Amazon has announced the availability of its Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablets in the Indian market.
The company has also
launched its premium ebook reader, the Kindle Paperwhite in the Indian market.
Kindle Fire HD is a 7-inch tablet with 1280x800 display resolution that is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Imagination SGX540 GPU. It weighs 395 grams and is powered by a 4400mAh battery rated at 11 hours of usage.
Kindle Fire HD 8.9, on the other hand, features an 8.9-inch display with a pixel density of 254 pixels per inch and a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels. It is powered by 1.5GHz dual-core processor and Imagination SGX544 GPU, weighs 567 grams and is powered by a 6000mAh battery rated at 10 hours of usage.
Both tablets come with 1GB of RAM, dual-band Wi-Fi, Dolby Audio with dual stereo speakers, Bluetooth 3.0, and are available in 16GB and 32GB variants.
The tablets run a highly customised version of Android 4.0.3 with apps available through Amazon's Appstore, instead of Google Play. Kindle Fire HD tablets can also consume content from Amazon's large library of audio, video and books content, though only books are available in India at this stage.
Amazon notes that "purchases of apps, games and books will be completed on Amazon.com in either Rupees or American Dollars, pending what credit or debit card you use", though your credit card must be internationally enabled.
"Not only does Kindle Fire feature advanced hardware, it's also a service," said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "The combination of the leading apps, the largest book selection, great email and browsing and top rated customer service, we hope our customers in India will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best tablet for a great price."
The 16GB variants of the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablets will be available for Rs. 15,999 and Rs. 21,999 respectively. The 32GB storage variants of the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablets will be available for Rs. 18,999 and Rs. 25,999 respectively.
The tablets will be available online at Amazon.in and at over one hundred retail outlets across India including Croma, Reliance Digital, E-Zone and Vijay Sales stores located in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Pune, starting June 27.