Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Will Compete With iPad By Relying Heavily On The Cloud

By

Amazon-Kindle-Cloud-Reader-web-app

Amazon’s upcoming Kindle tablet may have cracked one of the toughest nuts facing companies hoping to compete with Apple’s lean, mean iPad supply machine: cost. The Internet retailer may rely heavily on the cloud to store ebooks, as well as stream music and video, weekend reports suggest.

The $250 Amazon Kindle device is expected to be released later this month, providing consumers access to the firm’s Cloud Player and Prime Video Services. Now it appears Kindle Tablet users will be able to store documents, ebooks, music and video on the cloud, rather than in the device’s small amount (a rumored 6GB) of flash memory. Amazon recently referred to “Pdocs_Archival_Support” as well as “Prime ebooks” via the company’s “Manage Your Kindle” page, according to The Digital Reader.

The only question is whether Amazon can obtain for its tablet the same free cellular service found in its Kindle 3G ereader. The strong cloud presence could set the Kindle tablet apart from the many iPad competitors, but could also be the weakest link in Amazon’s strategy to upset Apple’s current dominance.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.