“Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon plans to release an Android-based tablet by October,” MG Siegler writes for TechCrunch. “Of course, this news has been rumored for much of this year. No less than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has hinted at the possibility in recent months. But today’s report brings some tangible details for the first time. And that’s why the conclusion (and title) WSJ has drawn is surprising. ‘Amazon to Battle Apple iPad With Tablet,’ is the headline. But as I read it, this tablet — at least the first iteration — won’t be much competition for the iPad at all. Instead, it could step in and own a market that Google has failed to secure: Android tablets.”
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Siegler writes, “Google should be scared shitless of this Amazon tablet. Thanks to the “openness” of Android, Google has handed Amazon the keys to the Android kingdom. Amazon is going to launch a tablet that runs Android, but it will be fully Amazon’d. It will use Amazon’s Appstore, it will use Amazon movies, it will use Amazon books, it will use Amazon music, etc. Google will have no control over this, even though it will be the seminal Android tablet. That would be terrifying for any brand.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “GetMeOnTop” and “Opportun” for the heads up.]
It is always good to have competition.
Remember always ” Complacency is the death pill of any company !!! “
“always”? — I disagree. Some people strive for excellence and greatness because that is who they are. In fact, striving against others is, in a sense, a pretty low level of attainment. Picasso didn’t do what he did because he had “competition”. I suggest Steve Jobs is that kind of person.
Hear, hear!!!
Picasso did what he did because he sucked. I’ve seen prehistoric cave paintings that entailed more talent than his stick figure crap. Gawd, you could at least pick an example with real talent like Rembrandt or Vermeer. Even Salvidor Dali and Andy Warhol had more talent.
That’s idiotic. Apple should must certainly already be concerned about Amazon’s entry into the tablet space. Amazon is the *only* player that can offer everything Apple has: hardware, software, and a big-ass store to sell stuff on. I’ll bet money that the Amazon tablet will very quickly become and will remain Apple’s strongest competition.
I’ll also bet that Amazon’s tablet will run Android, but will diverge over time from what Android looks like now, to the extent that it’ll be its own environment before long.
Apple has no more reason to be concerned about Amazon’s tablet than they do about Amazon’s music store. It’ll take a distant 2nd place at best, so distant it won’t be worth losing any sleep over.
It may turn out to be successful in its own right but as far as competition against Apple goes, no. Not even close. See Sandisk.
There’s nothing idiotic about saying Google should be scared shitless by the Amazon tablet, because Amazon is cutting out Google’s services from it and replacing it with their own. How does Google benefit from that? They don’t. Say hi to the point.
Imagine the Amazon tablet becomes the no.1 tablet running Android and easily crushes all the rest. Problem: Google benefits from all the rest. Mountain View would effectively be kicked out of the tablet marked by its own operating system. And what could they do about it? Tell Amazon that they can’t modify Android that much?
Yeah, actually they can modify it that much. “Free and open”, dont’cha know.
Amazon has shown no skill at selling hardware or leveraging their “store” a’la Apple’s ecosystem. Heck, the fact that Bezos has never given a clear number of how many Kindles are being sold tells me everything I need to know about their success, or lack thereof.
This also strikes me as a stupid move on Amazon’s part – they sell a lot of Apple hardware, and they sell a lot of books through to their software running on iOS devices, and they sell some music to iOS users. Rather than make the most of this, they want to cross the line and actually compete with Apple. That is likely to turn out badly for Amazon.
I disagree, @RalphM,
Amazon’s best selling item is the Kindle. Period. They’ve moved millions of ’em. (Wall street estimated last fall that 5mm have been sold.) That’s a lot of hardware right there.
The question is, and has been proven NO so far, can an Android tablet sell? Even Android phone owners want an iPad (earlier here on MDN). Android just isn’t very good. (I know, I have an Android phone). Can Amazon make an Android tablet work? Will it be ad(offers)-subsidized? Don’t underestimate the Bezos.
Still, any tablet released will be compared to iPad, not be as good as iPad2, and not have a very good OS.
Wow, Amazon has sold almost as many Kindles in what – three or four years – as Apple sells iPads in a couple months (not even a full accounting quarter). That’s isn’t impressive, it is pathetic.
Maybe they’ll put buttons all around the sides like they did with the Kindle.
I just don’t get mission control!! I think that expose and spaces is more than enough.
MG truly shows his Apple fanboy stripes here. To think that this tablet poses no threat to the iPad is asinine.
Yeah, it’s asinine because….
Umm…
Nope, can’t figure out why. Wanna help me out here?
Again, just like the most successful non-iPod music players and non-iTunes music stores have proven themselves to be no threat to Apple, the most successful Android tablets have proven to be no threat as well. Except to eachother as they fight for left-overs.
Hell, not even Android smartphones ended up being a threat. Have you seen the insane money Apple makes from the iPhone? It’s more than Google makes in its entirety. Nobody can threaten Apple anymore. They can only co-exist.
Why would Google fear Amazon selling millions of Google’s Android installed in its tablets? That makes no sense whatsoever. Google doesn’t get any money for making Android available; Google makes money because Android users (supposedly) search for things using Google, and supposedly buy things by tapping on Google ad-sponsored links (even though iPhone users have been shown to far out buy Android users).
It’s just an Android tablet.