PCMag.Com - If Las Vegas has odds on Amazon releasing a
tablet device, you should not bet against it happening. That’s how pervasive and frankly convincing the onslaught of rumors about this as-yet unofficial tablet’s imminent release has been.
So let’s add some more, ahem, Kindle-ing to the fire.
Here’s what we know about Amazon’s tablet—people should “stay tuned” to see if there’s any truth to the rumors of the device,
according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
That’s it. That’s the entirety of the official word from Amazon on a tablet aside from “no comment,” and Bezos made that cryptic statement way back in May.
But now that Amazon has
sent out an invitation for a mysterious event on Sept. 28, the rumor mill is really spinning off its hinges. We could see a 7-inch, 9-inch, or 10-inch tablet in just a few days, according to various reports. As the expected due date of what’s rumored to be called the Amazon Kindle (yes, just like the company’s e-reader!) approaches, theories about what it is and what it means have gone into overdrive.
And aside from the reports about the device itself, folks are looking for clues in other places, too. Did you know that Amazon
has been testing a tablet-friendly redesign of it
website? Or that the e-commerce giant
is believed to have registered “KindleAir.com” for whatever that’s worth?
The gossip about the Amazon tablet has also extended to speculation about what this rumored device will mean for ereaders. The consensus is that it could mean steeply slashed
prices.
DigiTimes claims Amazon plans to cut Kindle ereader prices when it releases the rumored tablet. That jibes with what one knowledgeable source
told PCMag in July—that consumers should expect a sub-$100 ereader before the end of the year.
And almost Apple-esque fashion, rumors are even cropping up about what Amazon has planned
after it releases an as-yet-unannounced product that nobody with official cred is on the record as saying even exists. TechCrunch, which
claimed earlier this month to have handled a testing version of a 7-inch Amazon tablet, says the company is also working on a “multi-touch screen/e-ink hybrid
tablet device” but it’s “nowhere near completion.”
But let’s get to the meat of what we know, or think we know about Amazon’s much-ballyhooed, so-far-invisible tablet. Click through the slide show for a breakdown of all the strictly unofficial gossip that’s out there, plus one rumor that we’ve made up from scratch.
