firing

Amazon Kindle Fire 2 tablet rumor roundup

Amazon shook up the tablet scene with the release of the Kindle Fire tablet in 2011. With one of the most popular tablets on the market, rumors are already swirling about Amazon's next move. The release of Google's Nexus 7 tablet at the same price point of the first-generation Kindle Fire has increased the competitive climate; not to mention the seemingly never-ending reign of the Apple iPad as the king of tablets. Will Amazon make another relevant and successful tablet? Will there be three different versions of the Kindle Fire? What about 4G? In anticipation of the expected … Read more

Amazon's new Kindle Fire ad: Beautifully dull

Amazon is like the inoffensive, reliable guy that women never fall in love with but often marry.

He's handy around the house. He does the shopping. He knows that if you like "50 Shades of Grey," you're likely to enjoy "51 Shades of Pink" -- or whatever the sequel is called.

So as the brand continues to eke out its nice, almost invisible reliability -- with sensible, affordable little tablets -- it might pretend that it's more exciting than it really is.

And yet, as it launched its new Kindle Fires today to … Read more

Amazon lights a new Fire under iPad

Thursday's tech news roundup has a glow about it:

Amazon unveiled several new Kindles on Thursday. Here's the quick breakdown with links to the full first-take reviews:

• The new Kindle Fire HD comes in three flavors. There's a 7-inch model with 16 GB of memory for $199, and it ships Sept. 14. Coming out late November is a larger 8.9-inch model with 16GB of memory, selling for $299. If you want double that memory and the option for 4G LTE wireless, that'll cost $499 -- the same as a new iPad. • That 4G LTE wireless … Read more

Amazon assaults iPad turf with high-end Kindle Fire HD

SANTA MONICA, Calif.-- Perhaps the most unexpected news to come from Amazon's Kindle-fest here today was its announcement of a $499 tablet that runs on the zippy 4G LTE wireless network.

The uber-high end Kindle Fire HD 4G LTE, which also requires a data plan from AT&T that will start at $50 a year, put Amazon squarely into Apple iPad 3 territory. Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos stood on stage at the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica's local airport, making the case that the most expensive Kindle still beats a comparably loaded iPad by more … Read more

Kindle Fire HD: Amazon's anti-Apple profit engine

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may model his presentation skills after the late Steve Jobs, but his company's business model looks more like the Bizarro version of Apple.

Take today's announcement of several new Kindle Fire tablets, as well as a discounted price on the original. Amazon is hardly making a large profit on these competitively priced products, something Bezos is quick to own up to.

"We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices," he said during an event in Santa Monica, Calif., today.

The three versions of the … Read more

Is it a Kindle? Join CNET at 10 a.m. PT for Amazon press event (live blog)

Tune in to CNET's live blog from Amazon's Santa Monica press conference starting at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET today.

Nokia and Motorola have had their say, and Apple and Nintendo are still a week away. But the parade of gadget unveilings known in techdom as September continues today with Amazon set to take the wraps off a new batch of Kindle devices in Santa Monica, Calif.

The company has said only that it is hosting a press conference, without divulging details of what it will discuss. But several leaks -- and the fact that … Read more

Kindle Fire won't go big to take on iPad

Amazon plans to double down on the 7-inch tablet market with two new Kindle Fire models, CNET has learned.

Despite speculation that Amazon was preparing a larger 8.9 or 10-inch version, the company will only unveil a new 7-inch Kindle Fire and a slightly revamped version of the original tablet in an event scheduled for next week, according to a person who has seen the products.

The new Kindle Fire tablets are crucial in keeping Amazon competitive in the tablet business, which already faces tougher competition from Google's own Nexus 7 and the prospects of a lower-priced, smaller … Read more

Amazon taps Nokia for Kindle Fire maps, report says

Nokia has a new mapping partner in Amazon, a new report claims.

The companies recently inked a deal that will see Nokia power the built-in mapping services in the Amazon Kindle Fire 2, Reuters is reporting today, citing sources. The move is seen as a snub to Google, which powers the Android platform likely to be running on the next Kindle Fire. Google's mapping service comes built-in with Android.

The Google snub, if true, is the second the search giant has faced this year. Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June that it was removing Google Maps … Read more

How many Kindle Fires did Amazon sell? 5M, maybe

Amazon may have sold close to 5 million Kindle Fire tablet since the device debuted late last year.

At least, that's the number estimated by Asymco analyst Horace Dediu based on Amazon's own claims.

The retail company said yesterday that the Fire accounted for 22 percent of all tablet sales in the United States over the past nine months. Assuming that number is accurate, here's how Dediu arrived at total sales of 5 million.

Based on testimony from Apple and Samsung at their recent patent trial, the iPad racked up unit sales of 16.14 million from … Read more