Amazon Reportedly Planning to Launch $50 Tablet

Online retailer Amazon.com plans to release a $50 (roughly Rs. 3,300) tablet in time for the holiday season, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The 6-inch screen tablet comes with a mono speaker and is priced much lower than Amazon's Fire tablet, the cheapest variant of which is sold at $99.

Amazon also plans to release 8-inch and 10-inch screen tablets, the report said. While other Amazon Fire tablets show advertisements as screen savers, it was not clear if the new 6-inch tablet's cost included ads, according to the report.

The company was not immediately available for comment.

Amazon last week announced a deal to buy a startup that tailors traditional television broadcast for the vast array of Internet-linked devices used for streaming video.

Amazon did not disclose how much it is paying for Portland-based Elemental Technologies, but a report at tech news website The Information put the price at $500 million (roughly Rs. 3,312 crores).

The nine-year-old startup specializes in software that takes live or on-demand traditional television, cable or satellite broadcasts and reformats the video to play on smartphones, tablets, computers or other devices.

Elemental boasts more than 700 media customers including CNN, BBC and HBO. The startup also supports 4K ultra high-definition services, including some delivered by the BBC during last year's World Cup coverage, according to Amazon.

Last week, Amazon also launched its Kindle Unlimited subscription service in India. It allows customers to "borrow" Kindle library books which they can read and return, up to 10 at a time. Kindle Unlimited is available in India for Rs. 199 per month, while users get access to the first month for Rs. 99.

Written with agency inputs