Amazon Tablet Can Become iPad's Newest Rival: Top 5 Reasons Why

While the iPad is today’s undisputed giant in the tablet market, senior Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps predicted that Amazon could sell 3-5 million units of its own tablets in the fourth quarter alone. Here are our top 5 reasons why the Amazon Tablet will be the iPad’s newest rival:

1. Amazon isn’t afraid to fight: Epps compared the impending battle between Amazon and Apple to “David taking on Goliath.” Like David, Amazon has its own weapon and knows how to use it: the razor-razorblade strategy, where a product is sold cheaply, but must be used in conjunction with other, more expensive products. We have seen this in action with the Kindle, as Amazon continued to sell this hardware at a loss of profit, but reaped the benefits with a massive share of the ebooks market. You can bet Amazon will be willing to use the same strategy and cut down the prices on its tablets

2. Amazon has leverage with its other services: With its Kindle, Amazon offered a reduce-priced, ad-supported product to buyers. Not only will Amazon use this kind of leverage with its tablet, but it may bundle other Amazon-exclusive offers, such as Amazon Prime, free Cloud Storage and Amazon Unbox offers, with the purchase of a tablet.

3. The Cloud: Buyers can use the aforementioned Cloud Storage to store music or any other kinds of multimedia online. The Cloud Player, now with the capability to stream music, means that the songs can be played on-the-go. More importantly, this technology would allow users to sync their tablets with data that is in Cloud Storage, and vice versa; how much easier can it get?

4. Portability: If predictions by analysts about the Amazon tablet’s form hold true, it will turn out to be something between an e-reader and a true-to-form tablet. This gives the Tablet two major advantages: longer battery life and smaller size. Like the Kindle, the Tablet may be small enough to fit in one hand- allowing it function effectively as an e-reader. However, it will also pack enough punch to run popular programs: word processors, web browsers, games, etc. And most importantly…

5. Simplicity: The form of the tablet will fit its function. Copying Apple’s model of meeting popular consumer demand for simplicity of function over high-end power, the tablet will be easy to use.