CNET now says that four Kindle Fire 2 tablets are on their wayCNET's Brooke Crothers cites NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim, saying that Shim gets his information from sources in the "supply chain."
What Shim sees: '
- 7-inch Kindle Fire 2: 1,024x600 display, no camera; August production.
- 7-inch Kindle Fire 2: 1,280x800 display with camera; August production.
- 7-inch Kindle Fire 2: 1,280x800 display with camera and 4G; September production.
- 8.9-inch Kindle Fire 2: With 1,920x1,200 display; Q4 production. '
First, the #1 item on their listing (all these are said to be based on orders from makers) is more likely continued production of the to-be-cheaper $149 current model rather than of the Kindle 2.
I see no reason for Amazon to be doing a new Kindle 2 with the current display resolution and no camera. But it's been said they do plan to continue the current model as the economy model, which means they have to keep ordering it too.
The one coming out sometime in August would be the one with a 1280x800 display with camera.
And, as Apple did with their first iPad, they may add a 3G/4G model afterward; in this case, Shim is "seeing" - September for production.
The 8.9" one by the yr-end 4th Qtr Holidays -- all this needs to be taken with a grain of salt, remembering that recent CNet rumors were that the 10" one was coming year-end and that they were not moving after all on an 8.9" one. Since this is SAID to be based on orders from companies, this would seem stronger, but these things have been said before and didn't materialize. It could go either way, but I'm pretty sure they plan something larger by the Holidays for those who are not interested in the 7" size.
One thing for sure. Amazon won't be standing still.
Bloomberg says Amazon plans a smartphone as well
Bloomberg assigned three people to this story: Tim Culpan, OlgaKharif and Ashlee Vance
The story is that Amazon is developing an Android phone that would go up against Apple. Foxconn International Holdings Ltd is working with Amazon on the device, according to "two people with knowledge of the matter."
Amazon is said to be working on acquiring patents covering wireless technology, but they're not commenting on this. The writers also say that Mark Mahaney, a Citicorp analyst, had said back in November that Amazon was planning to release a smartphone. Many others said this as well.
The Bloomberg story explains it quite a bit more.
Those who want to read even more speculation on this should go to Computerworld's story by IT blogwatcher Richi Jennings, who put together a collection of information and speculation he found.
Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links
| US: Kindle Fire 7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web | UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149 Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB | OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189 Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB |
Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers. Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
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I don't think I'll be getting any of these tablets, but would be interested in the smartphone—if—Amazon is able to offer rational phone/data plans that meet my usage requirements. For example free tethering, texting, treating both voice and data as 'data', essentially just paying for a certain amount of bandwidth.
ReplyDeleteTom, it would -seem- that if any company can get a decent deal out of some of these carriers, it'd be Amazon, judging from what they did with the Kindle Keyboard 3G's free 3G that has built-in data-size limiting because it's so slow :-) but on the other hand, no other e-reader ever supplied 3G for web browsing at any slow speed even.
DeleteWould make sense, as you say, to have tiers of bandwidth availablity or even free tethering up to whatever limits make sense. I pay $20/mo for my tethering capability and it's been really worth it when I needed it, but it's still a high extra expense.