In an effort to boost online services, the company has released a 7-inch mobile device for only $50.
Amazon has now launched a new Fire Tablet among several upgraded devices that it has released, as a part of an effort to boost mobile and t-commerce through affordable, practical gadgets.
This new Amazon tablet has a 7-inch screen and features a forward and backward facing camera.
What is likely most appealing to the target market for the Fire Tablet, however, is its price tag, as its launch price was only $49.99. According to analysts, this amount is low enough to allow the device to stand out in a rather crowded tablet commerce marketplace. If things go as planned, it will draw a growing number of people into the market of tablet ownership at the same time as it opens up the doors to a new wave of customers who might use the company’s online services.
The Amazon Fire Tablet is meant to appeal to what is estimated to be a massive sub-$100 device market.
According to the Amazon devices senior vice president, Dave Limp, “There’s one part of the tablet (market) that’s growing right now and….that’s sub $100 tablets.” He also pointed out that in 2014, Amazon’s Fire HD, which was priced at $99, was its best selling tablet. Analysts have pointed out that there aren’t very many other offerings in the tablet commerce industry that are comparable to Amazon’s latest device and that could compare to its price.
The mobile device has 12 gigs of storage and a quad core processor. Principal analyst, James McQuivey, from Forrester, explained that one of the discoveries that was made in consumer electronics is that along with the maturity of the market has come a desire for less expensive devices. For that reason, he pointed out that “If you’re Amazon and you know this is going to happen you might as well join in.”
McQuivey referred to the price of the Amazon Fire Tablet a “gateway drug” for the company to draw new consumers to its Prime subscription program, which is already estimated to have about 40 million members worldwide.
