Amazon unveils Kindle Fire

Amazon unveiled its tablet computer, the US$199 Android-based Kindle Fire, on Wednesday while a Manhattan launch event.

The Wi-Fi-only tablet has 8GB of storage

The Wi-Fi-only tablet has 8GB of storage, with a 1GHz dual-core Texas Instruments' OMAP, during the display is backlit LCD with a resolution of 1024 x 600. The Fire has a 7-inch multitouch LCD display and weighs 14.6 ounces. It has apps for Amazon storefronts, including its Android app store, MP3, video and cloud services. Unlike iPad 2 and other competitors, the Fire does not have a camera or microphone, nevertheless its price and Amazon's proven content will truly make it a serious threat to steal market share. It comes with free cloud storage for data back up.

Bezos demonstrated a high-definition movie playing on the tablet, and the Fruit Ninja game being played. The display can show 16 million colors and is based on Gorilla Glass innovation for extra protection. TI's dual-core OMAP processor is based on an ARM processor design, which is found in most tablets today including Apple's iPad.

"For 15 years we've been building our media business," Bezos said. "We have strong digital offers in every media category."

Crowded tablet market dominated

Kindle Fire joins a crowded tablet market dominated by Apple's iPad, which is projected to have a 73.4 percent market share by the end of the year, according to innovation firm Gartner. Gartner expects worldwide tablet sales of 63.6 million units this year, a 261.4 percent increase from the previous year. Tablet sales should reach 326.3 million units by 2015, Gartner said.

The iPad has an attractive user interface and cohesive set of software, entertainment and services, which has given it an edge over rivals just as tablets based on Google's Android OS. Adoption problems have dogged Android tablets because of high prices and lack of software and services. Nevertheless Amazon could sell 3 million to 5 million tablets by the end of the year, given the price of the Kindle Fire, Epps said, previously the price was openly known. She said at the time that if Amazon priced its tablet pursuant to this agreement $300 it could reach those numbers.

The touch capabilities are based on infrared innovation, and makes it easier to switch pages, he said. Tapping can as well help switch pages in an e-book easily -- tapping the top side of the screen loads the menu, tapping the small area on the left side moves to previous pages, and tapping the lower right area moves a page forward.