I haven’t seen an official Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announcement yet, but according to the Wall Street Journal, the Kindle Tablet and two other Kindle upgrades are set to arrive in October. The Kindle Tablet that has been under speculation for months will directly compete with the iPad, while a new touch version of the Kindle will compete with the Nook and Kobo Touch editions.
To be honest, in a matter of personal preference, I am more excited about the possibility of a touch version of the Kindle because I’m not a big fan of the keyboard. Whenever this does get release, I’ll be ready to upgrade my Kindle. The keys are way too small and somewhat difficult to press. However, when the touch version does arrive, there will need to be some kind of audio enabled to make sure it is accessible for people with disabilities.
As for the tablet. This is exciting news, but the iPad has a pretty solid hold on the tablet market, and is said to be successful on into the next year. So, I think that it will be awhile before the Kindle Tablet will make a huge dent in iPad sales. There are also a number of other tablets to choose from as well. Although, I will say, a much cheaper Kindle Tablet might just give Amazon a good start in the tablet game, as will the well liked Android operating system. I see the iPad to the tablet market as the Kindle is to the e-reader market. They are both the inventors of their own niches, and were the only ones to hold their niches for a good length of time.
Lastly, there will be an upgrade on the current version of the Kindle. It will be similar in structure, but include better features and a lower price. Prices are dropping constantly. Amazon just dropped the Kindle 3G Special Offers version from $164 to $139. So, perhaps a $99 or less version of the Kindle is in the near future? We can only hope!