(Image Source: Amazon)

BY LUKAS UDSTUEN

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource tech video news analysis from Newsy.

Amazon is heating up the competition in the tablet market. The release of its new Kindle Fire has some analysts saying the “iPad killer” has arrived.

The Kindle Fire is a new color tablet that allows users to watch movies and TV shows, play games, surf the web — and like all Kindles, read books. Its display is a few inches smaller than the iPad’s, but it’s lighter.

At 14 ounces, the Kindle Fire weighs about as much as a box of crackers. But it’s not the weight or the list of features that’s drawing attention to the Fire. CNBC’s Courtney Reagan says it’s the Fire’s price.

“I mean some of the pros that Amazon's fire, the Kindle fire has going for it. Number one, that price point, $199--considerably cheaper than the most basic iPad is going to $499."

The Kindle Fire doesn’t yet offer a 3G version, just WIFI. And though a lack of features like that could push some away from the Fire, CNET doesn’t think that’ll be the case:

"Sure, the Kindle Fire lacks a camera for video chat and movie-making. So what? Hardly anyone is doing that with their tablets anyway. No GPS? That's what your phone is for. No Bluetooth? Shrug. It's one hundred and ninety-nine dollars.”

The Kindle Fire doesn’t have native word processing software. ZDnet blogger Ricardo Bilton says certain features are missing from the Fire for a reason.

“There is also a philosophical consideration here, and while its probably not intentional, its also pretty telling. The Kindle Fire most certainly won’t be used for content creation, even if that creation is as minor as taking a photo of yourself or your dinner.”

The Fire comes with 8 GB of memory, but users can store Amazon-purchased content for free on Amazon’s cloud service. A contributing writer for Seeking Alpha says these limitations mean the Wifi-only Fire isn’t likely to dethrone the iPad.

“When you compare a Wi-Fi only Fire to an iPad 2 ... Both these competitors have cloud storage through apps like Box and Dropbox or even through Amazon and Google by accessing it through the browser.”

Certainly we won’t know for quite some time whether or not the Amazon Kindle will live up to rumors as the “iPad Killer.” Will Oremus of Slate says that doesn’t matter.

“By offering the same core functionality ... at less than half the price, it will open up an entirely new market of tablet users. Rather than knocking the iPad from its perch, Amazon is building its own roost on a lower, wider, and hardier branch.”

Oremus says if the Fire spreads, Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color that could feel the pinch.

Kindle Fire orders will ship November 15.

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