Amazon to launch price war against Apple iPad 3 with 10-inch Kindle Fire

Our friendly neighbourhood Chinese rumour-spreader DigiTimes is back at it, with a new report that says Amazon is getting ready to ship a larger 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire in the second quarter of 2012. With the Apple iPad expected to launch in March, this would put the two tablet heavyweights in direct competition in a few months, making for an interesting battle.

DigiTimes is reporting that Chinese manufacturer Foxconn – the same company that manufactures Apple’s iPhone and iPad – has been tapped by Amazon to make the 10-inch Kindle Fire, with shipments beginning in Q2 2012.

Quanta Computer is the current Original Device Manufacturer (ODM) for the Kindle Fire. Amazon’s switch to Foxconn as the ODM is being seen as a move to offer more control over components and thus keep the cost of the tablet down, according to newspaper China Times. The original Kindle Fire is sold at $200, severely undercutting the competition in the Android tablet industry. The new 10-inch Kindle Fire would do the same and Amazon would invariably get into a price war with the Apple iPad 3.

Sources: DigiTimes, China Times