Amazon has big plans for its coming onslaught of tablets to compete with Apple’s iPad and Google’s Nexus 7. Reuters reports Staples US Retail president, Demos Parneros as saying there are five or six upcoming tablets, among them a a 10-inch model. That 10-inch model would clearly be positioned against iPad, as well as a plethora of Android tablets. Rumors about a bigger Kindle Fire have been circulating for some time, but since Staples sells the Kindle Fire, this 10-inch model is a bit more believable now.
Other Upcoming Kindle Fires
The original Kindle Fire tablet which Amazon debuted in September last year is due for a refresh any day now (rumors point to the end of July), so we could count the 7-inch Kindle Fire 2 as one of those other many tablets Amazon has planned.
It’s not clear if the five to six tablets Pareneros mentioned are actually really two tablet models (a 7-inch and a 10-inch) with different storage options or even display resolutions—or if another Kindle Fire size is coming too.
The Kindle Fire has a 1024 by 600 pixel resolution, but NPD DisplaySearch recently told CNet about an additional 7-inch model with 1280 by 800 pixels resolution—on par with the flying-off-the-shelves Google Nexus 7. That high-resolution display will help make the Kindle better suited for reading.
NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim also noted he expects an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire 2 with a 1920 by 1200 pixels full-HD display. It might not be the iPad’s (2048 by 1536 pixels) retina display, but the bump in pixels would certainly make the Kindle Fire more competitive. Digitimes also reported an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire is coming.
Whatever this bunch of Kindle Fire tablets turn out to be, tablet wars will be in full swing before the holidays.
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