Tablet Wars: As Apple Goes Small, Amazon Goes Big?

While the current Kindle Fire is priced attractively at $199 -- making it appealing for those outside of the iPad market -- I am curious to see how it chooses to price both sizes of its new iterations. Google clearly sees the advantage in staying out of the Apple market as it has also priced its Nexus 7 at $199 while Microsoft has not yet announced either the Surface price or the date of the launch.

Will Microsoft feel some pressure now? If Apple's mini-iPad was not enough to do the job, perhaps Amazon's news may add some urgency.

It is known that Amazon takes a loss on each sale of the current Kindle Fire -- not a huge deal since it serves merely as a storefront for selling its content such as books, movies and music.

However, I don't envision the two new versions following the same model. It goes without saying that the company needs to make money, the question is will it do so at the expense of sacrificing market share?

Apple is not going to lose no matter what. If it is smart, Amazon needs to focus its targets where they should rightfully be -- on Google and Microsoft.

For that matter, it should also be smart enough and price each of its tablets accordingly. The iPads currently range from $399 to as high as a little over $800. Since it knows that the Nexus 7 will be at $199, this may leave it with enough room to undercut both Apple and Microsoft while offering more for less against the Nexus 7.

According to reports, both versions will prove a considerable upgrade over the current Kindle Fire. Amazon is said to have adopted a metal casing while moving away from the plastic body -- offering a sleeker more stylish look and feel.

Bottom Line

Amazon is without question one of the best tech stories today. Not only is it a wonderful company, but in my opinion it has one of the top three visionary CEOs in Jeff Bezos. This is why doubted and concerns about its growing expenses continue to amaze me.

The company has always demonstrated a commitment to tackle new markets and to seek growth opportunities. To that end, it had taken on facilities expansion in an effort to provide broader ranges of entertainment delivered over its tablet as well as the launching of its movie-streaming Prime service to compete with the likes of traditional retailers such as Walmart(WMT) and online movie streaming services from Netflix(NFLX) .