It is being reported that Amazon will unveil this Wednesday, September 28: The Kindle Fire. Rumors about Amazon’s upcoming tablet have been circulating for some time now, and while details have trickled here and there, the whole enchilada will make its first appearance at a press conference that Amazon announced last week, according to Tech Crunch.
The Kindle Fire, which is Amazon’s official name for its tablet, will feature a 7-inch backlit display that reportedly looks similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The reason for this is because it was designed by original design manufacturer Quanta instead of Amazon’s in-house team as a way of speeding up the development process for the upcoming holiday season.
The Kindle Fire will also feature a Tl dual-core OMAP chip, its video streaming service, the Kindle bookstore and an operating system based on Android 2.1, but is heavily customized to Amazon’s liking. The mobile OS will have Amazon’s Android Appstore, which doesn’t feature all the apps available in Google’s Android Market, but Tech Crunch reports that Amazon is looking to recruit major app developer’s for Fire’s release.
A few details remain unknown, such as the price, but Tech Crunch predicts a Kindle Fire with Amazon Prime will be released for $300 while one without will run $250. Amazon Prime is a membership service that offers perks like unlimited 2-day shipping and Amazon Instant Video for $79 per year.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will show off the Kindle Fire this Wednesday at the press conference in New York City, but the newest tablet in the mobile ring will not be available to ship until the second week of November.