Amazon fires up its iPad-fighter

Amazon unveiled its all-new tablet computer today, adding the more robust Kindle Fire to its well-established line of Kindle e-readers.

The Kindle Fire isn’t merely a copy of Apple’s dominant iPad. Instead, it’s far smaller and cheaper than its main rival. Powered by Google’s Android operating system, the Kindle Fire provides a platform for games, movies, music and other applications.

Unlike the current iPad, the Fire doesn’t need to be backed up on a PC. Instead, it backs up its content wirelessly on Amazon’s servers.

“That model that you have to back up your own content is a broken model. We want to take responsibility for that,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at a press event in New York.

In addition to the new Fire, Amazon also announced new pricing for its entire line of Kindle devices. The e-commerce giant unveiled the Kindle Touch, which will run $99, and the Kindle Touch 3G, which will cost $149. A standard Kindle is also available for the reduced price of $79. The 7-inch Kindle Fire will cost just $199 and it ships November 15.

“With Kindle Fire, you have instant access to all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, the convenience of Amazon Whispersync, our revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser, the speed and power of a state-of-the-art dual-core processor, a vibrant touch display with 16 million colors in high resolution, and a light 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand – all for only $199,” said Bezos. “We’re offering premium products, and we’re doing it at non-premium prices.”