Amazon’s Kindle Fire to make a splash without drowning the iPad

Though chief executive officer of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, believes that the new Kindle Fire will be a highly attractive product for consumers looking for a bargain priced tablet computer, it is not likely that it will have an impact on Apple’s iPad in the lead of the marketplace.

The price of the newest Kindle model, $199, is less than half of the least expensive model of the iPad, and – according to a Susquehanna Financial Group analyst, Herman Leung – will be very attractive to shoppers who are seeking a tablet that can allow them to read ebooks and watch movies.

Leung also noted that individuals who want to be able to use video chat and to enjoy a larger screen will likely stick to Apple products. By the end of 2010, Apple held 85 percent of the tablet marketplace.

New York-based Wedge Partners Corp. analyst, Brian Blair, said that it is believed that there could be as many as 4 million Kindle Fire units sold and shipped this year, partially because of the significantly lower cost than the iPad. If Amazon did want to take a part of the iPad’s share, it would need to release a device with a faster processer in a larger version.

Leung stated that he doesn’t believe that the Kindle Fire could be an “iPad killer”. Instead, the Amazon device is geared toward a consumer at a much lower end than the iPad user. He explained that “A bigger screen and a more powerful processor over time — those are the two main things that will enable them to get there.”