If you passed on the Kindle Fire because you felt its 7-inch display was too small, then you may be in luck with this latest rumor. According to China Times, Amazon is said to be working on a 10-inch version of the hottest selling Android tablet on the market, which is slated to release sometime in the second quarter.
If true, this suggest that the Kindle maker would be competing directly with the iPad when it comes to size and form factor. Like all rumors this needs to be taken with a grain of salt until more concrete evidence comes to light. When it comes to specs, no one knows what this slate will carry; all that’s being said is Foxconn will supposedly manufacture this larger tablet which will launch in the summer.
I don’t believe for one second that Amazon is in some sort of trouble when it comes to manufacturing costs stifling the company’s profits, as the company made the smart decision to sell folks on its brand not its hardware. Still, the Kindle Fire was essentially a repurposed PlayBook and by building the next one from scratch, it could actually save money. While that may seem counter-intuitive, Amazon may be able to make large component purchases which could ultimately make a larger Kindle Fire cheaper to build.
That said, I don’t think Amazon needs to come up with a 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire. What makes the Fire appeal to people is it looks nothing like any iPad or Android tablet, in my opinion, making a 10-inch model not only lessons the brand but makes things unnecessarily costly. Ultimately, this could turn people off from purchasing the 10-inch slate because it may come off like Amazon is trying to mimic Apple’s tab, which is something every other tablet maker does already.
[ChinaTimes via Pocketnow]