- Jan 5, 2011
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For months we have heard multiple rumors regarding the coming of a couple of new Kindle Fire tablet variants coming from Amazon, (a new 7 & 10-inch). Apparently, according to a high level executive at Staples, that number is far short of what is really coming. Staple's retail president, Demos Parneros, recently told Reuters that Amazon is actually prepping 5-6 new tablets for retail.
Right now, Amazon only offers a single SKU of the Amazon Kindle fire for retail, but they are planning several variants of a new 7-inch successor to the Kindle Fire, and they are also prepping several variants of a 10-inch Kindle Tablet as well. More than likely, this simply means that there will be several different versions of these same two tablets, and each will have different features. For example, they could have a scaling storage capacity, from 8Gb to 16GB and more. This would mean additional SKUs.
Also, Amazon has recently hired more engineers for their Lab126, which is the same lab that developed the Kindle Fire. In fact, one of the job requirements they were looking for was experience working with carrier certification and smartphone technology. This could point to the rumored Amazon smartphone, but it could also point to a 3G/4G version of the Kindle Fire.
This seems like a pretty smart move by Amazon, and could really heat up the tablet competition this year. Of course, stay tuned in. We will share more info when we get it.
Source: Kindle-FireForum via SlashGear
