PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Etailer Amazon has unveiled a brand new budget tablet, priced at a paltry £49.99.
The new Fire tablet (pictured right) features a quad-core processor, a seven-inch IPS display, front-facing and rear-facing cameras and 128GB of expandable storage.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, said: “Today, we’re taking another step in our mission to deliver premium products at non-premium prices.
“The all-new Fire features a quad-core processor, is incredibly durable, and is backed by the Amazon content ecosystem, the new Amazon Underground, and Amazon customer service with Mayday Screen Sharing. Fire sets a new bar for what customers should expect from a low cost tablet.”
Although the price is more affordable than many tablet models currently on the market, could this new lower price damage the tablet market or help to revitalise it?
No doubt the cheaper price point will attract many consumers, but the specs are lower than other models on the market, for example it features a 1.3GHz processor, seven hours of battery life and access to over 38 million songs, movies, TV shows, books and more.
With the likes of Apple also revamping its tablet line with the addition of the new iPad Pro, it seems the tablet industry still does have scope despite dwindling sales figures.
For example, earlier this year analyst IDC reported that the worldwide tablet market had declined by seven per cent year-on-year during Q2 2015, but since then the analyst has gone on to reveal that the market is beginning to stabilise.
With these new devices coming to market, we may start to see the industry improve even more, and now that rumours have surfaced around Microsoft’s potential Surface 4 device, now could be the time we start to witness a rise in tablet sales again.
In addition, Amazon also showcased a further range of all-new Fire tablets, boasting either an eight or ten-inch HD screen.
The Fire HD 8 has been designed for web browsing, reading, or gaming and comes in a wide variety of colours including blue and orange, and is priced at £129.99.
The Fire HD 10 is Amazon’s largest tablet to date with a 10.1-inch display, offering 22 per cent more HD video viewing area with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The 10-inch variant is priced at £169.99, and both devices will be available from September 30th.
Children have also been catered for in Amazon’s latest line-up with the new Fire Kids Edition tablet (pictured above), priced at under £100. The new tablet comes with a kid-proof case to help protect it form knocks, a year of Fire for Kids Unlimited and a quad-core processor with up to 128GB of expandable storage.
Lastly, Amazon has revamped its Fire TV with support for 4K Ultra HD. In addition, the new Amazon fire TV also comes with 75 per cent more power and boasts a MediaTek 64-bit quad-core processor and a dedicated CPU. The Fire TV will cost customers £79.99.
Along with this, Amazon has launched a new Fire TV Stick (pictured above) complete with voice commands. Priced at £44.99, the stick comes with 1GB of RAM, a dual-core processor, Dolby Audio and improved Wi-Fi performance.
In other Amazon news, the etailer has announced a new partnership with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), to help SMEs increase their exports and grow their ecommerce sales.
The agreement signed between the two companies aims to encourage and facilitate overseas trade for British businesses through resources and dedicated programmes, which aim to show the ease of selling through Amazon’s global ecommerce platforms.
Doug Gurr, VP, China country manager, for Amazon, added: “At Amazon, we have worked hard to build systems to make it as easy for companies to sell abroad as it is for them to sell in their home market, and this new partnership with UK Trade and Investment will help UK businesses to expand their international sales and drive cross-border trade.”
