Book shop takes on fruity toymaker Analysts believe Amazon stands a good chance of threatening Apple's dominance in the tablet market when it introduces its first tablet later this year.
Forrester expects Amazon to sell between three and five million units in Q4, which sounds impressive. Apple managed to sell just over three million iPads in the first quarter after launch. However, Forrester’s forecast relies on a $300 price, meaning that Amazon will offer tablets at a very competitive price.
“Amazon’s willingness to sell hardware at a loss combined with the strength of its brand, content, cloud infrastructure, and commerce assets makes it the only credible iPad competitor in the market,” writes analyst Sarah Rotman in her blog.
However, Amazon doesn’t rely on revenue from hardware, but rather from content, Rotman notes. Although Apple is also a major content player, it still makes more money on hardware, which probably has something to do with the fact that its kit is overpriced.
This makes us wonder, if Amazon manages to pull off such a successful launch and offers a good price tag, what effect will the launch have on Android tablet sales?