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Amazon tablet rumors flare on leaked supplier parts list
Last time on Days of our Rumored Amazon Tablets' Lives: Bezos teased us with a "stay tuned" cliffhanger, but shook his head at the notion of a color E Ink Kindle this year. While DigiTimes spilled its cup of beans about the devices' possible use of Fringe Field Switching displays and fabrication by Quanta Computer, the Wall Street Journal threw its two cents in with a report pegging a couple of new Kindles for Q3. Now loose-lipped sources are feeding the DigiTimes hearsay flames with a leaked supplier parts list that has Wintek, J Touch and CPT providing touch panels with NVIDIA processors at the tabs' cores. The Seattle-based company also purportedly plans to ship four million of these 7- and 10-inch slates by 2011's end. So, what to believe? We'll find out in due time, but with all this gossipy buzz you can place your bets on something.
Amazon Android tablet coming before October?
We've heard an awful lot about a forthcoming Android tablet rocking an Amazon logo, including a little teasing from CEO Jeff Bezos back in May, and now The Wall Street Journal's adding flames to the slate fire saying the hotly anticipated tab could be on its way before October. According to those oh so familiar "people familiar with the matter," the Android-based slate would rock a nine-inch screen and, surprisingly, lack a camera, making it ill-suited as an iPad competitor -- the tablet would apparently be focused on offering media purchased from the online retailer. What's more, those sources are also spreading word of two new Kindles coming in Q3 -- one with a touchscreen, the other a budget version of the current e-reader. Of course, it's all just rumor for now, but that's a whole lot of rumor.
Nokia 7- or 9-inch MeeGo tablet rumored to be running ARM (not Moorestown) in Q4
While DigiTimes has been known to get a rumor correct now and again, its success rate falls off dramatically when dealing with companies HQ'd outside of its native Taiwan. Keep that in mind when you hear it discuss a Nokia tablet with either a 7- or 9-inch screen. DigiTimes, speaking with "upstream component makers," claims that the Foxconn manufactured device -- of which, about 100 engineering samples have already been produced -- will be ARM-based with a Q4 launch targeted. If true (and that's a big IF) then it would certainly be running the MeeGo OS (that's a Quanta-built prototype above) when it ships. Of course, DigiTimes has been rumoring an ARM-based smartbook from Nokia due in mid 2010 for almost a year. And guess what? It's mid 2010, with smartbooks/netbooks now out of style and tablets all the rage. Thing is, we'd have thought that Nokia would be more likely to opt for Intel's Moorestown in support of their partnership given the Q4 timing. But hey, it's just rumor, let's not get too carried away.
