Amazon reveals Kindle Fire tablet PC

While competitors to Apple’s iPad continue to stumble, one company with the potential might to mount a serious challenge has finally stepped up the plate – Amazon.

The company, which has already enjoyed amazing success with its Kindle e-reader has today revealed the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet PC, Bloomberg reports.

It will run Google’s Android software and house a 7-inch display. More importantly, however, it will be priced at just $199 – that’s less than half the price of an entry-level $499 iPad.

The price reflects the Kindle Fire’s lower specs, of course. There are lots of features missing that one might expect to find in a typical tablet – camera, microphone, 3G.

What it does include, though, is in-built wi-fi and a specially skinned version of Android designed to ape the established Kindle experience.

UPDATE: Amazon has also confirmed a brand new e-ink Kindle is on the way – the Kindle Touch. The wi-fi version will cost just $99 and the 3G machine $149. Botht will launch in the US on November 11th. On top of that, a new entry-level model without touch functionality is on the way. That will retail for only $79.

That’s four new machines announced in one afternoon.