Amazon hasn’t had a successful device since its Kindle e-readers, and its biggest flop has been the Fire phone. Amazon is reportedly going to release a 6-inch tablet at the $50 price point. It would make it one of the cheapest tablets on the market, and half as expensive as the Kindle Fire. The $50 price makes you wonder what the specs for the tablet will be like considering the company had trouble pricing the current Kindle Fire’s because of the cost of components. The price point would be meant for users who want a throw away device for uses like quick shopping, looking up recipes, or streaming music in the bathroom.
One area the company would skirt on would be using a mono speaker instead of a stereo speaker. The $50 device is part of a slate Amazon is planning to release this year that will also include tablets with 8-inch and 10-inch screens, according to the people familiar. These rock bottom prices would lure customers into the Amazon ecosystem to keep spending money on their site.
“Will people tolerate a potentially inferior experience just because a tablet is $50?” saidFrank Gillett, a Forrester Research analyst. “Amazon has to be very careful about what they’re giving up to get to that low price point.”
It will be interesting to see how Amazon spins this tablet and market it to Amazon customers. Amazon could lose money on the tablet, but they can only lose so much before it starts to hurt the bottom line. Tell us in the comments below what you think about a $50 tablet.