Amazon unveiled the 7-inch Fire, a $49.99 tablet computer, Thursday to attract consumers who can't afford or don't want to purchase the more expensive Internet-connected devices made by Apple and other competitors.
This is the most aggressive effort of Amazon to challenge Apple, which has been the market leader from the time when its first iPad went on sale five years ago. 7-inch Fire is the cheapest version of the iPad, the iPad Mini 2, which costs $269. Also cheaper than Fire HD 6, Amazon's most affordable tablet currently on the market that costs $99.99. Amazon said that the Fire tablet is two times more robust than the iPad, determined by so-called tumble tests.
Apple got the advantage on Amazon last week when it showed off its latest iPhone, an iPad with a 12-inch screen and a long-delayed update of its TV-streaming box for Internet video and music. Amazon tried to counter the iPhone's fame with its own smartphone last year, but it never caught on. The company no longer sells its Fire phone, though it's still available in other online stores.
Amazon's senior vice president of devices, David Limp, said that the tablet focus is in and around content consumption. Amazon hopes to sell to family in bulk, offering six tablets for the price of five at $249.95. Regardless of that the phone's flop, Limp insisted "there's a lot of good things happening across (Amazon's) device business."
The latest product arrive in time for the holiday season and shortly after Amazon reported laid off dozens of engineers who worked on the company's first Smartphone. As with its prior inexpensive tablets, the latest Fire device will show ads on its screen saver. Avoiding the ads will cost an extra $15. In addition to the new Fire tablet, Amazon also announced Thursday upgrades to its streaming hardware, Fire TV.
