Edible Apple

By: Luis Estrada

One company flying that might surprisingly be able to give Apple a run in the tablet space is, believe it or not, Amazon. One of the key downsides to tablet devices currently running Android is the lack of a centralized location to download media content. Amazon, naturally, doesn’t have that problem and is well positioned to challenge Apple’s iPad dominance in a way most other manufacturers can’t.

That said, Digitimes is reporting that Amazon recently placed orders with Quanta Computer for LCD displays for an upcoming touchscreen tablet.

The rumored tablet device is believed to start shipping during the second half of 2011 with orders expected to fall in the 700,000 to 800,000 range. The Amazon Kindle currently solely supports e-ink, which while easier on the eyes for reading, isn’t really good for much else – which of course is a problem in today’s marketplace where it’s all about feature convergence.

Digitimes relays that while sales of the Kindle are strong, that success hasn’t translated into sales outside of North America and Europe. That said, Amazon will reportedly reduce the base price of the Kindle while simultaneously positioning their upcoming tablet to leverage their advantage in “content resources” to go up against the iPad 2 which has thus far destroyed all comers.

Remember that the Motorola Xoom was supposed to be the tablet equivalent of the Droid, but sales of the Xoom have been breathtakingly below expectations. Meanwhile the RIM PlayBook debuted to, let’s just say, less than stellar reviews – and that’s being generous.

As we’ll delve into further in an upcoming post, manufacturers will soon find out why competing with the iPad is remarkably more challenging than it was to compete with the iPhone.