Amazon has been determined to confound its staff. A Reuters article reports that the online bookstore is working on six devices simultaneously , but provides no further details. However, shortly after the news broke, online news outlets were abuzz discussing Amazon's move and trying to decipher the company's intentions.
Various media outlets are reporting that there will be six new tablets, differentiated by screen size and memory capacity. This seems like an exaggeration at first glance. It's almost certain there will be a new 10-inch Kindle Fire to compete with the iPad, and the 7-inch model will very likely be redesigned to compete with the Nexus 7. But either they innovate significantly and each tablet has very distinct features—a truly difficult task—or working on six tablets simultaneously and releasing them all at once is a rather extreme marketing strategy.
In short, after some reflection on the news, caution is advised. A good portion of the new products could simply be updates to their eReader lineup . In fact, this would be the most logical approach, given that Amazon has always been primarily a bookstore, although a redefinition of its business model towards the sale of all kinds of cultural goods is gradually becoming apparent. There are also those who speculate that Amazon wants to complete its product range and that a smartphone is among the new products , thus suggesting the company is determined to compete in all post-PC battles.
We can expect more rumors and half-baked news reports in the coming weeks, perhaps fueled by Amazon to gain more media attention, until they finally make an official announcement and lay their cards on the table. Meanwhile, we're content to wait and see when we can enjoy all these devices in our country.