Amazon vs. Apple: A good deal for buyers

An industry analyst said U.S. retailer Amazon's foray into tablet computer production has one guaranteed winner: The consumer. To date, several technology giants have tried and failed to knock Apple Inc. off its perch as the No. 1 computer tablet producer -- or even scare it very much. The New York Times Monday listed the competitors that have come up short: Samsung, Research in Motion, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Acer. To illustrate how far Apple is ahead of the pack, Research in Motion took three months to sell 200,000 of its PlayBooks, the number of iPads Apple sells in a matter of days, the Times said. Fifteen months after its launch, Apple had sold 29 million iPads. But Amazon.com, may present the biggest challenge of all, the Times said. Its core business is solid. It has a guaranteed audience and a tried and true delivery system. It successfully launched the Kindle, an e-reader that will serve as the fundamental building block to its tablet device. Amazon also learned some hard lessons in its Kindle launch -- most notably, running out of stock for five months after its 2007 debut. Likely, the company will not repeat that mistakes, the Times said. A last point of interest: Many expect Amazon's juiced up Kindle will be sold at about $250, about half the price of Apple's iPad, which gives it a wide open window of opportunity. "The fact that Amazon is making such a huge investment might make Apple come back into the market at a lower price point," said Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente. "What's to prevent them from slimming down the iPad?" "The consumer is going to be the winner," he said.