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"This is war. Amazon\u2019s jaw-dropping new collection of Kindle Fire HD tablets recalibrates almost everything we thought we knew about the tablet market.\nIt lowered prices while offering enhancements and fresh technology in almost every area imaginable. It took the warning shot of the successful Kindle Fire tablet, based on Android 2.3 \"Gingerbread,\" and turned it into a fusillade of tablet options. \n\nAs Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled one Kindle Fire after another \u2014 there were actually so many I got confused \u2014 it became clear that there were no rules about prices, screen sizes, and component technologies. \nAmazon eased into what would become landmark event with the new Kindle Paperwhite ereader. The company that essentially launched the e-reading generation is not done with reflective image technology. Bezos said Amazon actually invented new screen technology for the super-white, ultra-clear and now self-lit ereader. However, it\u2019s unclear if they worked with E-Ink to develop it or really did build it on their own.\nThe expected Paperwhite, however, was just a table setting for tablet-palooza.\nFirst Amazon dropped the price of the original Kindle Fire to $159, but not without making it faster (better processor and more RAM) and improving battery life. Then things started to get crazy.\nGoing HD\nBezos gleefully displayed the new Kindle Fire HD. But wait, he had a tablet in each hand. What was going on here? Amazon cooked up a 7-inch tablet and an 8.9-inch one, too.  Two powerful devices with dual-core CPUs and, on the 8.9-inch device, a 1,920 x 1,200 display. \nThe kicker: the new 7-inch Kindle HD costs $199 and the larger Kindle Fire HD, which is packed with a shocking amount of cutting edge technology (Dolby Digital, MiMo Wi-Fi, laminated touch sensor), is just $299.Then, while our jaws were still hanging open, Bezos dropped the bomb: a $499 4G LTE Kindle Fire HD. To put this in perspective, a 32GB, 4G LTE iPad 3 costs $729, $230 more than the 1-inch-smaller Kindle Fire HD.\nThat\u2019s not a shot across Apple\u2019s bow, it\u2019s a nuclear blast in the center of Apple\u2019 CEO Tim Cook\u2019s desk.\nBezos essentially just rewrote the rules for the tablet game. And those rules are very simple: hardware doesn\u2019t matter. Services are king. And in the kingdom of services, Amazon rules.\n\"We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices,\" said Bezos as he unveiled the new tablets.\nThe strategy is not surprising. Amazon and Bezos have shown a strong willingness to upgrade content consumption devices to suit consumer needs. They quickly realized that the key to success was not just in selling a lot of hardware, it was making the purchase and consumption experience seamless.\nBezos has never wavered from that strategy, but he did everything in his power today to make it plain.\nEngulfed in Fire\nToday\u2019s announcements though, expanded on that idea with a \u201Csomething for everyone\u201D approach. Amazon now has more tablets than Apple and in a wider variety of options. From E Ink to LCD. From 7-inch to 8.9-inch, and from WiFi-only to 4G LTE. Amazon\u2019s strategy is not about up-selling users to more expensive hardware and services (they even started the 4G option by giving away 250 MB of data and cloud storage); it\u2019s about making sure you can have your Amazon content how you like it, when you like it and where you like it.\nWith this wide variety of tablet options, Amazon firmly establishes itself as the number two player in the tablet space. It has, by its own measure 22% of the US tablet market. These options (starting as low as $69 and topping off at $499) could vault it to 50% by early 2013.\nApple will surely counter this fall with an iPad mini. It will certainly be cheaper than the iPad Retina and show off all the great features found in iOS 6. However, it\u2019s unlikely Apple will make the same kind of statements about services and hardware, or that Tim Cook will say anything like this gem from Bezos, \u201CPeople don't want gadgets anymore. They want services.\u201D Apple\u2019s business is built on gadget lust. Tim Cook knows that he has to deliver a stunning new device every year or so to maintain the Apply mystique. \nThat, at least, is the perception of Apple\u2019s business. The reality is Apple makes billions in app development and sales. But no one thinks of them as a service. Perhaps it\u2019s because Apple sets the stage for new gadgets with mobile operating system updates, while Amazon barely mentions the platform. No one knows for certain, for example, which version of Android is under the super-slick Kindle Fire HD interface. The only \u201Csoftware\u201D that matters to Amazon and Bezos is the kind that lets you consume and manage your Amazon-purchased content.\nCan Apple simply respond this fall with an iPad that is less powerful and more content consumption-oriented, or does Tim Cook need some new artillery? You be the judge.\n\n\nAmazon Unveils New Products in California\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3.  Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. Amazon event stage\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. 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<http://mashable.com/2012/09/06/amazon-tablet-market/>