Zeebiz BureauSanta Monica: As it faces fierce competition in the tablet market, Amazon.com Inc unveiled larger, faster, aggressively-priced Kindle Fire tablets on Thursday.
By launching the tablet, Amazon aims to challenge Apple Inc's dominant iPad and intensifying a battle with Google Inc and Microsoft Corp in the booming tablet arena.
The world's largest Internet retailer, which got into the market last year with a 7-inch tablet roughly half the price of the iPad, will begin selling on Nov 20 an 8.9-inch version with a high-definition screen, that works off either WiFi or fourth-generation wireless broadband, known as 4G.
Called the Kindle Fire HD, the 8.9-inch device starts at USD299 for WiFi and 16GB of storage. Apple's WiFi iPad 2 with 16GB of storage costs USD399.
The 4G Fire HD model, with 32GB, costs USD499, while the 4G device with 64GB has a USD599 price tag. The latest WiFi-only, 32GB iPad costs USD599 and the top-end iPad with 3G and 64GB of storage costs USD829.
Amazon's two 7-inch tablets will cost less. The updated Kindle Fire will be USD159 and a Kindle Fire HD version is USD199.
The Kindle Fire HD has a 1920 by 1200 resolution screen, lagging Apple's so-called "retina" display. At 8.9 inches, it is also smaller than the iPad's screen.
With Agency Inputs
First Published: Friday, September 07, 2012, 08:58