亞馬遜推出平板電腦 低價PK蘋果iPad

Amazon，the world's largest online retailer, has unveiled a color tablet computer called the Kindle Fire in New York.
全球最大的在線零售商亞馬遜在紐約正式發佈名爲Kindle Fire彩色平板電腦。

The $199(£130) device will run a modified version of Google's Android operating system.
這款售價爲199美元（130英鎊）的平板電腦將運行谷歌安卓系統的改良版。

Until now, the company has limited itself to making black and white e-readers, designed for consuming books and magazines.
到目前爲止，亞馬遜公司主要生產黑白電子閱讀器，是爲書籍雜誌閱讀消費者而設計的。

As well as targeting Apple's iPad, Amazon is likely to have its sights on rival bookseller US Barnes & Noble, which already has a colour tablet.
亞馬遜Kindle Fire主要的競爭目標是蘋果iPad平板電腦，不過亞馬遜還把目光投向了另外一位圖書銷售競爭者：美國邦諾書店。邦諾在之前已經推出了彩色平板電腦Nook Color。

The Kindle Fire will enter a hugely competitive market, dominated by Apple's iPad.
Kindle Fire即將進入利潤巨大競爭激烈的平板電腦市場，與佔統治地位的蘋果iPad展開競爭。

Amazon will be hoping to leverage both the strength of the Kindle brand, built up over three generations of its popular e-book reader, and its ability to serve up content such as music and video.
通過Kindle Fire的發佈，亞馬遜希望不僅可以提高在三代電子書閱讀器基礎上發展起來的Kindle品牌的影響力，也希望增強音樂和視頻內容的服務能力。

In recent years, the company has begun offering downloadable music for sale, and also has a streaming video-on-demand service in the United States. Those, combined with its mobile application store, give it a more sophisticated content "ecosystem" than most of its rivals.
近年來，亞馬遜開始提供音樂下載銷售服務，並在美國開始了流媒體視頻點播業務。亞馬遜通過這些服務和手機應用商店強強聯合，爲顧客提供了比其它多數競爭者更爲豐富的內容生態系統。

Amazon's decision to opt for a 7" screen, as opposed to the larger 10" displays favored by many rival manufacturer. "This screen size has undoubtedly helped them achieve a lower price point for the device but so far this form factor has not been popular with consumers, we shall see if this is related to other aspects of those devices other than its screen size."
亞馬遜此次選擇了7英寸的屏幕，而沒有選擇大多競爭生產商更爲青睞的10英寸屏幕。“屏幕規格較小，無疑可以幫助亞馬遜實現更低的價格定位，但到目前爲止這一因素並沒有在消費者中產生太大影響，可能比起來屏幕尺寸，消費者更關注其他方面。”

Digital content has already proved itself to be a money-spinner for Amazon.
事實證明，數字內容是亞馬遜的搖錢樹。

Although the company has never released official sales figures for the Kindle, it did state - in December 2010 - that it was now selling more electronic copies of books than paper copies.
雖然亞馬遜從未公佈Kindle品牌的官方銷售數據，但亞馬遜的確曾在2010年12月表示過，電子書的銷量已經超過了紙質書。

Its US rival, Barnes & Noble, has also enjoyed success with its Nook devices. In October 2010, the company unveiled the Nook Color, which also runs a version of Android, albeit with lower hardware specs than many fully featured tablets.
亞馬遜的美國競爭對手邦諾書店也體驗到了電子書帶來的成功，所以在2010年10月推出了名爲Nook Color的平板電腦，同樣運行安卓系統，但與一些功能齊全的平板電腦相比，Nook Color的硬件規格較低。

The Kindle Fire's $199 (£130) price tag undercuts the Nook Color by $50 (£30) and is significantly cheaper than more powerful tablets from Apple, Samsung, Motorola and others.
Kindle Fire199美元（130英鎊）的定價比Nook Color的價格要低50美元（30英鎊），也比其他功能強大的平板電腦品牌蘋果、三星和摩托羅拉等的售價要低得多。

It is due to go on sale on 15 November in the US, although global release dates are currently unavailable.
Kindle Fire將於11月15日在美國上市，不過目前全球範圍的發佈時間仍未知。