Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet launched last fall with just one option for buyers, a 7-inch model with 8 GB of storage, WiFi and no mobile broadband. That’s about to change, according to a report this morning.
The story by Reuters digs into Amazon’s mobile ambitions, quoting a top Staples retail executive saying that Amazon will introduce up to five or six tablet SKUs, or stock-keeping units, including one with a 10-inch screen.
Even if that’s the case, as Business Insider notes, it’s a bit of a stretch to say that Amazon is developing up to six Kindle Fire tablets. The variations are likely to include different storage options in addition to screen sizes.
It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see Amazon add the option for mobile broadband, in addition to WiFi, and if that’s the case it’s easy to get to five or six SKUs pretty quickly.
The bigger question, as we’ve noted in the past, is whether Amazon will be coming out with its own smartphone. Job postings cited by Reuters for Amazon’s Lab126 unit seek engineers with experience in cellular products and smartphones, adding more fuel to the theory that we’ll see an Amazon phone, at some point.