The Stakes are Sky High for Amazon in Evolving Tablet Landscape

By Rob Scott
September 5, 2012

It’s been five years since Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced the very first Kindle device in New York City.
“On Thursday, September 6, Bezos will again speak to the media, this time in Santa Monica, California, and the stakes will again be sky high,” reports Businessweek.
Last year, Amazon expanded the franchise with its launch of the $199 Kindle Fire, which made an initial commercial splash.
“But the Kindle Fire was also something of a critical disappointment, with its chunky weight, bland industrial design, and lack of basic features like a camera and volume controls,” suggests the article. “For the first time, many customers bought a device from Amazon and felt they didn’t get much value from it.”
The tablet landscape is getting rougher with this summer’s launch of the Nexus 7 from Google and the new iPad Mini expected this fall.
“If tablets are to be an important gateway to music, movies, e-books, and games — media products that make up half of Amazon’s overall business — Bezos is going to have to build a much deeper moat,” suggests Businessweek.
Since the event is being held in Los Angeles, we might hear news regarding Amazon’s video ambitions, perhaps from its L.A.-based content creation arm, Amazon Studios. We might also receive news regarding the long-rumored Amazon phone, an Amazon set-top box or a move away from Google’s Android to run the Kindle Fire, suggests the article.

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