Nvidia to Develop Internal Processor for Next Kindle Fire
An analyst said Nvidia would be the main supply processor for the future Amazon Kindle Fire.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Bobby Burleson made this claim in a published research report. He noted that he came across this information through "conversations with sources in the tablet supply chain."
Nvidia's Tegra 2 currently powers the Motorola XOOM, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Advent Vega and Hannspree Hannspad.
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Forbes noted that Nvidia's deal with Amazon might lead to a loss for Texas Instruments, a company that handled some development of the first Kindle Fire.
"Widely viewed as the only other successful tablet besides iPad/2, a win or loss in the next gen Fire could be seen as a proxy for TXN's overall applications processor potential in higher-end tablets," said Burleson.
Rumors about the next Kindle Fire point to its new specifications.
Amazon's next tablet may have an 8.9-inch screen, which may be followed by a 10.1-inch model. The 8.9-inch screen model is also said to release in the "second quarter of 2012."
DigiTimes reported that Foxconn Electronics would build a 7-inch model to replace the current first-generation Fire. The website also said the new model could "start production in the first quarter of 2012."
Current owners of the Amazon's first Kindle Fire have something new to look forward to for their tablets. A software update, Version 6.2, is now available to download. The Amazon's 6.2 update promises "improvements to the operation of [the] Kindle Fire."
User can download the new update by tapping the Quick Settings icon and selecting Sync. The update will continue to download in the background and automatically install.
Amazon's tablet proved to be a best seller for the past Black Friday and Cyber Sunday events.
Amazon Kindle Vice President Dave Limp told CBS News: "Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we'd already sold millions of the new Kindle family and Kindle Fire was the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com. Black Friday was the best ever for the Kindle family - customers purchased 4X as many Kindle devices as they did last Black Friday - and last year was a great year."
The next iteration of the Kindle Fire tablet may provide a bigger challenge for future tablets, such as Apple's iPad 3.
