Following the announcement of the new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet on September 28, electronics giant retailer Best Buy announced that slashed prices on several seven inch tablets including the Blackberry Playbook and HTC Flyer.
The Kindle Fire, which is a new tablet model from the online retailer will ship in time for holiday shopping. Announced at press conference in New York, the Amazon Kindle Fire features a 7 inch high resolution 1024 x 600 capacitive touch screen, 8GB storage and a customized Android interface and access to many Amazon digital media services. Many experts believe this could bring a price upset in the tablet market.
According to official sources, the Kindle which is basically built by the same manufacturer that makes RIM’s Playbook, will come in at $199, which is a new low price that should appeal to consumers. With access to Amazon’s Prime service users can access movies, music and other Amazon services in the cloud.
The Blackberry Playbook, which was released announced in April and reviewed lukewarm reviews according to most tech reviews citing the lack of a dedicated email application among other features that the Playbook lacked. Many tech bloggers have been drawing comparisons between the Playbook and the Kindle Fire. It is now on sale at Best Buy for $299 for the 16GB model, which is a $200 saving from the original price of $499. The 32GB and 64GB models are $399 and $499 respectively.
The Playbook is not the only seven inch tablet to receive a price cut. The HTC flyer has also seen a price slash to $299 a $200 savings. With its 7 inch 1024 x 600 capacitive touch screen and optional extra, N-trig pen, the HTC Flyer is transformed into a note taking tablet. Although priced quite high initially, Best Buy recently refunded customers who had bought the Flyer before the sale $200.
Could this be the beginning of a tablet price war? With an attractive 7 inch multi touch screen and many features that other tablets do not have, it remains to be seen if the Fire will Kindle a price war or not.
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