Amazon Introduces New Family of Ad-Supported Kindle HD Tablets

  • At a Santa Monica event Thursday, Amazon revealed a new Kindle Fire HD, an updated version of the original Kindle Fire and a self-lighting Kindle e-reader, much like the rival Nook e-reader from Barnes & Noble.
  • The new 7-inch Kindle Fire HD with Wi-Fi, stereo speakers, dual antennas and a front facing camera will sell for $199. The updated version of the original Fire will sell for $159 — down from $199 — and is set to ship on September 14.
  • The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD will be available November 20 starting at $299, while the 4G version starts at $499. Specs on all models can be found in the Amazon press release.
  • “We’re taking on the most popular price point for a tablet, $499, but doubling the storage and incredibly, adding ultra-fast 4G LTE wireless,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “Kindle Fire HD is not only the most-advanced hardware, it’s also a service. When combined with our enormous content ecosystem, unmatched cross-platform interoperability and standard-setting customer service, we hope people will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best high-end tablet anywhere, at any price.”
  • “The company showed off some new software, such as one measuring tablet usage for children and a voice-recognition technology for book reading,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “It will also release eight new serialized novels for $1.99 each under a new unit called Kindle Serials.”
  • “Like last year’s cheapest Kindle e-reader, all three new models — that’s the Fire, the HD 7, and the HD 8.9 — will display Amazon’s ‘Special Offers’ promotions and advertisements on their lock screens,” notes The Verge. “Unlike the low-end Kindle, however, Amazon isn’t offering the devices in more expensive, ad-free models, nor is it making mention of any way to opt out for a fee.”

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