Analysts said there are few comparable tablets at such a low cost as the new Amazon Fire. Amazon.com introduced a tablet of $ 49.99, a price that analysts estimate is low enough to highlight in a crowded market and will attract more consumers to its online services. The new tablet Fire, one of the new and improved devices launched by Amazon, has a 17 cm screen and a front and rear camera. The device will be marketed in late September.
“There is a part of the market (tablet) that is growing right now and there are tablets under $ 100, “said Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon devices, adding that the Fire HD device the company was selling last year was $ 99. Analysts said there are few comparable tablets as low as the cost of the new Fire. The apparatus includes a quad processor and storage capacity of 12 gigabytes.
“The lesson we learned from consumer electronics is that when the market matures, consumers opt for the cheaper an if you know this will happen, you might want to go in there, “said James McQuivey, Forrester principal analyst.
Amazon posted a depreciation of $ 170 million in the third quarter of 2014 after struggling to sell its inventory of smartphones, with a cost of $ 200 per unit. The company says it does not seek to make a profit with the Fire devices, but uses them to attract more customers for their services, like Prime, which is a purchase program for $ 99 per year.
The Fire tablet will also be available in a special edition for children (Kids Edition) – is the same model, but with a bulky protective cover. It will cost US $ 100 and comes with a two year warranty. Although this costs twice as much as the regular Fire, it is guaranteed by which Amazon will replace it for two years if you break it.
For the extra money, the Kids Edition also comes with a one year free subscription to Fire Amazon for Kids Unlimited, which includes a lot of books, apps and games focused on children and education. Disney and Nickelodeon are some of the brands that are part of this service, with popular titles such as Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants.
The service also includes a web browser with parental controls to give your children access to websites and YouTube channels that have been set by Amazon and researchers as suitable for children. Also, you can add other websites yourself if you agree that your children may see them.
On Thursday, Amazon also unveiled a new line of Fire HD tablets 8 and 10 inches and enhanced Fire TV devices.