Hasta La Gadget!

According to a statement by Staples’ president, Demos Parneros, Amazon has plans to introduce as many as six new Kindle Fire tablets. While some of you might be wondering – that’s a silly idea, and why would Amazon need six different variants of the new Kindle Fire? It probably doesn’t mean that there will be six radically different tablets – maybe we’ll have WiFi-only/3G variants, different sized displays (7″/10″) and of course different sizes for internal storage (16GB/32GB) etc.

The new Kindle Fire is rumored to make an appearance sometime this year, but so far we haven’t got any confirmed details – just a lot of rumors and speculation. However, we’ll keep you posted as more details leak. How many of you are looking forward to the next Kindle Fire? Or are you planning to pick up the super hot-selling Nexus 7 tablet instead?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Android Jelly Bean ported to Kindle Fire, Amazon Kindle Fire updated to version 6.3,

While we expect Amazon to refresh its Kindle Fire tablet sooner rather than later, Demos Parneros, president of US retail for Staples, has told Reuters that the online book-seller has bigger plans. Amazon apparently aims to introduce five or six new devices (or SKUs, stock-keeping units), though as noted by Android Central‘s Phil Nickinson, these could thin out to just two tablet models and several storage variants. According to the exec, the tablets will come in a range of sizes and would include a new ten-inch device — going directly against another popular tablet. No word on whether these five or six device would include a smartphone, as screen sizes get increasingly closer. Amazon has also announced that it’ll be creating a new R&D hub in London, focusing on its services and APIs for TVs, consoles, smartphones and PCs, aimed squarely at rolling these out across the globe. The original Kindle Fire — and its Android app store — is still not available outside of America. However, public plans for the new Amazon base currently center on relocating both Lovefilm and Pushbutton to this new hub. However, it’s been about a year; about time for Europe to get a taste of Amazon’s wallet-friendly tab.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Amazon plans for ‘five or six’ new tablets, will include 10-inch model, says Staples president originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon is boosting its R&D work into digital media, including “interactive digital services” for consoles, smart TV, tablets and other mobile devices, with a new Digital Media Innovation Hub opening in the UK. The new 47,000 sq. ft. center in Central London will pull together software engineers, UI experts and graphic designers, who will likely be responsible for not only bringing Amazon’s site up to date, but for developing the next-gen Kindle Fire tablet interface and software for the much-rumored Kindle smartphone.

Amazon is calling on its staff resources from streaming rental firm LOVFiLM as well as Pushbutton, its 2011 acquisition developing digital media interfaces for new platforms. Pushbutton is already responsible for the LOVEFiLM interfaces on the iPad, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The design and development teams from both companies will be brought together at the new London hub, working on digital media projects for the global market. Amazon says their goals will be “the creation of interactive digital services for TVs, game consoles, smartphones and PCs; the development of the digital media experience on Amazon websites around the world; and the building of services and APIs that power that digital media experience.”

Digital media is the cornerstone of Amazon’s Kindle range, all the devices of which are primarily intended to encourage user to buy or rent more content. The low price of the Kindle Fire, for instance, is a loss-leader of sorts, with Amazon trading the low upfront margin on the hardware itself for the promise of greater media sales along the line.

That same strategy is tipped to be at the heart of Amazon’s upcoming smartphone. The handset would be Android-based but heavily reskinned, ousting Google’s own content stores in favor of Amazon’s own media and app distribution.

Amazon Digital Media Innovation Hub will push next-gen content delivery is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Amazon’s larger Kindle Fire is still in the pipeline, sources insist, scaling up from the existing 7-inch slate as Apple reportedly scales down to tweener tablet levels. A namedrop in the same NYT article that threw further weight against the iPad mini rumors, according to unnamed developers the retailer is pushing ahead with what’s tipped to be a roughly 10-inch variant of the Kindle Fire, bringing the challenge to Apple’s new iPad.

While Amazon spokespeople unsurprisingly declined to comment on the newspaper’s chatter, the idea of a new, larger Kindle Fire isn’t exactly new. Even before the original Kindle Fire was revealed, speculation had it that Amazon was working on not one but two devices: a cheap, small model (which went on to hit virtual shelves at $199) and a larger, more capable version.

That second model never arrived, however, with talk that Amazon encountered issues with components and performance, among other things. However, going by the insider whispers, that work might be culminating again in a larger device due later in 2012.

Exact hardware details are in short supply, but Android is undoubtedly running – albeit heavily reskinned for Amazon’s content-selling purposes – under the hood, and a screen sized more akin to the 9.7-inch current iPad is likely.

Any launch is most likely to take place alongside the second-generation 7-inch Kindle Fire, which as rumor would have it is due in Q3 with a 1280 x 800 display. Amazon is also tipped to be working on a Kindle smartphone.

10-inch Kindle Fire tipped as Amazon new iPad challenge imminent is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A former Microsoft Windows Phone exec has jumped ship to Amazon, where he will head the retailer’s Appstore efforts, lending further weight to rumors that the company plans a smartphone of its own. Robert Williams was, until last month, Microsoft’s senior director of business development in the Windows Phone division, but according to his LinkedIn profile is now working with Amazon to feather the app nest for what’s speculated to be the company’s push into mobile.

Rumors of a Kindle smartphone have persisted for some months now, with Amazon’s Appstore software distribution being seen as a footstep toward a full device under its own brand. That, it’s speculated, would follow a similar near-loss-leader strategy as the Kindle ereaders, with cheap hardware being balanced against the promise of long-term content purchases from Amazon’s ebook, music, movie and other stores.

Williams worked as business development lead for four years with Microsoft, and before that was senior director of the company’s “Premium Mobile Experiences” group. His exact role at Amazon is unclear, though the retailer has been bullish on its intention to push apps as another string to its digital content bow.

That could come into play for an Amazon phone, or indeed new Kindle Fire tablets. As well as a refresh for the current, 7-inch model, there’s also talk of a larger 10-inch Kindle Fire in the pipeline, both running Google’s Android OS albeit with heavy reskinning.

Yesterday, Amazon launched GameCircle, the company’s cross-device synchronization and leaderboard system for mobile gamers. That puts the company head to head with Apple’s Game Center.

[via The Verge]

Amazon grabs ex-Windows Phone app chief amid Kindle phone chatter is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.