Can $300 Amazon Tablet Break iPad's Dominance?

Amazon.com is all set to launch its new Android-based Kindle tablet lineup at a press event next week.

According to Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, Amazon's tablet could pose a threat to the dominating iPad if it's launched at a lower price.

Apple's iPad has reigned supreme in the tablet market all this while, with competitors entering and leaving the market without affecting its growth.

We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014, says Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple's position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options, says Carolina.

Apple priced its tablet at $500 for a Wi-Fi only version of the 10-inch iPad.

With the Amazon tablet priced at $300, analyst Sarah Rotman believes, Amazon could sell 3-5 million tablets in Q4 alone. Apple had sold 3.3 million iPads in the first three months of the launch.

Amazon is not a hardware vendor, so by selling the devices at loss, it could attract more customers to its digital content.

Amazon's willingness to sell hardware at a loss combined with the strength of its brand, content, cloud infrastructure, and commerce assets makes it the only credible iPad competitor in the market, writes Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps in her blog.

By having ties with media and publishing companies, the Kindle tablet has an advantage over other competing tablets.

Several sources - Wall Street Journal, Information Week and TechCrunch - confirm that the10-inch tablet is running on Android and it has its own interface, its own app store to download applications and its own menus.

Carolina Milanesi of Gartner sees a bright future of Android operating system, So far, Android's appeal in the tablet market has been constrained by high prices, weak user interface and limited tablet applications.