Previewing Amazon's Tablet Rollout

According to multiple sources, Amazon.com AMZN is likely looking to ship as many as 1.5 million to 2 million of its self-branded Android operated tablets when the device debuts in September. Furthermore, the company may ship as many as 4 million by the end of 2011. The effort may be the best to date in a market that is currently dominated by tech behemoth Apple AAPL and the iPad. The company has been holding talks with a number of Taiwan based components suppliers such as TPK, Wintek, HannStar, and J Touch, which supply touchscreen panels. Some of these companies, however, may not be able to accommodate Amazon as they are facing huge demand from Apple, which is looking to ramp up iPad2 shipments in the third quarter. Amazon tablets, despite their obvious late start versus iPad, should be compelling. The device could deliver its own movie rentals and purchases through Amazon's streaming services, along with the company's cloud based music service, and downloadable books and music through its Kindle and MP3 storefronts. Given Amazon's large content ecosystem and its adoption of the Android OS, as opposed to building its own, the company may be able to deliver a great deal on the device itself relative to competitors, even Apple. Word is, the Amazon tablets will be very wallet-friendly. Unlike other Apple competitors, Amazon has considerable experience in the tablet computing arena via its success with Kindle. An Android version of Kindle with a better display and significantly upgraded web browsing experience should not be too high a hurdle for the company to climb. Due to the Kindle, the company has a loyal following of hardware users who may happily upgrade to a $400 to $500 Amazon tablet. At the very least, Amazon should be able to take the Android ecosystem by storm, if not put a dent in Apple. Another significant advantage that Amazon should have over everyone in the tablet space except Apple is brand loyalty and recognition. This is a world class tech company, that is trusted and loved by millions of customers. As a result, Amazon should be able to hit the ground running in a way that competitors such as Research in Motion RIMM, Hewlett-Packard HPQ and Dell DELL could not, due to consumer perceptions of the companies as old, stodgy, un-innovative, tech companies. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the potential of Amazon's rollout of tablets versus some of the other iterations that we have seen from other companies. There is a great chance that Amazon could propel itself to the front of the class in the Android class of tablets, and may even be able to take market share from Apple. That last point, however, is a contentious one. Recent reports are suggesting that Apple is going to dramatically boost iPad 2 shipments in Q3 to between 12 and 14 million units versus 7 to 9 million in Q2. Nevertheless, expect the already white hot tablet space to get even more sizzling this September.