Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire is a tablet version of Amazon.com's Kindle e-book reader. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS technology and running a custom version of Google's Android operating system called Fire OS. The Kindle Fire HD followed in September 2012, and the Kindle Fire HDX in September 2013.

History

The device—which includes access to the Amazon Appstore, streaming movies and TV shows, and Kindle's e-books—was released to consumers in the United States on November 15, 2011, after being announced on September 28.

On September 7, 2012, upgrades to the device were announced with consumer availability to those European countries with a localized version of Amazon's website (United Kingdom,France, Germany, Italy and Spain).

The original Kindle Fire retailed for US$199 in 2011. Estimates of the device's initial bill of materials cost ranged from $150 to $202. Amazon's business strategy was stated in 2011 as making money through sales of digital content on the Fire, rather than through sales of the device itself.

Fire HD

Kindle Fire HD, later renamed to Fire HD, are members of the Amazon Kindle Fire family of touchscreen tablet computers. The family consists of: 7", 8.9" (2012 models), 7" (2013 model), 6", 7" (2014 models), 8", 10" (2015 models). The 6", 8", 10" models are currently available.

History

The first model was announced on September 6, 2012 and was available in two models, 7" and 8.9". The 7" model was released in United States on September 14, then France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom on October 25 and in Japan on December 18. The 8.9" model was released on November 20 in United States, in Japan on March 12, 2013 in Germany on March 13, and in India on June 27.

On September 25, 2013, the Fire HD second generation was released. The price of the Fire HD 7" was reduced to $139, the processor speed was upgraded to 1.5 GHz, upgraded from "Android based" OS to a compatible proprietary fork of Android named Fire OS 3, removed the front camera, used a new form factor and decreased the available storage options. In addition, the Fire HD's successor the Kindle Fire HDX was introduced.