14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet has amassed a fair bit of fame, thanks to its unusually low price of $199 (155 Euro or so), but it needs to get a successor sometime.
Apparently, the company is well underway in that regard, having placed orders for components that it will use in the making of a next-generation slate.
Once again, Digitimes is the news and rumor website the information leak is attributed to.
Granted, that isn't a completely accurate thing to say, since the report, in turn, attributes the information to some so-called “upstream sources” which, also, relay what they heard about something else.
Catcher Technology is the one reputed to have received parts orders from Amazon.
Catcher did not say anything on the matter directly, but it is expected to boost its number of CNC machines to 15,000 this year.
The component orders could be just the sort of incentive needed for this to happen faster.
That being said, whatever Amazon is working on may or may not be a direct sequel to the 7-inch consumer electronics device currently up for sale.
The item has certainly experienced massive sales success, so there is plenty to build upon in terms of reputation.
That report about ODM orders for Kindle Fire having been cut in half back in January also suggests that Amazon intends to replace the current product.
Then again, there is also speculation about a larger tablet being headed our way, with a 9-inch panel. When we heard about it last month (February, 2012), the release was implied for the middle of 2012.
Amazon might just outright replace its 7-incher with a larger slate, but we think the Fire can coexist with a larger tablet as well. Anyway, whichever it is, we hope it will be comparatively cheap. Amazon may not be making any profits off the item itself, but it does sell online store content better because of them.