NEW YORK: Now you can buy tablets in six-packs just like soda – and you even get the little cardboard carrier.
The tablet in question is Amazon’s new Fire, which at about $50 is so affordable that it can be bought in bulk — pay for five, get a sixth free — for less than the price of a single iPad mini 2.
The cheap Fire is among a number of products Amazon announced in its ongoing bid to be an alternative to Apple in the tablet and video-player markets. (Amazon has thus far failed in the smartphone market, having yanked its poor-selling Fire Phone without announcing a replacement — see our review, “Amazon Fire Phone Too Limited and Gimmicky,” 25 July 2014).
Amazon’s new products also include a couple of mainstream, higher-priced tablets, a tablet aimed at children, and a Fire TV streaming box that supports 4K Ultra HD video (something Apple can’t claim with its recently revamped Apple TV).
Pricing on all of this hardware positions Amazon as a budget option compared to Apple, which typically targets the higher end. Amazon also is focused on content consumption (with that content purchased from Amazon, natch), while Apple has lately pushed tablet-based productivity and content creation.
Fire — For $49.99, value-conscious buyers get a 7-inch tablet with a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, a 1024-by-600 IPS color display, and rugged construction that, Amazon claims, makes the gizmo nearly twice as durable as the iPad Air 2 (“as measured in tumble tests,” whatever that means).
