It was the week that saw Amazon enter the tablet business, as Google revealed new data center plans for Asia, and Intel and Samsung backed yet another mobile OS.
Amazon debuted its hotly anticipated tablet device, the Kindle Fire, this week. It runs on a heavily-modified Android build developed for maximum integration with Amazon web services, and offers Wi-Fi connectivity only. And at under $200, it’s competitively priced.
What that means for Apple and the iPad is unclear, but Jamie Moss of Informa Telecoms & Media says that while the Kindle Fire could be iPad’s first serious rival, it’s not so much because of the device itself as the mature direct-to-consumer billing relationship that comes with it.
It was also the week that saw Google announce plans to build three new data centers in Asia after buying land in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
Google – which has six data centers in the US but only two outside the country, both in Europe – said the focus on Asia was due to the tremendous growth of new users in the region.
The Linux Foundation and the Limo Foundation meanwhile announced the Tizen project to develop a cross-architecture open-source device OS, led by Intel and Samsung.
In contrast to Android, the Tizen project plans to open the entire software stack, from the core OS all the way up. It will use an API based on HTML5 and other web standards.
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