Amazon burns up Apple’s iPad model with the Kindle Fire

The iPad is actually the first PC-like product that Apple has aggressively priced since Steve Jobs turned Apple around. Why? It’ssubsidized by royalties and fees from accessories, media, and applications that surround it, allowing Apple to both provide an attractively priced product and maintain the high profits Apple investors have come to expect.The Kindle Fire takes this concept one huge step further: It’s basically a dedicated front door to Amazon that every Fire user will carry with them.

This is something an online retailer can do that neither Apple nor another hardware maker can do as successfully, because as Apple demonstrated, making this work is about the store.A full-service retailer will have more opportunity to make money than a specialist shop.Granted, people will still need to get the product, but Amazon should be able to make more money through the Kindle Fire than Apple does through the iPad, if — and that’s a big “if” – Amazon can execute in line with Apple.

Amazon is all set to announce its long-awaited Android tablet this Wednesday, a device that is projected to give the iPad the biggest run for its money yet. Now, TechCrunch is reporting the tablet is to be named the Kindle Fire.

Rumor has it the Kindle Fire (which doesn’t signal a discontinuation of the original eInk Kindles, don’t worry) resembles a much-improved BlackBerry PlayBook. As reported, it will run Android but Amazon is using its own skin that gives the software a unique experience and distinguish it from the host of other Android tablets. We’ll get a glimpse at the model this Wednesday, but the tablets won’t launch until November — just in time for the holiday shopping season and right on target with those original rumors.

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