Internet retailer Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) plans
to introduce a tablet computer that will focus on serving up ads, a report in
the Wall Street Journal said.
The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Bensinger wrote that
Amazon would be able to sell the device at a discount to other tablets by
displaying ads when the tablet woke up from sleep, presumably delivered over a
WiFi connection.
Amazon is scheduled to address the media on September
6 and it is widely expected that it will be launching a new version of its
Kindle Fire, running on Google's Android operating software.
At present Amazon's Kindles with Special Offers is the
only device that approaches anywhere close to an ad-supported portable device.
Apple's iPad has a dominant share of the tablet PC
market and other players in the market such as Amazon and Google have been
trying to make inroads into the segment with cheaper versions that could give
consumers the same user experience.
Price is among the major factors that analysts believe
competitors can use to combat the iPad.
Bensinger writes it’s not exactly clear just what the
device’s final price may be. The current Kindle Fire starts at $199, while the
cheapest iPad starts at $399.
According to Robert Hof, writing in Forbes.com -
"Assuming the ad-supported Amazon tablet actually launches, what took so
long? Well, for one, tablets are still a pretty new category, so perhaps it
just took a while to work out the economics. Also, it’s possible that the ad
formats on each tablet have to be so unique that it’s hard to get marketers
interested at a more than experimental scale. Not least, a lot of people may
figure that if they’re already paying a couple hundred dollars or more for a
device, having to watch ads as well is a step too far."
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