• August 23, 2012

Amazon is expected to introduce new Kindle devices at a press event scheduled for Sept. 6 in Santa Monica, Calif. While the company didn't provide details in media invitations, the betting in the blogosphere is that Amazon will unveil next-generation Kindle Fire tablets. Tech blog BGR reported in June that Amazon was readying an updated 7-inch device as well as a new 10-inch device. The latter would compete more directly with the category-dominating iPad. Whether -- and how much -- Amazon will cut the price of the current Kindle Fire when it rolls out a new version is another source of speculation. Barnes & Noble this month slashed the price of its 16 GB Nook Tablet by $50 to $199, and the 8GB model by $20 to $179. It also dropped the price of the Nook Color by $20 to $149. After a strong holiday seasons, sales of the Kindle Fire fell off abruptly in the first quarter. Shipments of the device fell 62% to 0.8 million units from 4.8 million in the fourth quarter, according IDC. Barnes & Noble reported this week that Nook sales were essentially flat from a year ago at $192 million.