Amazon Android Tablet to Sell for “Hundreds Less” Than Cheapest iPad 2

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Recent rumors and reports have claimed that Amazon is finally ready to launch at least one new original product this fall. And it will not be a new Kindle eBook reader.

The company will release its first Android tablet “in late September or October” according to people familiar with the matter, and the unnamed device will sell “for hundreds less than the entry-point $499 iPad,” a rumor we’ve also heard before. The cheapest iPad model available, not counting refurbished models or previous-generation tablets that sell for less than the official entry-level price, costs $499, a price point generally adopted by most Apple competitors. Motorola learned that the hard way as its Xoom, despite offering some superior hardware features, hit stores with a higher price tag. Before deciding webOS devices are not worth investing in anymore, and subsequently selling the available tablet stock for as low as $99 a pop, HP tried to lure customers in with cheaper TouchPads. That strategy didn’t work for the device, and, despite being priced as low as $299 in certain stores, it didn’t became a best-seller. It hit that status only after HP pulled the webOS plug. Amazon on the other hand may have a better chance of selling a tablet for a lot less than that “official” $499 starting price. The giant retailer is counting on recouping initial losses from content purchased by future tablet buyers. The company already operates video on-demand, music and app stores, not to mention having its own cloud computing service already open to the general public. Therefore Amazon could be posing a threat not only to Apple, but most importantly to most prominent Android tablet makers like Samsung, Motorola, LG or HTC. It’ll be interesting to see whether a $299 high-end Amazon Android tablet (and I’m speculating on price here) will convince millions of customers to purchase. In case such a price change would be beneficial to the company we can expect direct competitors, maybe Apple included, to considering lowering prices for their tablets in the near future. Therefore, whether an Android fan or not, one should definitely applaud this rumored Amazon initiative as it could benefit all tablet consumers, especially considering the current state of the worldwide economy. Anyone particularly interested in a future Kindle Scribe, which is what we’ll call this unborn in lack of an official name?