Last year it seemed as though everyone was certain Amazon would follow up the success of the Kindle Fire with an Amazon branded smartphone to take on the iPhone. Instead, Jeff Bezos unleashed the Kindle Fire HD on the world.
The rumor mill is back with more Amazon smartphone rumors, as a new report claims Amazon is getting close to finishing its smartphone that will launch later this year.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets have been some of the best competition to the iPad, mostly because they’re cheap but come with good software. It seems like Amazon would sell the Kindle for as cheap as possible if it meant taking a slice of Apple’s pie.
Earlier this morning, a rumor was floated by TechCrunch that Amazon is making a $99 tablet to compete with the iPad mini. It sounded crazy at the time because the Kindle Fire is already $130 cheaper than the iPad mini. Turns out that the rumor was too good to be true and Amazon’s already shot it down.
Thanks to affordable offerings like the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7, Android tablets continue to increase their market share and claw away at the iPad’s lead. However, Apple’s tablet remains king of the web, accounting for a whopping 87% of tablet web traffic in North America.
With the official launch of the iPad mini fast approaching this Friday, Amazon put an anti-iPad mini ad on their homepage praising the specs of the Kindle Fire HD against those found in the iPad mini.
The Kindle Fire HD is undoubtedly cheaper, and a good buy, but the move seemed a bit uncharacteristic of Amazon, who usually doesn’t engage in product comparisons. Amazon has since pulled the ad and it’s nowhere to be found on their website.
Today, Google announced two new Nexus tablets — the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 — which will go head-to-head with more established competitors like the iPad, the iPad mini and the Kindle Fire HD. But how do they stack up?
Despite apparently record sales of the 7-inch Kindle Fire the day after Apple debuted the iPad mini, Amazon is taking to the low-road in order to direct shoppers on its website away from Cupertino’s new mini-sized tablet.
How? They’ve posted a comparison chart to the front page of Amazon.com showing how the Kindle Fire HD and iPad mini stack up, spec-for-spec.
Microsoft’s new Surface RT tablet made its debut today, just three days after Apple announced the new fourth-generation iPad and iPad mini. If you’re not completely dedicated to iOS, you’re probably having a hard time decided which tablet to go for.
To help you make your decision, we’ve put together a handy chart that compares the Surface RT with some of the most popular tablets on sale right now, including the new iPads, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, the Google Nexus 7, and more.
The iPad Mini was announced today, and frankly, it missed the mark. The iPad Mini will simply have no effect on non-Apple users. Apple needed to go $299 or less to make the iPad Mini seep into consumers heads and play devil’s advocate. At $329, that simply isn’t going to happen.
When two of the biggest companies in tech are hardcore frememies, it’s nearly impossible to find the middle ground to reconcile. Samsung and Apple are trying to break things off entirely, even though they need each other.
In the latest news on their breakup, Samsung has said that they will end their LCD panel supply relationship with Apple as of next year. The stated reason behind Samsung breaking ties with Apple is that Apple’s supply pricing strategy provides Samsung with insufficient margins.
Apple has reportedly placed an order for 10 million iPad mini units ahead of its much-anticipated launch this fall, according to component suppliers in Asia speaking to The Wall Street Journal. The figure indicates that Apple expects the device to be a big seller this holiday season, despite strong competition from the likes of Amazon and Google.
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![Spec-By-Spec: How Do Google’s New Nexus Tablets Stack Up Against The iPad & Others [Chart]](http://www.cultofandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Screen-Shot-2012-10-29-at-1.55.48-PM.jpg)
![How Microsoft’s New Tablet Stacks Up Against iPad & Others [Chart]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tablet-pile-3650_610x407-e1351272060999.jpg "tablet-pile-3650_610x407")
![Why Apple’s iPad Mini Misses The Mark [Opinion]](http://www.cultofandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/missed_mark.jpeg)
![WSJ: Apple Orders 10 Million iPad Minis For This Fall’s Launch [Report]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/original-5.jpg "ipad mini concept 2")
