and games to their Kindle eReaders, and they added 3G access this year. The current Kindle 3G is a watered down tablet already. And since they have a captive audience for music downloads with their Cloud Music storage, eBook downloads with the Kindle store, and Android apps with the Android Appstore, they can lower the price on a tablet, since their margin comes in the form of digital downloads.
And for more evidence, how about the fact that just last year Amazon bought Touchco. The start-up tech company has a new technology that creates touch screens way cheaper than the iPad or iPhone has, and this new company was assimilated under the previously referenced Lab 126, which makes the Kindle.
Of course, denials are the standard “it (a Kindle tablet) is a long way off,” but Bezos didn’t categorically state a Kindle Android Tablet was not in the works either. With a dedicated user base of Amazon and Kindle lovers, a Kindle Tablet rollout would have to be the consumer electronics launch of the young century so far. And Bezos’ remarks sound eerily familiar to the “Apple is not developing Netbooks” speech Steve Jobs made right before they launched the Macbook Air 11 inch netbook .
With more than enough content, the best marketing model in online retail anywhere, and an audience already in love with everything they do, the fact that the Android Honeycomb OS was made specifically for Tablet PCs may explain why Amazon is honeying up to Google. Apple, Samsung, Motorola and the other major tablet players just have to hope it is later rather than sooner, but a Kindle Android Tablet is coming.
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