Online retail company Amazon.com on Thursday in Santa Monica, California, unveiled four new Kindle Fire models with larger screens to compete with Apple’s iPad, which is planning to launch mini (smaller screen) iPads.
The new tablet personal computers will have 8.6-inch screen from earlier Fire that had a 7-inch screen. The speculation on the mini iPad is that it will have a 7.85 inch screen as compared to 9.7-inch screens available right now.
The basic 7-inch Fire model will cost $159 as compared to $199 of its earlier version. The company will start shipping the new product from September 14.
Amazon is also coming out with a high-end version called Kindle Fire HD (high- definition) that will have two Wi-fi channels for faster transfers. That will be crucial for high-definition movies and other large files, Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive Officer, said.
The high-end model will also have more storage -- 16GB as compared to 6GB of the older Fire. Apple’s iPads starts with 16GB models.
The 7-inch HD model will cost $199 and the 8.9-inch will be of $299 which will start shipping from November 20.
It will start shipping a new e-reader called Paperwhite priced at $119 from October. The new device promises eight weeks of battery life even with the light on.
Amazon is also dropping the price of its low-end Kindle to $69 from $79 which will start shipping next Friday.
Analysts say the new Kindle Fire is an effort to take a larger share of the tablet PC market dominated by Apple’s iPad in the world.