After months of speculation, Amazon have finally launched their new iPad challenger tablet at a media event in New York City. The event confirmed the launch of online retailer Amazon’s new tablet computer, with the ‘Kindle Fire’ instantly being compared to the iPad as it looks to mount a serious challenge in the market, as the company revealed an official US launch date of 15 November.

In a ceremony lead by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the device took on several of the previously-rumoured specifications, including size, weight, and operating system, which is confirmed as being a ‘customisation’ of Google Android.

The low price of $199 (£127) is below half the cost of the iPad’s cheapest offering, and while the features have not yet been properly reviewed by critics to give a value and quality-based impression on that figure, Amazon will be hoping that the product’s mass interlinking to their other ventures will be an additional moneymaker.

While the Kindle Fire lacks a camera and mobile web access abilities, a number of Amazon-branded features (and regular additions such as an app store) do exist, including instant access to their famed online shopping site, a 30-day free trial of streaming and free product delivery service Amazon Prime, new web browser Amazon Silk, and the Amazon Cloud Player, which a recent-release designed for the online remote storing of downloaded video content, a move which could see portable video fans choose Amazon over Apple.

Amazon’s new own-brand developments seem to be a key selling point, with the Amazon Silk web browser having been claimed by its producers as able to ‘extend the boundaries of the browser’, by using a method that combines the potential of host devices with ”…the massive computing power, memory, and network connectivity of the Amazon Cloud.”

While Forrester researchers predict that the Kindle Fire should sell between 3m-5m devices in its first year. For international customers, while it has not been officially announced yet,  previous Amazon release schedules are suggesting that the first non-North American nations to sell the device will do so in early 2012.

Meanwhile, the event also saw the announcement of the Kindle Touch, a new version of their electronic book reader priced at $99. A 3G version will also be available at the price of $149, with both launching in the US 6 days after the Kindle Fire on 21 November.

Another planned move by Amazon is thought to be a cheaper, non-touch version of the Kindle at $79, as a response to the Barnes & Noble ‘Nook’ in America, and an upcoming device from book retailer Waterstones in the UK next year, though these potential Amazon releases for e-book reading may end up falling backwards in priority compared to their high-profile new tablet.

The new Kindle Fire might not be sticking around for long, though, as reports are suggesting that Amazon are keeping their original tablet product merely as a preview of their improved second version, scheduled for launch in Q1 2012. Whichever way they feel is most sufficient, will Amazon be able to launch a challenge on Apple’s tablet domination?

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