Amazon Wants Its Own Tablet, Places Orders

There might not be too much information about it, but it looks like an Amazon tablet PC is now in the works, or so a certain, recent report appears to suggest, although no info exists on the hardware or software.

Normally, when hearing that a company or another is getting ready to unleash some sort of device, market watchers are all over whatever hardware and software details exist.

Unfortunately, this once, there seems to be little to no such information, meaning that interested consumers will be doing quite a bit of guessing.

What a report made by Digitimes suggests is that the tablet market will, sooner or later, see the appearance of a new device. Said slate was ordered by Amazon.

While the Kindle e-reader is selling quite well, the product hasn't been able to make a strong push in the European and North American markets.

As such, sources believe that the market price of the Kindle will be reduced in order to appeal more to consumers and users from the education market.

This will allow it to differentiate itself from whatever tablet its maker now has in mind and which is intended as a rival to the Apple iPad 2.

The report says that Amazon placed the tablet orders with Quanta Computer and that the touch panels will be provided by E Ink Holdings and Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technology.

Considering that Quanta also has contracts with RIM and Sony, and has been talking with Lenovo, this might just push its monthly orders to 700,000-800,000 units.

Amazon is expected to focus on software and content resources in its attempt to challenge Apple's iPad 2 slate.

Quanta, of course, declined to offer any sort of comment on its clients and what they may or may not have asked of it.

That said, what remains is to see just what kind of electronic Amazon comes up with and if it manages to emulate even a fraction of the rapid success that the Kindle e-reader has on its record.