The Amazon Android tablets are almost definitely coming soon and a new report from DigiTimes suggests that the company is preparing to have 1.2 million tablets ready by the third quarter. This would put it behind only one other tablet maker: Apple.
DigiTimes has been hit or miss with these types of things before but it generally is spot on with supplier information. The report said:
Among orders from non-iPad vendors, those from Amazon are said to be the most positive, with demand for touch panels likely to reach two million units for the August-September period, the sources indicated, noting that shipments of tablet PCs to Amazon are expected to reach 1-1.2 million units by a conservative estimate in the third quarter.
The Amazon Android tablets are still pretty much under wraps but a few things seem certain: it will run Android and it should be powered by the NVIDIA Tegra processors. We’ve heard reports that this portfolio will include a 10-inch tablet that will rock the upcoming quad-core Kal-El chip and the 7-inch tablet should have the dual-core Tegra 2 chipset. The smaller one could possibly be branded with the Kindle label but I’m not sure on that one.
The thing about Amazon is that it could offer an extremely compelling tablet experience without even offering Google services. While I would hate to miss out on Gmail, YouTube and the Android Market, the company has its own Appstore, music service and it could bring its streaming movie and television service to these devices.
It will be an interesting summer for the tablet wars.