ID :
210252
Thu, 09/29/2011 - 13:17
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/210252
The shortlink copeid
Amazon's Kindle Fire likely to cause new headache for Samsung
By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- With media describing Amazon.com Inc.'s new tablet PC as the strongest challenger to the iPad, Samsung Electronics Co. will likely come under added pressure to rethink its tablet strategy, market watchers said Thursday.
Amazon said that it will release the Kindle Fire, a seven-inch touchscreen tablet that costs a scant US$199, in the U.S. market on Nov. 15.
The launch of the new Android tablet PC from the world's largest online bookseller will likely intensify the battle in the crowded tablet market during the peak season for electronics companies.
At less than half the price of Apple Inc.'s iPad, Amazon's Kindle Fire includes access to millions of movies, TV shows, music, books and magazines as well as an online service that provides safe, no-hassle Internet storage for content, the online retailer said.
Media reports said that Amazon may be losing money with tablet hardware sales at such a low price, but the company is set to pocket profits as tablet buyers are expected to join Amazon's paid membership service that provides unlimited access to its content.
"(The Kindle Fire) serves as a portal for people to consume Amazon's content," the tech news website Next Web said.
Amazon's strategy of building an ecosystem and business model based on the content market will help it set itself apart from the rest of the Android tablet makers.
Samsung, which built the world's first tablet PC based on Android, and Motorola Mobility Holdings Ltd., the first U.S. company to introduce an Android tablet, have struggled to chip away at the iPad's market share.
"It is a losing game for Samsung on every front," said Jeong Ji-hoon, director of the IT Convergence Center at South Korea's Kwandong University and a close follower of the U.S. and Korean tech industries.
Jeong pointed out Amazon's price, content availability and cloud service as strengths that Samsung will struggle to compete with. Samsung offers no cloud service and its wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi)-only Galaxy Tab retails for $349.99, according to the company website.
"Samsung so far has given the impression that it is a leader in the Android tablet camp, but it could possibly lose the title to Amazon," Jeong said. "At least until the first half of the next year, the tablet game will be between Apple and Amazon."
The Kindle Fire's biggest blow to Samsung might be its affordable price, another analyst said.
"Amazon has a business model based on its content, so it can drive the hardware price war with aggressive pricing," said James Song at Daewoo Securities Co. "It will be difficult (for Samsung) to pocket a fat margin."
Others, however, said it might be premature to say the Kindle Fire will wrestle customers from Samsung.
"It is too early to conclude that the Kindle Fire will undercut the Galaxy Tab business because the two tablets serve different functions," Song said. "The Galaxy Tab has other merits."
The introduction of the Kindle Fire and other low-end electronic book readers from Seattle, U.S.-based Amazon could also enrich and expand the tablet market worldwide, the analyst added.
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- With media describing Amazon.com Inc.'s new tablet PC as the strongest challenger to the iPad, Samsung Electronics Co. will likely come under added pressure to rethink its tablet strategy, market watchers said Thursday.
Amazon said that it will release the Kindle Fire, a seven-inch touchscreen tablet that costs a scant US$199, in the U.S. market on Nov. 15.
The launch of the new Android tablet PC from the world's largest online bookseller will likely intensify the battle in the crowded tablet market during the peak season for electronics companies.
At less than half the price of Apple Inc.'s iPad, Amazon's Kindle Fire includes access to millions of movies, TV shows, music, books and magazines as well as an online service that provides safe, no-hassle Internet storage for content, the online retailer said.
Media reports said that Amazon may be losing money with tablet hardware sales at such a low price, but the company is set to pocket profits as tablet buyers are expected to join Amazon's paid membership service that provides unlimited access to its content.
"(The Kindle Fire) serves as a portal for people to consume Amazon's content," the tech news website Next Web said.
Amazon's strategy of building an ecosystem and business model based on the content market will help it set itself apart from the rest of the Android tablet makers.
Samsung, which built the world's first tablet PC based on Android, and Motorola Mobility Holdings Ltd., the first U.S. company to introduce an Android tablet, have struggled to chip away at the iPad's market share.
"It is a losing game for Samsung on every front," said Jeong Ji-hoon, director of the IT Convergence Center at South Korea's Kwandong University and a close follower of the U.S. and Korean tech industries.
Jeong pointed out Amazon's price, content availability and cloud service as strengths that Samsung will struggle to compete with. Samsung offers no cloud service and its wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi)-only Galaxy Tab retails for $349.99, according to the company website.
"Samsung so far has given the impression that it is a leader in the Android tablet camp, but it could possibly lose the title to Amazon," Jeong said. "At least until the first half of the next year, the tablet game will be between Apple and Amazon."
The Kindle Fire's biggest blow to Samsung might be its affordable price, another analyst said.
"Amazon has a business model based on its content, so it can drive the hardware price war with aggressive pricing," said James Song at Daewoo Securities Co. "It will be difficult (for Samsung) to pocket a fat margin."
Others, however, said it might be premature to say the Kindle Fire will wrestle customers from Samsung.
"It is too early to conclude that the Kindle Fire will undercut the Galaxy Tab business because the two tablets serve different functions," Song said. "The Galaxy Tab has other merits."
The introduction of the Kindle Fire and other low-end electronic book readers from Seattle, U.S.-based Amazon could also enrich and expand the tablet market worldwide, the analyst added.
