Amazon reportedly planning to release $50 tablet

PanARMENIAN.Net - Amazon.com plans to release a $50 tablet with a 6-inch screen, in time for this year’s holidays, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

That would make it one of the least-expensive tablets on the market and half the price of the company’s current Fire HD 6-inch tablet.

The $50 device is part of a slate Amazon is planning to release this year that will also include tablets with 8-inch and 10-inch screens, according to the people familiar.

Amazon has long sought to undercut its hardware competitors, in part by eschewing profits on the devices themselves. Rather, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has said, the company prefers to make money by selling services that work with the devices, like e-books and video rentals.

Bezos had set an internal goal of the $50 price tag for versions of both the Fire tablet and Kindle e-reader, viewing the rock-bottom prices as a crucial lure for a more cost-conscious group of buyers, the people said. But the e-reader screen technology from its vendors ultimately proved too expensive to drop the retail price, the people said, according to the WSJ.

Amazon faces potential new challenges, as Apple may introduce new versions of its popular iPad and iPad Mini tablets as soon as Wednesday, along with new iPhones.