[Rumor] Amazon Tablets Could Potentially Sell as 'Loss-Leaders'

[dgstorm]

There are some rumblings from within Amazon that their upcoming Android Tablets could be sold as "Loss-Leaders". For those unfamiliar, what that term means is that Amazon will actually sell the tablet at a loss initially, with the intention of making profit from accessories, downloads, ebooks, multimedia and cloud storage instead of the device. In fact, the speculation suggests that they may sell the tablets for as much as 20-25% less than what it costs them to make the devices. Between the Kindle ebooks, UnBox movie downloads, software bought through the Amazon Appstore for Android, and cloud store revenue and advertising, Amazon could not only make up for the loss but turn a tidy profit in just a two year period of ownership.

This could be a potentially risky maneuver; on the other hand, it could be a brilliant way to storm into the market, quickly become the top Android Tablet, and compete toe-to-toe with the iPad. We won't have to wait too long to find out, as the first Amazon Android tablets are due to come in the fall or winter of this year.

Source: Amazon-Tablets.com via SlashGear

 

[NeoandGeo]

This means I will own a tablet even though I have no need for one.

 

[GrillMouster]

I hope that I'll have access to the apps that I've already purchased through the Android Market.

I also hope that they don't go too "cheap" on the build quality and specs. There's already rumors that the initial tablet will not have a camera (or at least not a front-facing camera). That's not a big deal to me, but given that it's become standard on other tablets, I wonder if they're cutting other corners. Another rumor I've read is that the first tablet was not actually designed by Amazon and was just being rushed out to market. Presumably the following two tablets will be designed by Amazon (don't know if that means they'll be better).

 

[nikecar]

Game consoles have been doing this for years.

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[Sweet Daddy]

BlackBerry Playbook anyone?

 

[akhi216]

I hope that I'll have access to the apps that I've already purchased through the Android Market.

Word is that Amazon would rather not have certain Google apps on their tablets, and Google's stance is if you don't have all of Google's app that they want you to have on your device, you don't have any, thus, the Android Market will be absent from their tablets. You.

You would be stuck with using the Amazon App Store, SlideMe market, and getjar.com and other places other than the Android Market to get apps thus you wouldn't be able to redownload the apps that you bought from the Android market.

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