SANTA MONICA, Calif. — You couldn’t miss the symbolism: In its latest push into Apple’s territory, Amazon used a California airport hangar to launch its latest devices.
Amazon unveiled a new 9-inch version of the Kindle Fire, an illuminated Kindle e-reader and a $499 tablet with 4G LTE service that it plans to sell for $50 per year.
“We love to invent. We love to pioneer. We even like going down alleys that turn out to be blind alleys,” chief executive Jeff Bezos said. “Of course, every once in a while, one of those blind alleys opens up into a broad avenue, and that’s really fun.”
Bezos set up the announcement by saying that people are tired of gadgets and that’s why most tablets launched in the past year didn’t succeed. In contrast, he characterized the Kindle as a service.
“People don’t want gadgets anymore. They want services,” he said, then played a video ad for the new Kindle Paperwhite with a new, illuminated screen.
The Paperwhite, which is 9.1 millimeters thick and weighs 7.5 ounces, has a battery that lasts eight weeks between charges. The Paperwhite is now on sale for $119, with deliveries starting Oct. 1. A version with 3G wireless is $179.
A new feature predicts the amount of time it will take to complete a chapter, based on the device’s analysis of users’ reading pace.
Also updated is Amazon’s entry-level Kindle, whose price is dropping from $79 to $69.
Bezos then introduced two new versions of the color Kindle Fire. The basic model is getting improved processing power and a price drop, from $199 to $159.
He also unveiled entirely new Kindle Fire HD models, including a new, larger model with an 8.9-inch display, which is just slightly smaller than Apple’s iPad.
The 7-inch Fire HD version with 16 gigabytes of memory will cost $199 and ship Sept. 14. The 8.9-inch Fire HD with 16 GB of memory will cost $299 and ship Nov. 20.
A higher-end version — with 4G LTE wireless and 32 GB of memory — will sell for $499 and ship Nov. 20. Amazon is offering the LTE service directly, charging $50 per year for 250 megabytes per month plus 20 gigabytes of online storage.
“We are not building the best tablet at a certain price. We have just built the best tablet at any price,” Bezos said.
He said the company can offer low prices on the hardware because it makes money from the devices after they’re sold.
“We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices. That is better alignment,” he said, adding that the approach also avoids putting people on the “upgrade treadmill.”
Amazon is updating its hardware lineup ahead of a holiday season that will see intense competition among tablet devices, especially at the lower-end, 7-inch range that includes the Kindle Fire and Google Nexus. Amazon also is competing with Barnes & Noble’s Nook, which already sells an illuminated e-reader.
“It’s very clear today that there are two names in the market for tablets. One is Amazon, and one is Apple,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
Seven out of every 10 tablets sold in the second quarter were iPads, according to IHS iSuppli. Tablets using Google’s Android operating system, such as the Kindle, have not carved out a significant stake.
