Amazon talking to Google about offering the Nexus 7

With Google's Nexus 7 cut-price Android tablet just around the corner, it's clear that Amazon is going to have to step up its game if it wants its Kindle Fire family to compete - and the latest rumours suggest it is going to do exactly that.




Available exclusively in the US, the Kindle Fire is a Kindle in name only: unlike its brethren, the device features a full-colour LCD screen and a heavily customised version of Android which pushes users towards the Amazon Marketplace for application purchases rather than Google's own Play Store. The device also features Kindle software pre-loaded, giving it the same functionality as the e-Ink based Kindle eReader devices.




The Nexus 7 poses a real threat to the Kindle Fire, however: available internationally at launch, the Nexus 7 has a better display, the latest Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1 software, a more powerful quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, and yet still costs the same. Without a revised Kindle Fire, Amazon is likely to find its sales dropping off heavily as the Nexus 7 builds up steam.Amazon redefined the budget end of the tablet market when it launched its Kindle Fire device last year, with a 7-inch display and rock bottom price tag of $199.




The Kindle Fire limited in its reach, with Amazon only offering it to the US market and Google has taken advantage of that, offering its Nexus 7 tablet to a worldwide audience