Kindle Fire HD Is Amazon’s New Smiling Box, But Can It Beat Apple?

Kindle Fire HD

Yesterday, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos took the stage to talk about the company’s new line of Kindles. The Paperwhite, despite its sort of goofy name, looks promising enough. But the Kindle Fire HD may prove the most stunning example of how Amazon plans to muscle its way into tablet market domination. Can it really beat the iPad at its own game?

Apple’s iPad has become synonymous with the general concept of a tablet. My mother, upon seeing a touch display larger than a mobile phone — regardless of brand — just refers to them as “iPads.” While plenty of electronics outfits have attempted to capture the fervor surrounding Apple’s device, only a couple have succeeded in gaining real (potentially) lasting notoriety.

Google’s Nexus 7 is certainly deserving of attention, with a projected eight million to sell this year; Apple moved 17 million new iPad units in the third quarter. The Samsung Galaxy Tab, currently mired in patent-infringement-hell, still couldn’t sell a million units as of this June (that’s sales, not shipments). And for every Nexus 7 or Galaxy Tab, there’s a growing mountain of touch-screen carcasses in Apple’s wake.