Amazon tries to move forward in the area of tablets

There is an easy way to predict when the Amazon.com is to announce a new tablet Kindle Fire: it's practically the only time the page of company on the internet ceases to advertise from previous versions of the device. That's what happened in the 48 hours leading up to the day on September 25, when the company's Chief Executive, Jeff Bezos, announced the details of three new versions of Kindle Fire. This is the biggest attack so far in the tablets competitors-including the market leader, Apple-iPad, but accuracy and success does not necessarily go hand in hand.
In the last two years, Amazon has managed, with great effort, a modest position in the disputed tablets market. The largest internet retailer and manufacturer of electronic reader Kindle books in black and white, an iconic product, provided consumers with a stylish way of accessing their online store, including its lucrative broadcast services of music and video. The company started with the Kindle Fire original 7 inch, in 2011. Last year, followed by two models with high-definition screen and different sizes.
Although it has helped shape some elements of the market for tablets, the Amazon is not in a winning position: their participation in the American market was 4.6% in the second quarter, according to market research firm IDC, compared with 50.7% of iPad and 18.5% of the Galaxy, from Samsung. The previous tablets from Amazon were criticized for their underpowered compared to the iPad and the absence of design elements that characterize its competitors. "They found that the Kindle Fire sold very well for Amazon enthusiasts, but not much beyond that," says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at research firm Forrester Research.
The new tablets feature extra processing capacity and prices are lower, starting at $ 139 for the model HD Basics and $ 229 for the version "HDX" incremented. They are lighter and faster than the models with automated screens previous Fire improved that fit to changes in lighting. Another feature, called Mayday, involves less technology and more the human side; the consumer can request a member of the Amazon technical support to help resolve problems through real-time video on the screen of the tablet. "When users discovered testing this function, were blown away," says Bezos.
Past editions of the Kindle Fire established new floors to the prices of tablets, give rise to impressions (Ahem, iPad mini). But the Fire never integrated easily to life of users. Your custom version of the Android operating system, Google, the search company desestimulou offering to Fire popular applications like Gmail, Google Maps and the browser Chrome. Instead, Amazon offers an email program itself called Silk. The maps program is from Nokia. Bezos did not mean if I could take the Google applications compatible with the Kindle, calling attention instead to the improvements made at the speed and convenience of your company.
Amazon is also seeing the Kindle Fire be banned from the shelves of retailers like Walmart and Target groups, who don't want to sell to its customers a system through which they can order products from a competitor. Bezos says the Kindle Fire is sold in more than 20 thousand stores and that retail sales are increasing each year, although Amazon does not reveal sales numbers.
Bezos is also the new owner of the newspaper "The Washington Post", who purchased personally in August, Graham family, for $ 250 million. When talking about buying, Bezos says that the tablets "are a great opportunity for the newspapers". He promises to keep the two separate companies. "There will be opportunities for the two companies help one another, but this will be done under market conditions," says Bezos.
The tablets may be important for the papers, but are even more vital to the Amazon. Apple and Google force Amazon and other companies to pay a fee when customers use their applications to buy content, so that Amazon wants to put its own device in the hands of customers whenever possible. For this reason, Bezos has been spending much of his time working in the Amazon digital services. During the third quarter, he moved the company's headquarters in Seattle, to Silicon Valley, in California, where is the subsidiary of Amazon's equipment, Lab 126. He says he is focused on areas "where the rate of change is high and where can I combine multiple parts of the company".
The biggest challenge of Bezos is making the device from Amazon so attractive when the Apple. For now, he's determined to add as many possible benefits and ornamental innovations. Members of the "premium" service from Amazon, Prime, can download from the internet videos for the new Kindle Fire, which means you can watch them without a wireless connection. Bezos also praises the new handset business tools, like the data encoding. "The biggest surprise of the second generation Kindle Fire was how much she was purchased and used by corporations," he says.
"Amazon is doing what needs to be in the market for tablets. Not contenting with the achievements already obtained, "says Sarah, of Forrester Research. When Amazon announced the new Kindle Fire, promotions of tablets have taken over the website Amazon.com. The expectation is that they are kept until the holidays, even though the company advertise a console Apple TV style to lead its growing collection of videos to living rooms. (Bezos declined to comment on any other release than that of Kindle Fire.)
The lesson that Amazon has learned from previous editions of the Fire, says Bezos, is that "people don't want a tablet for entertainment and another for work. They want a tablet ". The question is whether they will want the Amazon.