Amazon Looks To Spark Interest In Its New Fire Tablet

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) isn't going to let Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) dominate all the headlines with its new product announcements.

Amazon introduced on Thursday its all-new Fire HD 8 tablet, a next-generation tablet equipped with an 8-inch widescreen HD display and quad-core processor.

The new Fire HD boasts 50 percent more RAM compared to prior versions of its tablet and support for up to 200 GB of storage via a microSD card. The tablet will sell for just $89.99.

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The Fire HD will also include Amazon's cloud-based voice service, Alexa. The service can play music, launch games, read audibooks and more.

"We believe in a different approach to tablets—providing premium products at non-premium prices—and customers love it. In fact, we've seen Fire tablet sales more than double year-over-year as a result," said Kevin Keith, general manager, Fire Tablets. "The all-new Fire HD 8 packs more battery life, more storage, faster performance, plus Alexa — all for less than $90."

Fire HD 8 is available for pre order and will be released on September 21.

Techcrunch noted that price has always been a "major selling point" for Amazon devices, and it is "pretty tough" to argue against owning a tablet that sells for less than $100.

Despite that, the popular technology-focused blog detailed several negative selling points. For instance, the tablet's 1280 x 800 resolution works out to 189ppi and "certainly isn't Amazon's best." In fact, the same thinking goes for the rest of the specs.

Nevertheless, the blog emphasized yet again that "this is a $90 tablet we're talking about here."

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